May 2009 £2.75Sport and fitness for today’s youth

Slimming expert Rosemary Conley is launching anew weight loss programme for children. Kids 2classes will be held at Rosemary Conley Diet andFitness Clubs across the UK and are designed foryoungsters over ten and a parent to attend togeth-er. The six-week programme will involve learningabout healthy meals, fitness circuits and nutritionalgames and quizzes.Rosemary said: “This is not a slimming club forkids. It will really help them to feel successful andpositive about their physical pursuits.”

By Louise Cordell

ADVENTUROUS schools that add moredaring sports to the PE timetable haveseen participation rocket, according toOfsted.

The study which was published thismonth says PE provision is better thanever, thanks to the introduction ofmore adventurous activities like skate-boarding, martial arts and mountainbiking onto the curriculum.

Alternative classes from yoga andBoxercise to golf and cheerleading havefuelled a resurgence in lessons withnine out of ten schools now hittingGovernment targets of at least twohours of sport every week.

Author Judith Rundle, a physical edu-cation specialist advisor, said: “Whilevisiting schools we have found a verypositive picture and I think it is theincrease in variety of activities that hasled to a lot of the re-engagement, par-ticularly in older girls. While there isstill a place for more traditional teamgames, especially for those pupils whoenjoy more competitive activities,schools are widening the net and offer-ing things that attract other pupils too.

“It is clear that if schools want toimprove their performance, then

increasing the variety of what is onoffer is the way to do it.”

Ofsted investigated the standard of PElessons in 100 primary and 84 sec-ondary schools in England between2005 and 2008. Classes were rated goodor outstanding at two-thirds of pri-maries and more than three-quarters ofsecondary schools. However, the reportfound that provision was not so goodfor teenagers sitting their GCSEs – onlyhalf of 14-16 year olds were required todo two hours’ PE because they wereconcentrating on exams and core sub-jects. The report said that while creativeapproaches to PE were paying off, theGovernment still needed to introducemore ambitious targets to improveworrying levels of health and fitness.

Judith added: “We know that whilephysical education is a contributingfactor towards the fight against obesity,it cannot be the sole cure and manyother things, like healthy eating andactivity outside school, need to betaken into consideration. Schools areable to look at these issues throughPHSE programmes and while research-ing the report we found that theschools with strong links between theseprogrammes and their sports provisionwere the most successful.”

Daring sportslead to rise inparticipation

Free gymfor underfives inLiverpoolCHILDREN under fivein Liverpool are to getfree gym member-ships as part of acouncil scheme totackle childhood obe-sity.

The Futures schemewill offer a range ofactivities from activeplay and dance tobasic ball exercises in13 of the city's 15Lifestyle Centres.Liverpool City Councilis also giving freeannual membershipto 1,600 families sothat they can join in.

Council leaderWarren Bradley said:"Nowhere else in theUK is delivering ahealth and fitness pro-gramme on this scaleand, in the build up tous hosting the nextOlympics, it would bea triumph if we couldprovide every child inthe country freeaccess to their localleisure centre. IfLiverpool can do it socan other towns andcities.''

01 14/4/09 16:48 Page 1

02 CYQ 14/4/09 16:49 Page 1

news 3

Group Editor:Andrew Harrod - ah@whpl.netTel: 01226 734639 Reporters:Louise Cordell – lcordell@whpl.netTel: 01226 734694Mary Ferguson – mf@whpl.netTel: 01226 734712Christina Eccles – ce@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734463Dominic Musgrave – dm@whpl.netTel: 01226 734407

Sales and Marketing Director:Tony Barry

Sales and Product Manager:James Dickson jd@whpl.netTel: 01226 734672

Sales Executives:Sarah Young sy@whpl.netTel: 01226 734709

Studio Manager:Stewart Holt sth@whpl.netDeputy group editor:Judith Halkerston jhalkerston@whpl.net

Circulation enquiries to:Kelly Tarff kt@whpl.net Tel: 01226 734695

Contacts www.futurefitness.uk.net

‘Get primarykids hookedon sport’ By Mary Ferguson

HOOKING children on sport in pri-mary school and improving teachertraining will help transform physicaleducation, according to the shadowsports minister.

Hugh Robertson said schools arefed up with government initiativesand claimed they need more inde-pendence to just get on with it.

The Conservatives have promised toimprove the delivery of and access tosport by reintroducing competitiveschool fixture lists and improving thelinks between schools and sportsclubs.

Hugh said: “Over the four years Ihave been doing this job I’ve seenbrilliant school sport delivered inatrocious environments and averageschool sport delivered with amazingfacilities. The key is to help the teach-ers, instead of just hitting them withtarget after target.

“And if we can capture children’senthusiasm for sport between eightand 11 they are more likely to staywith it throughout their school years.

Often by the time they get to second-ary school it’s too late.”

In their recent policy paper forsport, the Conservatives claim nearlyone million school children do notreceive the basic two hours of sportand PE each week and many schoolsports facilities remain unused afterschool hours. To combat this, Hughsaid he wants to concentrate onschool club links and has called formore support for the Association onPhysical Education (AfPE), who claimthere are only six hours devoted to PEduring primary teacher training.

And he said the drive towards com-petitive sport is the single biggestchallenge that secondary schoolsface, as they struggle to find theteachers and curriculum time for it.

He added: “I’m not sitting herethinking ‘I’m a Conservative, so Iwant to put a Conservative doctrineinto school sport’. I’m taking the fouryears of what I’ve seen and sayinggood progress has been made insome areas, but there is still more todo.”

Bobsleigh world champion NicolaMinichiello has held a masterclass for stu-dents in Yorkshire. The Olympian led theclass at Camp Hill bobsleigh facility inKirklington to mark her new role as anathlete mentor for Sky Sports Living forSport. Students from Aireville School,

Skipton took part in the event and weretutored on a bob-push track. Nicola, whohas worked as a teacher, joins a team ofathlete mentors led by Olympic goldmedallist Darren Campbell, who providehelp and advice to youngsters involvedwith the programme.

03 14/4/09 16:50 Page 1

news4

By Mary Ferguson

A FORMER bodybuilder has turned totraining children in a bid to boosttheir health and ignite a passion forexercise.

Jackie Lewis, who has recently setup personal training company JLFitness, runs kids’ exercise classesand gym sessions at her local com-munity centre in County Durham.

She has been helping to run the fit-ness suite at the community centrefor a couple of years and, sinceChristmas, has been closing it for anhour a week to take a group of tenyoungsters from ten to 14 throughtheir paces in junior gym sessions.

To keep their interest going, they areset challenges on the bikes and tread-mills to cycle or run the distancesbetween local points of interest. A bigmap on the wall charts their progressand they receive certificates at theend of their journey.

Another group of children take partin fit kids sessions, which are run inthe community centre hall and incor-porate circuit training, tag rugby andfit ball exercises.

Jackie said: “The Junior Gym hasbeen going so well that we really wantto put on another session but itwouldn’t be fair to the members wholose access to the gym for anotherhour, which is why we launched FitKids.”

Children are also taught about thebody and nutrition and are set littletests at the end of each exercise ses-sion.

“I always ask the kids what theyhave eaten before they start and tryand educate them why nutrition isimportant. It’s nice to see that theystarted out telling me they had sweetsor pies and now it’s beans on toast orjacket potatoes. It shows they arelearning.”

The plan is for parents to come tothe Fit Kids sessions once a monthand either join in or observe, helpingthem get involved with their chil-dren’s health.

Jackie added: “I felt I’d achievedwhat I’d wanted when I was an ama-teur bodybuilder and I’m reallyenjoying helping the kids enjoy exer-cise. I’d love to start working witheven younger ones now.” Jackie Lewis when she was training

Jackie tries to ignite apassion for exercise in kids

Jackie Lewis

AN AMATEUR boxing club dam-aged by flooding has reopened,with a former boxing championat the helm.

Mike Gibbons – a fully quali-fied Amateur Boxing association(ABA) coach – is heading up theteam at the City of Hull club andhe is targeting youngsters.

Youngsters can train from theage of eight and CouncillorLinda Chambers added: “It isgreat to see the club open againand reaching out to local young-sters. In addition to the manyother amenities in the area, thisoffers another alternative forlocal people to get fit, getfocused and have fun.”

Flooded clubback on its feet

Youth finalsOVER 5,000 young athletes haveappeared at the annual BritishUniversities and College SportsChampionships in Sheffield.

The finals featured 20 differentsports, with teams and individualscompeting to gain the title of BritishUniversity Champions. Tracey Baker,head of sport at the University ofSheffield said: “A number ofOlympians have previously comethrough university sport systems andthese championships can help exposeany potential talent of the future.”

