Chelsea Foundation Hosts Tech Slam for STEM Education
October 18, 2019
Last week, the Chelsea Foundation’s education and innovation team hosted the second annual Tech Slam, designed to give young people the opportunity to try their hand at technology used in sport, and understand the impact that STEM plays within a football club.
The one-day sports and technology event for 14-16 year-olds was held at Chelsea Football Club’s Stamford Bridge stadium.
Foundation head of education Matt Mead said: “The day sees the participants get involved in Virtual Reality (VR), computer, and material sciences, interactive computer-based coding activities and a primer on tech-driven sports and analytics, as well as robot football and using robotics in music.”
“It’s all about inspiring young people to pursue a career in technology that goes beyond the latest smartphone, as well as showing them the various pathways into sports through technology.”
The Tech Slam was run in partnership with three US-based organisations – The Hidden Genius Project, TEAM Inc and Oakland Natives Give Back, which are all Oakland-based companies that support and mentor young people in tech and sport and into further education.
The Hidden Genius Executive Director, Brandon Nicholson said: ‘The Chelsea Foundation was the first one we partnered with and we are so fortunate to have found this relationship, as it’s the platinum of foundations across football teams.
“We’re both about using young people’s passion for professional sports to show them that there are so many other ways to make a career in sports that doesn’t involve being on a pitch or a field.”
Mead added: “The partnership with these companies shows that Tech Slam is so much more than technology, it’s also showing the boys the power of building good relationships within business and how that’s just as important as being technically brilliant in their field.”
Chelsea FC Foundation is a member of the Sport and STEM Alliance, organized by Founding Members Beyond Sport, the San Francisco 49ers Foundation and Chevron. Since 2017, the network has committed to harnessing the power of sport to ignite passion in STEM education. Chelsea Foundation FC and Hidden Genius were connected through the Alliance.
On November 14 in Los Angeles, the Sport and STEM Alliance will hold its year-end convening the day before Beyond Innovation. The working, interactive session will take place at the TGR Learning Lab hosted by the TGR Foundation - a Tiger Woods Charity. Learn more about Beyond Innovation 2019 hosted by the Los Angeles Dodger Foundation and register your interest to attend here.