LEISURE CONNECTION
Leisure Connection has introduced aquatic youth clubs to inspire eight- to 14-year-olds to keep coming to the pool. Water polo, snorkelling, fitness swimming, aqua disco and life-saving skills are offered. All these aquatic activities are backed up by a number of social programmes, to encourage interaction and build relationships among the group.
“We have invested in these clubs
in response to a slight drop-off in structured swimming for this age group,” says Tara Stroud, Leisure Connection’s head of swimming. “The programmes are designed to be fun and energetic and help to ensure children and young people are feeling the benefits of physical activity – sometimes without even realising it.”
GUGAFIT
DC Leisure has partnered with Gugafit, a new health and wellbeing project that offers fun and innovative exercise classes for primary school children. Activities include hula hooping, limbo, dancing and aerobics to party-style music, with moves choreographed to appeal to children aged five years and upward. Children also learn about the importance of a nutritional diet and an active lifestyle. Gugafit – which stands for Get Up,
FREEDOM LEISURE
Freedom Leisure’s Junior Summer Fitness Challenge aims to motivate four- to 14-year-olds to increase their levels of physical activity during the summer school holidays, when all school and extra-curricular classes stop. Each participating child receives a free
fitness diary in which they record all their activities. For every 10 activities they complete, Freedom Leisure gives them a reward. The aim is to complete 30 physical activities – anything from cycling and walking the dog to leisure centre-based activities like swimming or tennis – and receive a certificate. The scheme has been running for
seven years at the Guildford Spectrum, with 71 schools signing up last year to promote it to their pupils. The initiative will now be rolled out to the rest of Freedom Leisure’s 34 sites, with the leisure trust hoping to engage 5,000 children this summer. The leisure centre isn’t essential to
the challenge, as the goal is to simply promote activity. However, stats indicate that it nevertheless plays a big role: 89 per cent of last year’s participants used
Get Active – has already launched at nine of DC Leisure’s sites and will be rolled out across the group during the next two years. To date, 60 DC Leisure staff have been inducted as trainers. Susan Rossetto, group health and
wellbeing manager at DC Leisure, says: “Two major factors in the rising problem of childhood obesity are that children are becoming less active and increasingly eating unbalanced diets. “Gugafit hits the spot for tackling both
of these issues, through the provision of fun and engaging workouts, plus the interactive website –
www.gugafit.com – where activities extend to the whole family, encouraging a healthy lifestyle through quizzes as well as an online exercise and diet diary.”
Each child receives a free fitness diary
the centre during the summer holidays, and visits to the complex increased by 6,000 while the scheme was underway. Ninety-nine per cent of the kids said they would like to do it again.
Gugafit encourages healthy lifestyles
OLDHAM COMMUNITY LEISURE (OCL)
Encouraging family fitness has been a key goal for Oldham Community Leisure (OCL) over the past few months. Since April, children aged 11 years and older have been permitted to accompany parents to any of the studio classes, such as Zumba and tai chi. Fitness manager Alex Knibbs says
Families can enjoy nature and keep fit june 2012 © cybertrek 2012
the exercise scheme has run smoothly to date: “OCL decided to soft launch the scheme to minimise concerns from members about the attendance of children or the availability of sessions.
I’m sure that small challenges will arise as the product develops, but as yet no such issues have arisen – customers’ needs have been met.” OCL is also now running a programme
of outdoor activities involving nature walks and rock climbing in the Peak District. Outdoor development officer for OCL Alan Keane says: “The nature walks are a great way for families to explore nature while participating in exercise together, as well as bonding with other families.”
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 59
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