Sheffield was selected to hold thefirst-ever British UniversityChampionships last year.

Edwin Van De Sar has thrown his weightbehind a new initiative designed to getmore girls involved in sport.The Manchester United goalkeeperlaunched a girls’ futsal tournament for 14to 16 year olds that will see teams fromacross the country compete for a place inthe finals at the Red Devils’ training complex.

Edwin is firmly behind the project adding:“Nobody should miss out on sport simplybecause of where they live, which is whythe work that StreetGames is doing up anddown the country is so important.“This tournament is a great way to giveyoung people a platform to demonstratetheir skills and show everyone that there isa wealth of talent out there.”

Bid to get teens in the swimNEW initiatives to encourageunder 16s to take advantage of freeswimming sessions have beenlaunched by DC Leisure and swim-ming brand Zoggs.

The kids and family sessions havebeen created as part ofSwim4Fitness, a pledge to helpfamilies get more active in thepool. Parents and children canlearn about the benefits of swim-ming, find nutritional advice andaccess structured swim sessionsand activities in a new interactivesection on the website.

Over 60 per cent of councils inEngland now offer free swimmingfor under 16s. Mark Hammersley,CEO of Zoggs said: “The govern-ment’s new ‘free swimming’ initia-tive is a fantastic opportunity forpeople to make the most of theirlocal pool.

“Zoggs is committed to encourag-ing and helping everyone get moreactive as part of a healthier lifestyleand enhance the freedom and funof swimming so is delighted to besupporting DC Leisure and allswimmers.”

04 14/4/09 16:51 Page 1

05 Servicesport 16/4/09 12:48 Page 1

news6

By Lyndsey Smith

A SCHOOL which offers advice toparents on cooking healthy meals iscelebrating after scooping a topaward.

St Luke’s Science and Sports Collegein Exeter picked up the innovationaward at the recent Youth SportsTrust Conference. One of its success-ful projects is a health night for par-ents.

Kealey Sherwood, director of com-munity, said: “Parents can come inand learn about healthy eating andcooking a nutritious meal on a budg-et. They can take part in yoga, danceand fitness classes as well as using

our fitness suite, exercising as a fami-ly or on their own or with friends,while kids go off and do differentsports activities.”

Kealey believes the school’s move tosports specialism inspired a newethos of fitness, with student surveyscarried out to find out youngsters’attitudes to PE and sport, and theireating and drinking habits.

Kealey added: “We are able to gaugepupils’ opinions now. For example wehave 26 per cent of our pupils cyclingto school when the national averageis six per cent, yet some girls say ifthey cycle to school they have to weara helmet, and then have nowhere tostraighten their hair – there is always

room for improvement. We are listen-ing and trying to do as much as wecan. Working with the pupils willhopefully encourage everyone tobecome more physically active.”

The school offers activities like kitesurfing and mountain biking along-side traditional sports.

Kealey added: “We have a great takeup before, during and after school.We are big on health and well beingand we have breakfast clubs wherekids can take part in a variety ofactivities before being given a healthybreakfast, there is lots of informalplay at break times, and every pupilcarries a bottle of water aroundwhich they also take into lessons.”

St Lukes pick up their award at school sports colleges conference.

School scoops top award

Rosemarie Clark took part in the firstSHOKK Fit Camp at HertsmereLeisure’s Furzefield Centre.A programme of sports based activi-ties and games as well as theorybased sessions covering topics toassist the children in making healthierchoices and lifestyle changes washeld. 223 children attended the campover five days and 87 per cent saidthat they would attend again.

By Lyndsey Smith

ELITE sports coaching in a school in Dorset will be rolled out toother sports if the success and popularity it has achieved in cricketcontinues.

The Queen Elizabeth specialistsports college in Wimborne Minsterhas brought in ex pupil and formercounty cricketer for Hampshire and Gloucester, Richard Scott, tocoach six talent identified youngsters.

Richard runs a breakfast club andTony Watson, head of PE, says thestaff are benefiting as well as the kids.

He added: “Staff are looking to learntechniques too so that we can even-tually roll out the coaching for every-one.

“We do have cricket on a participation basis but nothing quite so specific as what Richard canteach.

“We identified six youngsters whohave showed massive potential andwe will look to cascade down fromthere so other pupils can benefit too.”

The school runs a programme fromwhich the kids were picked and Tonysees no reason why elite coachingcannot be offered in other sports inthe future.

“This is working very well for us.Richard comes in and takes the kidsthrough a comprehensive warm up,helps them develop fielding skills andrunning strategies and then works ontheir batting.

“It is sport specific stuff and I thinkwith the number of young athletes wehave on the programme we will lookat bringing coaches in for othersports to help other talent.

“We operate sport for all on a largescale so we don’t have to feel we aredoing something wrong by zoning inon those that with the right helpcould go a long way.

“Apart from curriculum PE we alsobring in trampolining, badminton,basketball and swimming coachesand we have lots of initiatives run-ning now.

“Perhaps where we used to get adozen pupils after school, interest hasnow trebled by the coaches comingin.”

Elite coaching couldbe extended to other sports

06 14/4/09 16:53 Page 1

news 7

STANDING for Self HelpIndependence Nutrition andExercise, many of the childrenSHINE works with have BMIs over40 and serious health problemsassociated with obesity.

And one of its youngsters – a 15year old boy weighing 30 stones –recently appeared on Gok Wan’sChannel Four show ‘Too fat, tooyoung’, highlighting the work of theprogramme.

Kath Sharman founded the proj-ect in Sheffield five years ago and ithas been operational in Plymouthand Oldham for a year, after beingtaken on by the NHS.

A former nurse, Kath trained as acounsellor and became a child andadolescent specialist. She said: “Alot of the kids I saw were crippledby low self esteem because ofweight issues so when I wasapproached by the then director ofEducation Action Zone to set upSHINE, I jumped at the chance.

“The first programme we ran in2003 was a shambles because wedelivered it just like a school lesson,with power point presentations.

“So the kids that took part in that

first one became our advisorygroup and committee and they stillshape how we run things today.”

So far, 264 children in Sheffieldhave been helped through SHINE,which runs three 12 week pro-grammes a year. Youngsters aged11-17 are referred by GPs, schoolnurses or social services – but alarge number also refer themselves.

The longest standing member ofthe committee, who is now 18 anda director of the programme, lostfour and a half stones and is nowdoing a degree.

The chair of the committee haslost over six stones and the biggestweight loss to date has been eightand a half stones.

Kath, who herself has lost tenstone since setting up SHINE, said:“The sad thing is that a lot of par-ents don’t believe – or refuse tobelieve – that their child is over-weight.

“But bullying is one of the bigproblems for overweight childrenand one of our girls was evenattacked with a pin to see if shewould pop.

“And because it’s so traumatic for

many kids to take part in PE, wewrite them letters that tell theschool they are getting their twohours with us.”

The SHINE programmes consistof an initial 12 weeks’ learningabout nutrition, self esteem, man-aging anxiety and depression andlearning to differentiate betweenphysical and psychological hunger.

Education sessions are held on aSaturday at a youth centre andphysical activities take place at alocal leisure centre.

There are two hours of teamsports on a Tuesday, swimming ona Wednesday and gym sessions ona Saturday morning. The two houreducation sessions are then fol-lowed by a dance class.

Funding comes from SheffieldCity Council, Children In Need andother small grants, but the pro-gramme is struggling for money.

Kath added: “The biggest problemwe face is trying to secure funding.Our kids are classed as morbidlyobese, unlike programmes likeMEND and Watch It!.

“Consequently they tend to haveother serious health problems like

asthma, diabetes and high bloodpressure, as well as psychologicaldifficulties like self harming.

“This means the programme costsmore because we have to use nurs-es, psychologists and nutritionists.”

Obesity intervention programme SHINE has been helping overweight children get their lives back for years,counting TV presenter Gok Wan as one of its biggest supporters. Mary Ferguson reports on an initiative thattackles obesity at the top of the scale.

Kath Sharman

Helping overweight youngsters shine

07 14/4/09 16:54 Page 1

news8

MERVYN is a former territorial armyinstructor and is now a mountainleader, and it was his passion for theoutdoors that has helped the second-ary school encourage more of its stu-dents to be active.

It has so far offered classes in rock-climbing, hill walking, orienteering,mountain biking, obstacle coursesand beachwalks.

He said: “Activities take place on mysite and I have more flexibility inmaking things happen in terms ofgetting the kids out of school.

“We offer outdoor and residentialactivities and I get lots of supportfrom the school, with outdoor activi-ties now written into the schoolimprovement plan.

“I aim for 100 per cent full timeattenders six times a year, with theother sites working in cycles andoffering different activities sporadi-cally.”

