News article
The Homeless Games 2012
The third annual Homeless Games, supported by Crisis, has taken place in Liverpool.
The Homeless Games 2012 was held over 6 and 7 September and saw hundreds of homeless people participating in 17 different sporting disciplines.
The brainchild of Eric Houghton, captain of the 2003 England Homeless World Cup team, The Homeless Games aims to get homeless people reconnected with society by engaging them through sport.
The Homeless World Cup was a key step in helping Eric to overcome his alcohol addiction and move on from homelessness and after discovering there were not any similar opportunities for homeless people who were not interested in football, he decided to launch The Homeless Games.
Crisis supported The Homeless Games through providing skilled volunteers, resources and staff to deliver educational and health related activities alongside sport to provide participants with a link into year round services as well as an energising, motivating event.
Throughout The Homeless Games, Crisis Skylight Merseyside ran taster sessions to encourage athletes to sign up to the centre in the new Autumn term, an internet café to get participants on the web and co-ordinated a collaborative art work completed over the two days of the games.
Crisis is also offered the support of our skilled and experienced Crisis Christmas volunteers across a range of services including health, wellbeing and various therapies.
Since its inception in 2010, The Homeless Games has grown from local Liverpool roots into a national event. Last year saw 450 people take part and in 2012 numbers were higher still, with athletes drawn from across the nation.
The games are open to anyone who is or has been homeless in the last two years.
To find out more about the Homeless Games, please visit the event website.