INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Everyone Active Basildon Sporting Village is a new-build sports complex and Olympic and Paralympic 2012 training facility (see p36). Everyone Active has specially trained staff and follows an inclusive and integrated model. The centre provides a wide range of sports for disabled athletes including wheelchair fencing, wheelchair goalball, athletics, Paralympic judo and boccia, plus an outdoor athletics track and 50m, eight-lane pool. The local Basildon community uses the facilities alongside elite and international Olympic/ Paralympic athletes.
www.basildon-sport.co.uk
The Aspire National Training Centre in Stanmore is the first fully integrated training centre in Europe for disabled and non-disabled people. It specialises in rehabilitation and fitness for people with spinal injuries and the majority of its disabled members are wheelchair users. It has a 25m swimming pool with ramped access for wheelchair users, a fully integrated IFI-approved fitness studio, sports hall and dance studio.
www.aspire.org.uk
New facility: Visitors at the opening day of Basildon Sporting Village
Aspire: The first fully integrated training centre in Europe
Little Venice – in the heart of Westminster, London – is an eco site complete with grass-covered roof. It has a fully IFI-accredited gym where people are encouraged to work as independently as they can. Staff are fully trained in both the physical and social implications of a wide range of disabilities. A government initiative, Little Venice works closely with local GPs and primary care trusts to support rehabilitation and ongoing disability fitness. www.westminster.
gov.uk/active/littlevenice/
accreditation,” agrees Alex Gibbons, IFI London project manager. “You can have a superb pool and a well-equipped gym, but if staff aren’t comfortable around people with impairments, you’ll simply fail to engage with the very audience you’re hoping to attract and help.” All staff should learn how to
communicate with disabled people and be familiar with common terminology and body language. Heyworth explains:
“We train people in the basic courtesies: after all, you wouldn’t walk behind a non-disabled client and push them to the changing room, so why push a wheelchair user? The devil is in the detail, and facilities serious about offering disability fi tness need to address staff training and attitudes as a priority.” The importance of this is borne out by
the EFDS IFI programme, which focuses as much on staff training as on facility and equipment suitability.
getting started To attract disabled people, you need to build an inviting, stimulating environment.
“It may take a leap of faith that your investment in disability fitness will result in increased custom,” says Gibbons. “The majority of leisure providers who
june 2011 © cybertrek 2011
seek our advice on IFI-accredited equipment and processes are diving into unknown territory but, without exception, once established, the customers most certainly do come.” Hughes believes the secret is to
invest in the right equipment. “There can be numerous barriers for disabled people in terms of accessing fi tness products – complicated adjustments, high step-on heights, lack of tactile information, non-removable seats on upper body strength and CV products and over-concentration on lower body exercise for CV provision,” she explains. However, many mainstream equipment suppliers have developed more accessible products; there are over 100 IFI-accredited items of fi tness equipment, from 15 different suppliers, which have all been tested by a range of disabled people and industry experts for their accessibility and inclusivity. Non-disabled members can also use them, so there’s no need to double-up on equipment.
outside the gym Many disabled customers may prefer to take part in a team sport, try out athletics or take to the pool rather than just use the gym. Setting up team sports
such as wheelchair basketball, finding a wheelchair fencing coach or having space to host athletics training may pose a challenge, but if you’re able to offer such opportunities, it could make a big impact. “Any provision for disability fi tness is
to be applauded, but it’s the facilities that can go the extra mile that will really make a difference,” says Heyworth.
“Assembling a team of athletes with impairments can be tricky – and then you need to fi nd another team to play – but our ‘club fi nder’ service puts teams in touch with each other. I’m confi dent that, over time, more and more teams will be created and the sports will thrive.”
FIND OUT MORE Parasport –
www.parasport.org.uk +44 (0)20 7842 5789 English Federation of Disability Sport –
www.efds.net +44 (0)1509 227750 IFI –
www.inclusivefitness.org +44 (0)20 7717 1699
www.disabilitysport.org.uk
healthclub@leisuremedia.com katherine selby
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 41
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