Mervyn said he selected outdoorsevents as they offered a workout overa more prolonged period and canalso help build stamina.

He added: “Anyone can kick a ballaround for a few minutes but we aretalking about sustained effort for afew hours – sustained physical activi-ty over a prolonged period.

“You can see in the competitivegames we play at school the onething lacking is stamina and thisworks wonders.

“Cross country is a good example ofwhen stamina comes to the fore andthose that win are also those with alittle bit of grit and determination –and it also helps to develop a degreeof confidence.

“The main problems I find is thatkids don’t cope very well with notwinning and PE is a steep learningcurve in terms of that.

“The outdoor stuff is more coopera-tive activity, some find it difficult butI think they surprise themselves interms of the degree of cooperationthey have and the engagement of thekids has a knock on effect across thewhole curriculum.

“A lot of the kids are inner city andit can be a bit disorientating for them

when we go to the Highlands or tothe Lake District.

“You have the would-be hard casesin tears as it starts to get dark andthey are walking through the woods

wanting to hold your hand and itproves very beneficial in terms ofcommunication.

“It’s all about broadening their hori-zons.”

Trinity Deneview School in Newcastle was rewarded for its efforts in outdoor physical activity when it was voted school of the yearfor innovation by its SSP. Lyndsey Smith spoke with head of PE, Mervyn Riley, to find out what makes his school stand out.

Getting kids out of school lands Mervyn a top award

Mervyn Riley

OLYMPIC champion Sharron Davieswas one of the stars who took part ina series of events to raise the profileof young apprenticeships in sportand active leisure.

She was joined by paralympianMickey Bushell for the sessionsorganised by SkillsActive whichincluded presentations, talks, meet-ings and activity sessions.

School pupils, college students andemployers came together to discovermore about the benefits of sportsapprenticeships to both employersand young people.

Stephen Studd, chief executive of

SkillsActive said: “Sport and activeleisure is a key area for a number ofreasons. Not only does it contributeto the Government’s targets forimproving the health of the nationand tackling the growing obesity cri-sis, it also features high on the agen-da in the run up to the London 2012Olympics. There’s never been a betteror more exciting time to getinvolved.”

The sessions ran as part of NationalApprentice Week in London,Brighton, Bristol, Bolton, Buxton,Telford, Wellingborough, Sunderland,Harrogate and Benfleet.

Sharron helps raise profileof young apprenticeships

Sharronwith someyoungpeopleduringone of thesessions.

08 14/4/09 16:55 Page 1

news 9

CHERYL has been at Baxter Collegein Kidderminster for six years. Nowassistant principal, the former headof PE is still line manager for herold department, teaching 15 lessonsa week, and coming up with newideas.

She said: “When I first arrived thekids were okay with PE but hardlyover enthusiastic. A lot of thingswere based on high performancelevels and this wasn’t my ethos atall.

“I was all for mass participation.This didn’t mean disregarding thekids who were top end performers –and we had a few – it just meantallowing other kids that weren’t sogood to take part as well.”

The first step was to change the

way school sports days were run.Different activities such as tug ofwar competitions were introducedto encourage the whole school totake part.

“You used to see the high levelkids taking part whilst the rest ofthe students were on the sidelinesheckling. A varied programme ofactivities suited to all levels andabilities alleviated that and encour-aged everyone to get involved.

“We applied the concept to les-sons too. We tried to structure thecurriculum to suit the kids ratherthan the teachers. Some groups weintroduced tag rugby instead of tra-ditional rugby because it was fareasier for them to get to grips with –it’s about the kids feeling comfort-

able and enjoying themselves andwe have sports captains acting as astudent voice that tell us what theywant.”

Boys and girls are split before theymix again at year 11 and thengroups are split again into differingabilities.

“Single sex groups proved benefi-cial, particularly for the girls whostruggled with their confidencewhen it came to sport.

“The groups are very flexible toallow everyone a fair chance. If youare a star gymnast or nationalswimmer but can’t play football ornetball it doesn’t matter.

“They can be in the lower band forthe team sport and the top for theirparticular talent giving them a

chance to shine on that stage.”The headteacher at Baxter is a PE

specialist and Cheryl says that hasbeen instrumental in allowing herto get things done.

“He believes PE has a huge role toplay and that made my job so mucheasier. He backs us all the way as adepartment and even obtainedfunding to build us a Wii room – areward for the kids when they havedone well.

“He fully embraces PE and we arelucky to have such a positive andforward thinking department. Wehave a mix of very experienced andnewly qualified staff who countourselves lucky we are at a schoolwhere PE isn’t constantly thrown tothe back of the pile.”

Collecting the Sunday Times PE teacher of the year award, Cheryl Buckley was told she had revolutionised afailing PE department. Lyndsey Smith reports.

Cheryl nets award for turning PE around

By Mary Ferguson

A SCHOOL sports festival designed toinspire pupils to enjoy PE has takenplace for the second time in Bristol.

The Bristol Festival of School Sportand Culture took place over threedays, involving 12,000 pupils from 18different schools in the area.

Teachers were instructed to bringalong pupils who don’t appear toenjoy team sports in PE and wouldbenefit from competing at a lowerlevel. The aim was to introduce themto new activities and encourage themto enjoy team games by playingagainst children of a similar ability.

Lisa Blacow, competition managerfor The West of England Sport Trust(Wesport)– who helped organise thefestival – said: “It’s very important forus to provide opportunities for kidsto try out more activities and team

sport. The festival was a chance forthem to gain confidence and toinspire them to take more of an interest in PE when they return toschool.”

Lisa said there used to be a pan-tathlon event every year, but itbecame too competitive. So whenWesport took over, they wanted tocreate an event that still broughtschools together, but took away theoverly-competitive element.

“Last year was a bit of a test eventbut the feedback we got was fantas-tic. We have seen great exampleswhere young leaders have enjoyed asport here and taken it back to theirschool, so people that couldn’t attendcan benefit too.

“And some schools have evenchanged their curriculum to incorpo-rate some of the more differentsports like ultimate Frisbee and golf.”

Other sports on offer at the festivalincluded tag rugby, lacrosse, boccia,t-ball and flag football.

Lisa added: “The festival was a greatway for teachers to see the kids they

don’t normally notice during PEgames because of the stronger play-ers. It shows that pupils can enjoycompetitive sport – as long as theyare playing at the right level.”

12,000 involved in second school sports festival

Wirral school keeps gettingactive in the family ...By Lyndsey Smith

A FAMILY night has been intro-duced at a school in the Wirralto allow parents and children toget active together.

Park High Sport College strug-gled to encourage its students totake part in physical activity anddecided to host a free familynight once a week to offer some-thing different.

The school has picked up aninnovation award at the schoolssports colleges conference fortheir efforts and director of com-munity, Lilian Lancely, said thebenefits had been clear to see.

She said: “For us to engage ourkids we had to try and changetheir culture - change their atti-tude, self-esteem and confi-dence.

“We thought the way forwardwas to engage their families andwe did this through the medium

of physical activity.“We live in an area high in

unemployment and social depri-vation. People in Birkenhead, onaverage, live ten years less thanthose in other areas of the bor-ough, and these nights are abouta whole lot of health issues butalso social capacity building.”

Visitors are able to use the fit-ness suite, climbing wall andtrampolines, and Boxerciseclasses are also available.

Lilian said: “Our boxercise ses-sions are packed and it is allabout developing confidence.We want parents to be activeand healthy and involved withtheir children.

“Our nights aren’t structured orprescriptive, they can do a dif-ferent activity every week if theylike - it’s about motivation.”

The school also has a Saturdaypre-school club with gymnastics

sessions helping promotehealthy activity for the underfives.

Numeracy and literacy areaddressed through the use ofthemes and stories and this pro-gramme has raised standards ofbehaviour and attainment ingymnastics and physical educa-tion whilst providing a network-ing facility for parents.

Lilian added: “This initiativehas impacted on our kids’ activi-ty levels massively. If they cansee their parents gettinginvolved they are more activelyencouraged to get involved, andit has had an impact on ourdaily success.

“We are now seeing more kidsdoing activity recreationally atlunchtime or after school clubsand it is all about quality, consis-tency and development for usnow.”

Partnership’s workrecognised withNSPCC awardA SPORTS partnership has become the firstin the country to receive an award for itswork with children’s safety.

Tyne and Wear Sport have achieved theadvanced NSPCC award in recognition of itswork.

David Marrin, assistant director, said: “Iam delighted with this significant achieve-ment that recognises the partnership's com-mitment to protecting children and youngpeople in sport.

“The hard work will lead to a safer environment for them to enjoy sport and Iam particularly proud we are the firstCounty Sport Partnership to achieve theadvanced level.”

