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At SIBEC UK, keynote speaker Darren Campbell said his local leisure centre was key to his ultimate success. Katie Start talks to him, and other SIBEC delegates, about the critical importance of local authority leisure provision


D


LIVES


arren Campbell MBE is a sporting superstar. In 2004 he defied the odds and claimed an Olympic


gold medal as part of the 4 x 100m relay team at the Athens Games.


“People from my background just don’t experience this kind of success,” he says.


“I grew up in Moss Side, Manchester, where gun crime and drugs are rife. “My teachers wrote me off at a very


young age. I was constantly being told that I would amount to nothing, that I was no good, that I was a waste of space. Yet on the sports fi eld I could excel. Had this talent not been coached and nurtured, I honestly believe I would have spent much of my life at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Sport really does have the power to change lives. “The local leisure centre played a


crucial role in my adolescence. It was here that I started to explore the physical talent I had been blessed with. I played badminton every Saturday and held my Level 3 coaching certifi cate by the age of 13. While most of my friends were hanging about on the streets, I was honing the physical and mental skills that would eventually lead to me being crowned Olympic champion.” Leisure services may not be classifi ed


by the government as statutory, and of course not everyone who uses a leisure centre will end up on the world stage, but access to quality services can clearly have a hugely positive impact on individuals as well as on the community as a whole.


community impact In 2009, Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council instigated a steering group to discuss how to tackle the growing issue


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of anti-social behaviour. Sitting at the table were representatives from community youth teams, health services, the Greater Manchester Police and Oldham Community Leisure (OCL). Ian Kendall, CEO of OCL, says:


“Go!Oldham is a co-ordinated approach to promoting and delivering activities to the young people in the town. As well as promoting what’s already on offer, we identify any gaps in key areas and fi ll them. We receive ongoing intelligence from outreach workers, who identify anti- social behaviour ‘hot spots’ throughout the borough. This allows us to step in early, providing appropriate activities to try to get young people engaged and drive down anti-social behaviour.” A dedicated website was set up to provide more effective signposting to


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existing services, while programming was adjusted to include more taster sessions to engage those new to the activities. The scheduling of activities was also revised to ensure that services were being provided at the times of day when young people wanted to use them. “The results have been incredible,”


says Kendall. “Greater Manchester Police reported a 46 per cent reduction in anti-social behaviour over the summer last year. This is a great example of how leisure operators, working in partnership with the local authority and other local community groups, can have an impact on the communities they serve – an impact that extends way beyond the boundaries of the facilities they manage. What started as a summer programme


july 2011 © cybertrek 2011


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