Last weekend the lucky students chosen to participate in the 6th IDEALS programme in Zambia met in Durham for their induction. IDEALS (International Development Through Excellence and Leadership in Sport) is a short-term volunteer programme run by UK Sport, which places University students at partner NGOs in Zambia - Sport in Action and EduSport.

The students had an intense 3 days of training, both theoretical and practical. The theory sessions covered a curriculum familiar to previous IDEALS students, including Culture Awareness, Sport for Development and AIDS awareness, with the addition of 'Wallace Tournament event Management' for 2011. Students also attended practical sessions including skipping skills, parachute games, invasion games, SAQ drills, Zambian games and Tackle Africa workshops.

Exciting developments in the project meant that St Andrews University were welcomed as the seventh member of the Wallace Group (along with Durham, Northumbria, Loughborough, Stirling, Bath and UWIC), as well as a construction team. This saw a total of 37 students being inducted to all things Zambian. Mwape, Moses, Shadrach and Steven were special guests flown over from Zambia

Dr Peter Warburton OBE, Director of Sport at Durham says "The induction this year was perhaps the most powerful we have had as the groups gelled from the outset. Our outgoing and vibrant colleagues from Zambia ensured the training was bouncing from the first few hours. It was particularly pleasing to see so many faces from the past on Saturday and I am sure that this helped inspire this year's cohort even more. My thanks to everyone for a magnificent four days"

As Peter suggests, the induction was certainly not all work and no play! The weekend culminated in the inaugural Zambian Ball, held in St Mary’s College. IDEALS alumni flocked from far and wide to catch up with old friends, and make new ones. The soundtrack was a melting pot of Western pop music, bagpipes, Zambian music and a guitar and vocalist performance. And if you think that’s varied, you should have seen the dancing! To those who made it, and those who didn’t: see you all at the Stirling ceilidh in November?

Becky Maybury