Nick Slinn, from the NSPCC’s ChildProtection in Sport Unit added: “It is clearthat Tyne and Wear Sport has effectivelyembedded safeguarding in its work, and issupporting its partners to take steps so that children and young people can enjoy their sporting activities in a safe environment.”

09 14/4/09 17:24 Page 1

news10

By Louise CordellA FORMER nurse has set up her ownfitness company because she was fedup of seeing so many overweightchildren pass through the healthservice.

Mum-of-three Sue Young was anurse in Wearside for 23 years anddecided to offer a fitness service toschools that includes activities likehopper races, games of tag, hula-hooping and skipping.

She said: “I have three kids of myown and I didn’t want them or any oftheir generation to fall into the obesi-ty trap and become just another sta-tistic.

“It is an absolute tragedy that it ishappening, so I was looking for a wayto encourage them to get fit and havefun while doing it.

“Basically we do anything we can tokeep their heart rate up while theyare enjoying themselves.

“Many activities offered are too spe-

cific – and if kids don’t want to dothem or don’t have the skills, thenthey feel excluded.

“Some also feel embarrassed abouttheir fitness or body shape and wouldrather not get involved so we try totake their minds off that.”

Sue took on a franchise from FitKidand provides the lessons in severalprimary schools – she is now lookingto expand into secondaries.

She is trying to push the five-houroffer but says many schools havetrouble meeting the recommenda-tions.

She added: “I know that mostschools have trouble finding the timeto provide enough games time – a lotthat I have been to haven’t come any-where near.

“However, I have found that olderchildren seem to enjoy the sessionsjust as much as the younger ones somy focus now is to provide the class-es for as many as possible.” Sue Young and her ‘FitKids’ Sam, Emily and Amy

Former nurseprescribeslots of games

A half-term soccer camp held in Tameside has been hailed a success by its organisers.Hattersley’s Sport in the Community team hosted the event which saw young people fromthe neighbourhood take part in a week’s worth of football related activities at the KenWard Sports Centre. As well as practical training and healthy eating sessions, it alsoincluded a special Futsal tournament from StreetGames, the national charity which helpsyoung people from disadvantaged backgrounds access sport.

Childhood obesity to be tackledBy Mary Ferguson

A THREE-YEAR project to tacklechildhood obesity in Rotherham isset to begin in May.

The Carnegie Club is an extensionof the Carnegie Weight Loss Campsthat run in Leeds and will enableoverweight youngsters aged eight to17 to attend weekly lifestyle sessions,held at local DC Leisure run sportscentres.

Over the 12-week term, partici-pants will increase their levels ofactivity, improve their understandingof diet and nutrition and hopefullymake a long term behaviouralchange.

Regular updates and reviews will

continue after completion of thecourse.

There will also be links withschools, leisure centres, libraries andsupermarkets to promote thescheme and encourage people toself-refer on to the programme.

Carol Weir, public health specialistfor NHS Rotherham, said: “We arethe first PCT in the country tolaunch this type of programme andon this scale.

“The significant level of investmentdemonstrates the priority it has beengiven and our commitment to reducing obesity levels inRotherham.”

10 14/4/09 16:55 Page 1

news 11

DRAGON Sport and 5X60 werelaunched by Sports Council Walesto boost participation in extra-cur-ricular physical activity in both pri-mary and secondary schools.

Dragon Sport, targeted at under11s and launched in 2000, encour-ages participation in football,rugby, cricket, athletics, netball,hockey, tennis and golf.

And in 2006, 5X60 – which repre-sents 60 minutes of exercise, fivetimes a week – was introduced toencourage kids to keep up the goodhabits once they move up to sec-ondary school.

94 per cent of primary schoolsand 96 per cent of secondaryschools are currently involved inthe initiatives.

Anne Hamilton, head of peopleand programme development atSports Council Wales said: “DragonSport has had a huge impact onchildren in Wales. Extra curricularparticipation figures have gone upsignificantly – it really has been amassive jump.

“We offer the traditional sports

because people recognise them andthe basic skills the kids learn canthen be applied to other sports.”

Primary school teachers play akey role in the delivery of the activi-ties, but the project offers a trainingprogramme to get parents involvedtoo. By learning the skills them-selves, they are then in a position toteach and encourage their ownchildren at home.

The 5X60 project was introducedto follow on from Dragon Sportsand encourage those who hadpicked up sport at primary level, tocontinue through secondaryschool.

Anne said: “We were seeing thismammoth increase in primaryschool kids taking up activity butthat wasn’t being mirrored by acontinuation into secondary schoolso we had to create extra opportu-nities for kids of that age.”

The programme was launched in2006 by Welsh Big Brother starsGlyn Wise and Imogen Thomas,selected to be ‘realistic’ role modelsfor the teenagers being targeted.

Outdoor and adventure activitiessuch as surfing and climbing, recre-ational activities such as aerobicsand martial arts and pursuits likecheerleading, dodgeball and tram-polining have all been provided bythe project.

Anne added: “We are trying toencourage a greater range of young

people to take part in sport. Thereare typical pupils who get into theschool teams and end up playingfor them all because they are soskilled, but we want to provideopportunities for other kids whoare perhaps not so successful. Andthat means targeting primary andsecondary schools together.”

Children in Wales are taking up more sport than ever thanks to two initiatives designed to encourage exercisethroughout their school lives. Mary Ferguson reports.

Welsh initiatives aim to keep kids moving

Glyn and Imogen at the launch of 5X60

A DragonSports participantduring asessionwith rugbyplayersfrom theCardiffBlues

11 14/4/09 16:58 Page 1

news12

THE history of football is littered withexamples of teenage prodigies whofailed to fufill their potential whilstothers, who once shared the samehype, went on to become globalsuperstars.

For every Wayne Rooney and StevenGerrard there are dozens of playersblessed with natural talent who bare-ly break through into the professionalgame, let alone make it into theworld’s elite.

Tony Faulkner, head of the medicaldepartment, and Steve Nickson, headof recruitment, believe a lot of this isdown to attitude and that, as in anumber of sports, an objectiveapproach to managing the mentaldevelopment of young aspiring foot-ballers is very much a grey area.

To combat this they have devised aseries of specially designed question-naires, psychometric tests and physi-cal exercises to profile individuals.

It consists of four specific areas –constructive evaluation, mindset,

mental toughness and language andbehaviour – that enables the coach toidentify and address any mental defi-ciencies that might exist.

Having evaluated players’ scoresthey identify areas where players arementally weak and use a range ofskills training to develop those psy-chological traits.

Tony says this is beneficial as talentalone is not enough. “Over the yearswhen talented players have hit thatbrick wall they often struggle and thisis another aspect to add to theiralready good skills set.

“When lads come in we can start toprofile them and find out where theyare on the continuum of psychologi-cal development, and then, depend-ing on what we find, we can start toidentify possible weaknesses and putmental skills training in place to helpthem develop.”

The idea came about five years agowhen academy staff got together ask-ing the question: What makes a pro-

fessional footballer?It was widely recognised that ath-

letes with a good attitude were gener-ally more successful and it was thisprompting that led to Tony andSteve’s research.

Travelling the world and meetingexperts from many fields they aimedto discover ways they could maketheir players more mentally profi-cient.

Tony said: “It has been an interest-ing journey and we have soughtadvice from performance expertsfrom all over the world in all sorts ofindustries. One common denomina-tor in diverse professions was atti-tude. There were lots of cross oversthat correlated within different sec-tors. We want all our top athletes tobe self managing psychologicallywhen they are on the pitch – our goalis that the player becomes self-reliantand we have devised exercises thatbecome useful techniques which willsharpen their head game.”

Two members ofBlackburn Rovers Academystaff are pioneering apsychological profiling toolwhich they believe willlead to the club producingmore first team stars ofthe future. Lyndsey Smithfound out more.

SteveNickson and TonyFaulkner

Shaping stars of the future ...

For further information please

contact Tony Faulknerand Steve Nickson at

Tony.faulkner@zen.co.ukor Steve at

harry1974@hotmail.com

Profiling gives youths toolsand strategies they needPSYCHOLOGICAL profiling is now inplace at Blackburn from the age of 14as experts believe children do nothave the life experience to be able toretain a realistic picture in the profilebefore that.

However, pre-14s are introduced toa process within their coaching syl-labus that exposes them to the psy-chological, social and emotionalaspects of the model.

Blackburn have been told by thePremier League they are the only clubin the UK to be running anything likethis at such depth and Tony said:“There needs to be an acceptancethat putting a model like this in placeis needed and I think there is a longway to go in terms of that.

