News from Make Your Mark

Celebrities Make Their Mark with a Ball for Sport Relief

- UK celebs have personalised sports balls, encouraging young people to help raise money for Sport Relief using a ball -


British rockers Kasabian, pop diva Mutya Buena and the cast of EastEnders have teamed together to come up with enterprising ways to support ‘Make your Mark with a Ball’, an initiative raising money for Sport Relief.

Celebrities were asked to get creative and customise a sports ball – whether it be by autographing it or decorating it in whatever weird and wacky style they chose. The balls are set to be bidded for by the public on auction site eBay, with all proceeds going to Sport Relief.

The entire cast of EastEnders autographed a group of three different sports balls during filming and Kasabian tested their creativity with some personalised footballs and rugby balls. Tom Meighan from Kasabian commented: “Not only is this a worthy cause but it’s so easy to get involved; we had a real laugh customising our football after a kick-about – we’ll let you guess which one of us the feathered fella is meant to be!”

Punters can bid for their favourite celeb balls on auction site eBay from 6thnd -16th March with all proceeds going to the Sport Relief campaign – www.sportrelief.com .

As well as bidding for their favourite celebrity item people can also get involved directly. Make Your Mark with a Ball is a national competition encouraging people to come up with innovative and enterprising ways to raise as much money as possible for Sport Relief 2008, using a ball or balls. There are a number of prizes on offer including the popular iPod touch and children’s books and audio books, available for the best ideas in a number of categories.

The potential for moneymaking ‘with a ball’ is enormous and anyone can have a go. From getting your community to sponsor you for every hour of ‘keepie uppie’ you achieve to pooling the enterprise talents of peers to create the world’s largest ball (and charging to see it), judges are confident there will be some amazing ingenuity shown by entrants.

Sporting greats such as Paula Radcliffe and Sir Steve Redgrave have also shown their support for the campaign. Paula says: “Make Your Mark with a Ball and help raise money for Sport Relief. Running a marathon is tough, but it’s easy to get involved in this; all you need is a ball and an idea!”

Scott Cain from Make Your Mark says: “Good ideas can come from everywhere and everyone, so whether you’re into sports or just like coming up with new money-making schemes, Make Your Mark with a Ball is for you. As the celebrity creations have shown, all you need to do, is start with a ball, bounce some ideas around, and let the creative juices flow.”

Sport Relief is a UK-wide fundraising event that aims to harness the power and passion of sport to change lives for the better. By taking part in Sport Relief and raising much needed money you’re helping to make the world of difference.

The Sport Relief Weekend takes place on Friday 14th – Sunday 16th March. Go to sportrelief.com to find out more. The money raised will be spent by Comic Relief to transform lives here in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.

For more information about the Make Your Mark with a Ball competition, prizes and how to enter, sporting entrepreneurs can go to www.makeyourmark.org/withaball and download an entrants’ pack.