Norwich City v Derby County on the ball city 61

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Community Sports Foundation, Norwich City FC, Carrow Road, Norwich, NR1 1JE. Registered charity 1088239

Enterprising students are pitch perfect!

some of norfolk’s youngest and brightest business minds battled it out on february 26 for the chance to represent norwich city football club in the premier League enterprise challenge.

Students from six local secondary schools spent the day with the Community Sports Foundation at Carrow Road as part of the national business and enterprise challenge.

Their task: come up with innovative ideas to increase the number of families attending Norwich City home matches.

Spurred on by a message from David McNally, Norwich City’s Chief Executive, the groups had five hours to create their concepts before presenting them to the judging panel.

After much brainstorming, thorough research and fierce debate, the groups presented their final ideas to the trio – or ‘dragons’ as they swiftly became known – Mick Dennis, sports journalist and CSF Trustee, Norwich City’s Head of HR Hayley Swain and Danny Casey, the ticket office manager.

Ideas ranged from the weird to the wonderful but the panel ultimately declared Open Academy as the winners, impressed by their outside-the-box thinking and confident pitch.

The five Year 10 students will now participate in the regional play-off, hosted by Arsenal Football Club, where the top two, plus a

Above: “You’re hired!” - the eventual winners Open Academy pose with the judging panel

Below: David McNally left the groups a special pre-recorded video message outlining the challenge

wildcard, will be invited to the final in April at the prestigious BIS Conference Centre in Westminster.

“There were some really exciting ideas that the students came up with,” said Mick Dennis. “I was really impressed with the calibre of the presentations, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to deliver such a confident pitch at that age!”

CSF Enterprise Coordinator Mark Woodcock said: “It was a great day and it was really exciting to see the students get so passionate about their ideas. We look forward to taking the students from Open Academy down to the Emirates Stadium for the play-offs – and who knows, perhaps onwards to the finals!”

The annual Enterprise Challenge is run by the Premier League and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skill (BIS).

Since its introduction in 2009, over 8,000 young people aged between 13 and 17 have taken part in the programme across the country, which uses business models of professional football clubs to deliver enterprise education.

Norwich City’s representatives in 2012, Aylsham High School, reached the finals of the challenge.

You can find out more about the Enterprise programme by visiting communitysportsfoundation.org.uk or emailing mark.woodcock@canaries.co.uk.

Below: Six high schools from across Norfolk took part in the challenge