“Youngsters come into our academyand into a structured environmentwhere it is football, football, football

and this is about giving them toolsand strategies to deal with setbacksthey come across.

“There is a great quote from a proj-ect at San Francisco university thatsays 80 per cent of successful athletessay it is down to their attitude ratherthan talent yet there are no struc-tured programmes in place – it isn’tlogical.”

Tony and Steve plan to visit ACMilan – who run a similar pro-gramme – in June and Tony added: “Ihave been speaking to their doctorwho believes we are now coming intothe generation of mental preparationand I certainly hope that is the case.

“As Jose Mourinho once said:“Without addressing the mental defi-ciencies we are not giving players thetools to play at the top level.”

The four areas of the model are brokendown as follows:

Self constructive evaluationThis enables the player to become selfaware and learn how the mind canaffect both performance and development.

MindsetTo assess and develop the players’mindset: fixed mindset (F.M.S) orgrowth mindset (G.M.S)F.M.S – Individuals who only rely onhard skills – their physical talent – toprogress.G.M.S – Individuals who are aware that

potential requires development of bothhard and soft skills.

Mental toughnessTo assess and develop the traits of:commitment, control, challenge andconfidence.

Language and behaviour To assess how a player perceives hisview of the world through the languagehe uses in conversation. This gives thecoach the knowledge of the player’smotivational and working traits, whichallows them to influence the player’sbehaviour by matching the player’s language.

12 14/4/09 16:59 Page 1

news 13

Youngsters netbasketball staras a mentorBy Lyndsey Smith

A FORMER pro-basketball star ispassing on his skills to youngsters inLambeth – acting as a mentor todozens of young people across theborough.

Former England player JuniorWilliams – also of Brixton Top Cats,London Towers, and Oklahoma CityUniversity in the USA – runs free bas-ketball coaching sessions for 11 to 20year olds from the Lilian Bayliss OldSchool in Kennington.

He said: “Sport is really importantfor young people in helping themdevelop life skills, such as compan-ionship, team work, respect and dis-cipline.

“I believe my job is as much abouthelping young people develop lifeskills as it is developing basketballskills, and I always tell young playersif they work hard, they will get betterand results will come – that applies asmuch with school work as it does

with basketball.” Around 180 young people take part,

competing in leagues as KenningtonTop Cats.

Junior said: “All the sessions are freeand I am really keen to encouragemore young people to get involved asI love coaching and getting kids inter-ested in sport.

“It's not just about developing eliteplayers who may have a future in thegame professionally - it’s seeing kidshaving a good time, making friendsand learning life skills that reallygives me a kick."

Lambeth Council has refurbishedbasketball facilities in Larkhall Parkthanks to funding by NBA Europeand Adidas as part of the NBA Caresinitiative.

Coun Mark Bennett, cabinet mem-ber for sport, added: “Basketball is asport which is really growing in popu-larity and we want to make it a keysport for development in Lambeth inthe run up to the 2012 Games.”

Olympic star DarrenCampbell helped launchthe UK School Games in

Wales – the first time theevent will be held in the

country.The gold medallist – thisyear’s ambassador – was

joined at Cardiff Castleby a selection of past

and present UKSG competitors.

Report looks at disability pathwayA REPORT has been commissionedto explore how the UK schoolgames can be more effective atincreasing opportunities for youngdisabled people.

The Youth Sport Trust’s report willreflect on the disability pathwayleading to the event to increaseopportunities.

Alison Oliver, director of sport forthe YST said: “We have made someexcellent progress in recent years toensure that a disability programmeis established with swimming, ath-letics and table tennis all included

last year. “The findings of this commission

will allow us to focus our effortseven further and ensure that thegames lead to increased opportuni-ties and improved provision for allyoung people.”

Multi-paralympic medallist swim-mer Marc Woods, and BBC com-mentator Paul Dickenson, who rep-resented Great Britain in hammer atthe 1976 and 1980 Olympics, willlead the commission consultingwith a range of sporting and disabil-ity federations.

SHOKK and Hull City Councilhave joined forces in the fightagainst childhood obesity withthe installation of the fullSHOKK concept at WoodfordLeisure Centre.The facility is the first of its kindin the area and was officiallyopened by Deputy Lord MayorKaren Woods.Sharon Bingham, area managerfor Hull Leisure said: “It doesn'tmatter if children are big, tall,thin or small or have the abilityto catch or kick – the new gymrepresents the kind of future weall want for the children of Hull,which is an active and healthyone. Sport and physical activityare vital elements in a youngperson's life, which brings healthand social benefits. This willhopefully lay the foundationswhich they can take into theiradult life.”

Students gain initiative insightSTUDENTS at Canterbury’s ChristChurch University enjoyed a guestlecture from Ian Wakefield, businessdevelopment manager for theInstitute of Sport and RecreationManagement (ISRM).

The sports management undergrad-uates gained an insight into initia-tives to capitalise on the increasednational interest in sport and learned

how professional bodies can raisestandards of professionalism in thesector.

Ian said: “Each year there arearound 75,000 students who graduatewith sport related degrees in the UK.These people are the future of ourindustry, so it is essential that profes-sional bodies such as the ISRMengage with universities in this way.”

Bursaries for talented youngstersDERBYSHIRE’S 2009 Talented Ath-lete Fund has been launched by theperformance director for Britishcycling.

David Brailsford joined more than80 young sporting stars who arecompeting for England or GreatBritain or have been identified ashaving the potential to do so within

18 months. Former national netballcoach Liz Broomhead also hosted aworkshop for parents, which lookedat how they can best support theirchild on their chosen sporting path.

Each of the athletes who attendedreceived a £300 bursary from thefund to help with training and com-petition costs.

13 14/4/09 17:00 Page 1

news14

By Christina EcclesA COMPANY which specialises insending sports coaches to schools islooking for PE teachers to help rollthe scheme out nationwide.

Sports Xtra runs a fitness pro-gramme in primary schools acrossCambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essexand North London to promote physi-cal activity.

And now it is looking for more PEteachers to come on board to managethe teams of coaches that go intoschools to help deliver the PE lessons.

Managing director Gareth Lippiattsaid: “We hope PE teachers wouldwant to get involved.

“They have already got the back-ground knowledge and are passion-ate about developing young peoplethrough sport.

“We can provide them with thetraining and they may also have a lotof key contacts which would be use-ful.

“They also understand that there isa need for what we do so we thinkthis is something that could workwell.”

The project offers teaching plansand resources to over 200 schoolsand some even have Sports Xtracoaches sent in to deliver the lessons– something which Gareth said hasbecome more popular.

He added: “We are going out to fouror five more areas in the next six

months and we have definitely founda model that works.

“I am pretty confident we havefound a solution.

“We are seeking to recruit fran-chisees who have experience inteaching, management or sales.

“The key to success in this industryis in building strong relationshipsand it is definitely a ‘people busi-ness’.”

The company has been working inschools since 2002.

Since the franchising schemelaunched last November it hasreceived about 200 enquiries.

Wanted: PE teachers for scheme

The climbing wall which Sports Xtra can take into schools

Managing director Gareth Lippiatt

A disability sports fun day took place at a school in Essex with help from Chelsea FC play-ers. Organised by Thurrock Council and Basildon College, Treetops School hosted the eventdesigned to give disabled children the opportunity of taking part in coached sessions in avariety of sports and activities. Chelsea FC provided the football session with the collegemanning the multi-activity circuit and the youngsters were given the chance to try ‘newage kurling’, a variation of curling played on a hard surface instead of ice.

14 14/4/09 17:00 Page 1

Dance beatingmost activitiesin popularityBy Louise CordellDANCE is now the second most pop-ular activity in Britain’s schoolsaccording to new research from theArts Council.

Over the last four years the numberof pupils choosing the subject hasrisen by 83 per cent, with only foot-ball attracting higher numbers.

Studies show there has also been abig increase in the number of boystaking part in dance lessons, nowmaking up a third of those involved.

Sarah-Jane Watkinson, develop-ment manager for the NationalDance Teachers Association, said: “Ithink the response to dance has beenso good because it is such an accessi-ble part of contemporary culture – itmakes up a big part of young peo-ple’s social lives.

“It appeals to boys who alreadyenjoy physical activity, because fit-ness is so important in dance, butalso to those who are reluctant totake part in team sports.

“They definitely seem to be drawnto the more energetic forms like hiphop and break dancing and it is agreat way for them to burn off ener-gy.

“The discipline also has a lot ofstrong male role models, which isimportant to young boys, and

because it is so widely popular now,they don’t need to feel afraid toexperiment and try something differ-ent.”

A dance manifesto recently pro-duced by Dance UK described accessto dance in schools as a lottery, asthere are not enough specialistteachers to deal with increaseddemand.

