A girls' youth club in Bolton, which engages ethnically diverse communities in sport, has introduced weekly archery sessions.
KRIMMZ Girls have partnered with Archery GB to create KRIMMZ Rimaya Bolton.
Project Rimaya is Archery GB's flagship community engagement project that works with Muslim communities to increase participation in sport by setting up archery clubs in schools, community centres and mosques.
Khadija Patel, who set up KRIMMZ Girls, recently won the Unsung Hero award in the regional heat of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year.
Khadija said: "Our archery journey started in summer 2023 when our girls had shown an interest in taking part in the sport. After discussion with Sporting Equals and Sweaty Betty Foundation, they agreed to support our programme through the Girls Powered Project.
"As KRIMMZ had no qualified instructors or coaches to run any sessions, we reached out to another local archery club in Bolton to run a beginner's course for our teenage girls. Farhana from Saeed Institute agreed to run a 6-week beginners course for us.
"This was a huge success and many more girls wanted to join. We knew from this we had to set up our own KRIMMZ archery club."
Following on from the success of the beginner's course, four of the club's volunteers (male and female) went onto complete their Archery GB Instructors course and will now be running taster sessions for the whole community to take part in.
She added: "We know interest in archery will continue to grow as it is a prophetic sport and will be enjoyed by all."
In 2024, KRIMMZ hopes to have four Level 1 Session Coaches to run beginners' courses and aspires to have an archery club in two areas of Bolton (Rumworth and Crompton) that will run on a weekly basis for members of the community on different days.
Yvonne Stead, Archery GB Regional Development Officer (Northern Counties), said: "Archery GB is really excited to partner with KRIMMZ Girls to create KRIMMZ Rimaya Bolton.
"I look forward to seeing how the club progresses over the next six months with support from us at Archery GB and other partners, which include Sporting Equals and Sweaty Betty."
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