It points out that the time givenover to dance in different areas variesgreatly, with some ignoring it com-pletely – meaning that pupils neverget the chance to take part.

Sarah-Jane added: “Some schoolshave really taken it on board and aremaking the most of the fact that itfulfills physical activity and culturalrequirements, bringing many differ-ent benefits to the pupils, but othersstill need to look more creatively athow it could be used.

“I think vital advice for schools is toget professionals in to work with thekids. It gives the lessons much morekudos, the kids respond much betterand it is great for their self esteem tobe working alongside experts.

“It gives them something to aspireto and they can see what they mightbe able to achieve.” A student from Stoke on Trent 6th Form College

15 14/4/09 17:01 Page 1

dance action16

Dance mat activity could benefit special needs pupils says expertBy Louise Cordell

PUPILS with special needs couldbenefit from using dance mats as part of their activitytimetable according to an industryexpert.

Paul Shinners, commercial directorat Pulse, has worked with many spe-cial schools and contributed to stud-ies into exer-gaming products inAmerica.

He has praised the dance machinesfor their ability to improve coordina-tion, concentration, reaction timesand spatial awareness in a fun con-text.

They can also be often used to strengthen children’s communication and social skillsthrough the competitive nature ofthe games and the group interactioninvolved.

He said: “Movement is essential todeveloping health and emotionalwell-being in children.

“Special needs provision in sport is now mandatory and dance machines cater for neurological disabilities such asautism and dyspraxia.

“Children with dyslexia and ADHDlack skills such as spatial awareness,attention control, problem solving,

physical coordination and memory –all of which can be addressed withdance machines.

“Autistic children are predominate-ly boys and they have little or nomusical ability – however they canmemorise the dance steps throughconcentration.

“Many of the world champions inthe dance mat community are boyswith special needs.”

WHEN The Place, the UK’s premiercentre for contemporary dance,needed floors for its new studios,Junckers was first choice to supplythe highly technical and specialistflooring required.

Nigel Hinds, project director for ThePlace said: “There’s something intan-gible about the balance of qualities –warmth, support, spring – that makean ideal floor for creating dance, butan artist knows when it feels right.

“Having worked with Junckersbefore, we knew we’d get the bestpossible floors and specialist techni-cal knowledge.”

As The Place’s studios are used 14hours a day, 364 days a year, anextremely durable surface is essential.

Junckers pre-finished 22 mm Beech

SylvaSport Premium, nailed toJunckers New Era UnoBat cradle lev-eling system provide support withoutbeing rigid and responds beautifullyto the dancers’ every step.

The flooring contractors were VAHutchison Flooring Ltd.For more information call: 01376 534700 or

visit: www.junckers.com

Junckers spring into action ... National move for dance initiativeA NEW national initiative has beenlaunched to help give children andyoung people the opportunity todance.

U.Dance was introduced at theYouth Dance England conference andaims to give every child the chance totake part in a dance performanceeach year.

It is hoped that the scheme willinspire new dance opportunities bothin and out of school as well as sup-port dance teachers and practitionersand their professional developmentopportunities.

Following a successful six-monthpilot scheme, U.Dance is now opento submissions from all over thecountry and plans to have reached

every school and youth dance groupacross England by 2011.

The initiative has involved over five per cent of primary and second-ary schools, with a total of over 1,000 schools and 26,000 children and young people taking part.

Linda Jasper, director of YouthDance England, said: “U.Dance isone of YDE’s key national pro-grammes and has already had anunprecedented response from danceperformance groups both in and outof school.

“We look forward to the programmemoving from strength to strengthover the next few years.”

16 16/4/09 09:44 Page 1

17 16/4/09 09:16 Page 1

dance action18

A dance initiative in the North East hasstarted a second term thanks to the grow-ing popularity of street dance.The ten-week hip hop street dance coursehas been rolled out to a further four sec-ondary schools plus a special school, aftera successful pilot last year.The course, run in conjunction withStockton School Sports Partnership andStockton Sports Development, combinesthe physical and creative aspects of dance.Community dance coach Lyndsey Daviessaid the uptake from the boys has been asgood as the girls.She added: “The response from the kids

has been excellent. The classes are volun-tary and we have had between 22 and 30attending including boys. In fact the boyshave really taken to the street dance. Ithink it’s the cool factor and we havelooked to employing a male break dancingcoach so they have a role model to look upto.”The programme reflects the current trendfor street dance and break dance andLyndsey, along with three specialist danceteachers are working to provide a pro-gramme of dance routines and choreogra-phy that aims to encourage the childreninto after school dance classes.

NQTs lackingconfidence inteaching danceBy Mary Ferguson

NEWLY qualified primary schoolteachers lack the confidence to deliv-er effective dance lessons in PEbecause they don’t receive the righttraining, it has been claimed.

Max Amesbury, lead trainer for PEand sport development withEducation Leeds, told Future Fitnessthat a deficit of effective training atuniversity means many NQTs thenstart the job with low confidence,particularly when it comes to teach-ing dance and gymnastics.

Max, a former head teacher, said:“From my own experience and fromtalking to other heads, it’s clear that alot of NQTs are coming out of univer-sity without the confidence andexpertise to teach PE and this specifi-cally applies to dance and gymnas-tics. They are often enthusiastic butjust don’t have the experience,

because it’s not addressed in enoughdepth at university.”

To help combat the problem,Education Leeds is considering thelaunch of extra training for NQTs indance and gymnastics, taking placefor 60 hours over a nine-month peri-od.

The initiative would be an extensionof their successful Leeds PE and Sportcertificate, given to high level teach-ing assistants who complete trainingto become leaders of PE and sport intheir primary schools.

Margaret Talbot, chief executive ofthe Association for PhysicalEducation added: “You can’t gener-alise – some NQTs are very well pre-pared when they start the job butsome are not because they don’treceive enough training. There is aneed for top-up training for somepeople but the real solution is tomake sure the initial training is right.”

A COLLEGE in the North East hasheld a special dance event in mem-ory of a sports student who died lastyear.

Northumberland College put on a‘danceathon’ for Daniel Petini, whodied of leukemia, and raised money

for the Teenage Cancer Trust.There was a variety of different

dance styles at the event with spe-cialist instructors and interactivemartial arts demonstrations. To helpraise money students offered sportsmassages in return for a donation.

‘Danceathon’ in memory of Daniel

18 14/4/09 17:04 Page 1

19 pulse 14/4/09 17:05 Page 1

dance action20

EVERY secondary school inGateshead took part in this year’sfestival, with 69 schools perform-ing different styles of dance onstage at The Sage Gateshead.

Organisers say the increase in thenumber of schools taking part andits move from a local leisure centreto this major venue shows how thefestival has progressed – and howmuch the popularity of dance as away for young people to keep fitand have fun has grown.

According to Gateshead Council’sphysical education and sportsadvisor Alun Davies – who organ-ised the festival – dance in schoolshas become more popular and thisincrease has been seen especiallyin boys.

He told Future Fitness that whenthe dance festival first began, therewere a lot more girls taking partbut at recent events, more boyshave got involved too.

He said the key to getting boysmore involved was picking broadranging themes – this year wasstyles of dance from all around theworld and next year they are look-ing at dance from films and musi-cals.

Alun explained: “For years we

noticed that nearly all of thedancers were girls but we wrote tothe schools as part of their registra-tion and encouraged them toinclude boys in their dances.

“Recently we have had more boystaking part – you can make itappealing to the boys. With theyounger age groups and infantclasses, they have always got amixed class.

“It depends on your approach.The theme this year was dancefrom around the world – if we hadmade the themes narrow, it wouldhave limited numbers.”

Displays at the festival includedstyles such as break-dancing, rock'n' roll, jive and hip hop andanother first for this year’s eventwas that members of staff fromthree of the borough’s schools alsotook part.

Alun added: “This was the firsttime that we invited the staff to bepart of it. It was great for the kidsas they could see them as goodrole models.”

Future plans for the festivalinclude an Olympic theme in 2012which may include dances fromcities which have previously heldthe Olympic Games.

The Gateshead Schools DanceFestival began 18 years agowith 12 local schools takingpart. Since then the event hasgrown and this year over 2,000children got involved,celebrating styles of dance fromall over the world. ChristinaEccles found out more.

Festival makes great strides

Cheerleadingweekends are launchedSCHOOLS can now get their pupilsdancing with a new series of cheer-leading weekends launched by PGLcentres.

Instructors from the BritishCheerleading Association helpgroups practice and perfect forma-tions and routines, including pomand cheer dances.

Two different sessions are available,introductory and intermediate,which allow anyone to get involvedand start improving their fitness lev-els.

PGL also runs a range of otherweekend contemporary dance workshops in partnership withFitPro.

These workshops begin with groupwork, learning basic steps, practisingvarious styles and the building upshort routines.

More complex sequences are then introduced and the weekendculminates with a complete performance of the finished routine.

By Nicola Hyde

EARLY findings from a research proj-ect into the benefits of five-pointdance platforms has found they canhelp teenage girls get fit.

The £47,000 study, conducted by Heriot-Watt University, is the firstcontrolled research project to look into the impact of exergaming and dance mats onteenage girls.

The study proved that teenage girlscan achieve moderate intensity exercise whilst playing on theZigZag’s five-point platforms and a300 per cent increase in energyexpenditure compared to sedentarysitting.

Fergus Ahern, managing director ofZigZag said: “It has been proven thatgirls’ activity levels significantly dropbetween the ages of 10 and 15 yearsof age.

“We also know that if a girl contin-ues to take part in physical activityduring her teenage years, she is more likely to remain active as anadult.

“Dancing is one of the activities thatteenage girls identify as being mostenjoyable.

“I believe that this research isimmensely important and will helpus to understand how best to usedance mats and exergaming to helpimprove the health and wellbeing ofour children.”

The second stage of the researchproject will look at motor coordina-tion, perceived skill and physical self-perception and is due for completionin June.

Platformscan helpteens getfit – study

The research looks into the impact of exer-gaming and dance mats on teenage girls.

20 14/4/09 17:05 Page 1

news 21

A young rugby player from Newcastle hasbeen recognised for his role in helpingothers at his school progress in the sport.Crawford Matthews, a year 12 pupil atHeaton Manor School, was presented withthe Rising Star Award at the annual SportNewcastle dinner, following a first rugbyleague win for his team in the Carnegie

Challenge Schools Cup.Crawford coaches the year nine team athis school after hours, supported by theNewcastle School Sport Partnership.Pictured, from left, George Taylor, RugbyLeague development officer for NE,Crawford with his award and Ted Baty,SSCo for Heaton Manor School.

TrampolineworkoutsuccessBy Mary Ferguson

A NEW workout that uses individualtrampolines has been hailed a suc-cess by a sports partnership whichintroduced it to students as anextracurricular activity.

Urban Rebounding involves chil-dren working out on individual minitrampolines, typically as part of a fit-ness class led by a teacher.

The Newcastle School SportsPartnership introduced the trampo-lines – known as rebounders – lastNovember by providing a day longteacher training course. In the samemonth, six mixed school groups fromacross the city were invited to trythem out, helped by specialist train-ers. Now, there are nine secondaryschools on the waiting list, with 30urban rebounders being shuffledround city schools for after-schoolsessions.

Ian Kendall, partnership develop-ment officer for the NSSP, told FutureFitness: “I came across the concept ata conference and really wanted to get

them up to Newcastle, but we couldonly get funding for 30, which is whythey are being introduced to schoolslike this.

“However my aim for the future is tobuy more, so schools can have theirown and be able to use them in cur-riculum time too.”

The rebounders can be used bypupils aged seven upwards, but mostof the NSSP schools involved are sec-ondaries.

According to research, urbanrebounding is 68 per cent more effec-tive than jogging and Ian said evenoverweight children find it accessible.

He added: “The smiles on thepupils’ faces while they are on thetrampolines is quite entertaining andbecause they are so focused on theteacher, they don’t even realise howhard they are working.

“We recognise that not everyonewants to get involved with teamsports so this is a great way for us tocater for those who prefer individualexercise.”

Urban Rebounding involves children working on mini trampolines.

BIOLAB UK are excited about thenew dosing system now available, thepH FUN from BAYROL.

The pH FUN has been designed to make the most important step of water care treatment simple and easy; as maintaining the correct pH level in the water is the basis of all other water maintenance.

The pH can fluctuate widelydepending upon the hardness andtemperature of the water and mustbe checked regularly and corrected ifnecessary.

The device continuously measuresthe current pH in the pool and, whereneeded, will dose the precise amountof pH-minus or pH-plus in order to

achievethe opti-mum pHof 7.2.

Thisnew andexcitingpiece ofequip-ment ison salenow.

For more details on the pH FUN please call LesleyFreeman on 01242 822537 or e-mail: lesley.freeman@biolabuk.com

New dosing system on sale now

21 14/4/09 17:06 Page 1

news22

Youngsters enjoy activity sessions with a young leader.

By Lyndsey Smith

WAGES are being paid to pupils inthe Wirral as part of a leadership proj-ect at a specialist sports college.

Bebington High offers students theopportunity to train to become lead-ers, with some able to earn a wage asassistant coaches. Top leaders getpaid, on average, £6.50 an hour forassisting with Saturday sports clubs.

Director of specialism DebraJennings said it acted as an incentiveto get more kids involved. She added:“We usually offer payment to leadersthat have attained a level one qualifi-cation although we can be flexible.

“Some sports don’t have qualifica-tions or some pupils may not be oldenough to take them but if we feelthey are ready and suitable equippedwith the relevant skills we will look atrewarding them too.”

Debra stressed wages should beseen as a reward with the kids enjoy-ing their leadership sessions despitethe payment: “Some kids only comein for an hour and £6.50 doesn’t go along way. The fact is they love doing itand it’s a progression pathway for us.We will support them on any coursesthey want to do to enhance theirqualifications and we may pay a littleextra for gymnastics coaches who arefew and far between as opposed tofootball coaches that we are awashwith – it is about incentivising.”

Student leaders help out at breaktimes conducting activities foryounger students as well as theSaturday Active Club. They takecoaching qualifications such as voca-tional GCSEs to national governingbody awards, in disciplines rangingfrom cheerleading to netball, whichrun alongside normal lessons.

Leadershipproject payingwages to pupils

PE students hitthe right notePE STUDENTS at NewmanUniversity have been taking partin an X Factor style sing off to helpwith their training.

Pupils studying the PGCE sec-ondary physical education coursealso took part in speech therapysessions and singing lessons tohelp with their voice projection,range of tone and to learn how touse their diaphragm when speak-ing in public.

The aim was to put into practiceskills they will when when teach-ing in schools throughout theircareer.

Derbyshireyoungstersbattle it outat finalsBy Christina Eccles

MORE than 120 athletes from acrossDerbyshire have competed in the East Midlands Airport Derbyshire Year Five/Six Sportshall AthleticsFinals.

The event, now in its third year, wassponsored by East Midlands Airportfor the first time and brought togethersome of the best athletics talent from local schools in a number of tra-ditional track and field eventsindoors.

Amber Valley topped the final scoreboard with 636 points, withChesterfield just behind on 616 points – making it the closest final todate.

In third place was North EastDerbyshire with 600 points.

Every competitor received a certifi-cate, and the winning team was alsopresented with medals and a trophyby GB Pole Vaulter Hen Paxton and Leonie Parkin, community rela-tions executive at East MidlandsAirport.

Events included indoor javelin,standing long jump, standing triple jump, hurdles and obstaclerelays.

To advertisein FutureFitnesscall 01226734672

22 16/4/09 09:39 Page 1

news 23

A PERSONAL trainer is fuming aftertwo local schools shunned his offer tolet students work out in his studio.

Jamie Sutherland, who works atCitigym in Fife, said the studio hadcontacted the schools to ask if theywould like to bring pupils in to sam-ple classes such as aerobics and corestability – but they both turned himdown.

Jamie said: “The feedback that wegot from local schools was that theythought it wasn’t necessary to showthe kids anything else.

“Our argument was that the chil-dren would like to do other things,not just what they do in PE. We wereoffering to give them something extrathat the schools could not provide.

“We were totally disappointed. Weare the second most obese nation inthe Western world so for schools to

give us something like that isabsolutely ridiculous. But we are abusiness and we can’t spend a lot oftime chasing these people.”

He also revealed that the companylooked into trialling some items ofchildren’s fitness equipment and con-tacted primary schools in the area tosee if they would be interested in thisbut again had no luck.

He added: “We contacted about adozen primary schools but had noresponse. Our first contacts were theactive schools co-ordinators but theynever got back to us. This is down to alack of knowledge and a lack of train-ing and local authorities need to stepup to the mark.”

Jamie added that the studio wouldconsider contacting schools again infuture and they are hoping for a morepositive response next time.

Schools turn down offerto workout in studio

By Mary Ferguson

AN Essex college has teamed up witha local gym to help its students on fit-ness courses understand the industrybefore entering employment.

Pupils from Harlow College havebeen visiting Ripped to help with thepractical areas of their course and fortheir assessments.

In a typical session, one of the gym’spersonal trainers delivers fitnessassessment demonstrations – onesession where they are shown andperform the tests themselves, andanother where they deliver the teststo each other.

The two top marked students willthen have the opportunity for workexperience, shadowing the gym’s per-sonal trainers.

Peter Squire, a tutor at HarlowCollege, told Future Fitness: “We havea partnership with the local leisurecentre but taking the pupils toRipped helps them see how thingsoperate from the private side.

“It depends what units the kids are

working on at the time but we areaiming to get them to the gym at leastonce during a fitness module. I thinkit’s important for them to get thereand see how things work in theindustry.”

Peter is hoping to introduce a leveltwo fitness instructor qualification atthe college and is talking to Rippedabout using the gym as a venue.

“Most facilities – both council runand private – tend to favour level two over national diplomas so that’swhy we are pushing for the qualifica-tion.

“I think other colleges could reallybenefit from linking with a gym – itallows the club to look at potentialstaff and enables the pupils to experi-ence a larger learning environment.”

Michele Meade, co-owner of thegym, added: “We are delighted to beable to help out and put somethingback. We will do whatever we can toensure the quality, knowledge andexperience of the students who arestudying in sports and leisure achievethe best possible grades.”

Pictured, from left: Charlie Coleman (student), Steve Blaney (Harlow College), BenMacIntyre (Ripped Gym personal trainer) and Chloe Fisher (student).

Students visitgym to gainindustry insight

Two of East Durham College’s campuses have merged creating a new £38m facilitywhich includes a fully equipped gym.SportsArt supplied over 45 training stations to the gym, including four new eco-powered treadmills that incorporate a maintenance free drive system using up to32 per cent less energy than traditional treadmills.Other items supplied included ellipticals, X-Trainer, steppers, rowers, upright andrecumbent cycles, plus a range of strength training units, adjustable benches andfree weights.

23 16/4/09 09:25 Page 1

news24

By Lyndsey Smith

SNOWBOARDING has become thenext big thing for youngsters inOldham after being introduced bythe school sports coordinator.

Suzanne Foulds of Our Lady’s RCHigh School in Royton discoveredthe sport when first qualifying as aPE teacher, and now three of hersix cluster primary schools have

sessions at Ski Rossendale, alongwith pupils from the high school.

Suzanne said: “We look to engagethose kids that are not traditional-ly sporty and the interest shownhas been great.

“The sessions are very structured.The kids learn the basic skills ofthe board along with an in depthhealth and safety talk and we startthem off on the nursery slope.

“They will learn to go from thetop to the bottom unaided beforebeing given the opportunity toprogress and they have reallytaken to it.”

Suzanne said snowboarding usesa variety of muscles including thehamstrings and quadriceps toguide the board, start it in motionand to stop.

She said: “It is great for motivat-

ing and engaging kids and givesthem a sporty experience out ofthe school.

“Its popularity has inspired me totry and think of other new thingsand we will look to take every pos-sible opportunity.

“I have mentioned it to otherSSco’s in the area and you neverknow we could soon tons of snow-boarding kids in Oldham.”

Suzanne brings snowboarding to Oldham school

PE inactivitycould stopweight lossBy Louise Cordell

REGULAR periods of inactivity in PEclasses could be stopping kids fromlosing weight according to a newstudy.

Research carried out at Queen’sUniversity, Ontario has found thatlonger, sustained bouts of exerciseare the best way to stave off child-hood obesity and that children withshort and sporadic activity levels aremore likely to struggle with theirweight.

Lead researcher, professor IanJanssen, said: “Even in 60 minute PEclasses or team practices, children areinactive for a large portion of thetime and this would not necessarilycount as sustained exercise.

“But when children do engage inlonger periods of sustained physicalactivity, there is a smaller likelihoodthat they will be overweight orobese.”

The study monitored nearly 2,500children, aged eight to 17, taking partin different levels of activity – spo-radic (one to four minutes), short(five to nine minutes) and long (ten

minutes and longer).Motion sensors were used to meas-

ure their responses and their bodymass index was calculated in order toclassify them as normal weight orobese.

The study found that two thirds ofthe physical activity the kids tookpart in was made up of short sessionslasting less than five minutes.

It also showed that only 25 per centof those who took part in longeractivity sessions were obese – com-pared to 35 per cent of those whojoined in for short, irregular periods.

Dr Janssen added: “Our findingshave important public health impli-cations with respect to the promotionof physical activity in young peoplebecause current guidelines to notstipulate how the recommendedamount of daily physical activityshould be accumulated.”

He now plans to carry out furtherstudies to determine the optimallength of exercise time and to exam-ine what influence different periodsof activity might have on other areasof health.

Preparations havestarted for the SurreyYouth Games whichare set to take placein June.The games aim toencourage youngpeople to participatein sport as well aspromoting coach andvolunteer develop-ment.Pupils from primaryand secondaryschools in the Epsomarea are taking partin free badmintoncoaching courses andlocal squash teamswill be demonstratingtheir skills.The activities includebadminton, basket-ball, boccia, football,hockey, judo, netball,rugby, squash andswimming.

A LANGUAGE and sports college inHampshire is celebrating after pupilsachieved success in a national ath-letics competition.

Eight students at The MountbattenSchool took part in the Aviva SportsHall Athletics UK Championships,where both the under 13 girls teamand under 15 boys team finished sec-ond against 49 other counties.

PE teacher Ceri Mitchell said: “The

Mountbatten School has enjoyedconsiderable individual and teamsuccess over the winter in SportsHall Athletics. The UKChampionships have taken all eight athletes to a new level of competition and hopefully thechampionships and their performances will inspire them toeven greater heights in the forthcoming months.”

The pupils with coach Mike Coker

Hampshire college celebratingpupils’ athletic success

24 14/4/09 17:27 Page 1

news 25

Eight primary schools in Liverpool haveattended their first rugby league tag festival, held at Hope Park sports campus.The majority of the 100 children hadreceived coaching from Liverpool StormRLFC and the club’s volunteers also supported the event by officiating match-es, timekeeping games and offering firstaid.The pupils received an invitation to join

the Liverpool Storm junior club at theirweekly training sessions, and sign up fortheir U11 squad.John Farrell, festival organiser andLiverpool’s rugby league development offi-cer said: “The event was a huge success, allthe kids improved with every game theyplayed.“This location and club environment canprovide a great opportunity for any childto develop their rugby league skills.“

Judo proves ahit with pupilsin GloucesterBy Mary Ferguson

PUPILS at a junior school inGloucester have been swappingcricket bats for combat after the headintroduced a judo club.

Kelly Armstrong, head of FieldCourt Junior School, told FutureFitness the after-school lessons havebeen hugely successful, with pupilsdeveloping citizenship skills as wellas increased fitness.

She said: “Judo has benefitted thekids on many different levels. It’sgood exercise but it also teachesthem about discipline and self con-trol. We have had some behaviouralissues at the school and judo hashelped them learn respect. One ofour pupils is autistic and he especial-ly has got a lot out of it.”

There is an even split of girls andboys taking part in the sessions –which are paid for by parents – andKelly said the girls especially felt saferand happier learning it as a form ofself-defence.

The classes have been so popularthat they are extending them to the

younger children at Field CourtInfant School.

“Some people believe judo is aboutfighting but it’s actually about gentleconflict resolution. It isn’t the type ofsport where participants aim to winat all costs, as simply taking part gen-uinely builds character and self confi-dence.”

At the moment there are no plans tointroduce judo to the PE timetablebut to introduce other pupils to theafter school club, Field Court is hold-ing a one-off ‘trial day’ with tastersessions for the children.

Kelly added: “Judo isn’t a main-stream sport in schools in the wayfootball or netball is.

“You don’t have to be skilled with aball to join in and as a result, we areseeing a completely different set ofyoungsters taking part.”

The school make it clear to pupilsthat combat outside the training hallis unacceptable and if anyone misus-es the techniques they learn they willbe excluded from the group.

Top table tennis playersbid to transform livesSIX world class table tennis playersare helping to raise money to transform children’s lives throughsport.

Jean Michel Saive, Chen Weixingand English national championsPaul Drinkhall and Darius Knight will compete in front of a live audience in the annual Dunlop Table Tennis Masters in May.

The aim of the event is to help engage young people indeprived neighbourhoods throughthe table tennis initiative, TTK

Greenhouse.

The competitors will complete a six-man game, two quarter finals, two semi finals and a final for prize money, all screenedlive on Sky Sports to over 40 coun-tries.

There will also be special perform-ances from some of the young people who attend sports pro-grammes run by Greenhouse and the tournament proceeds will godirectly to the charity’s table tennisinitiative.

25 14/4/09 17:09 Page 1

news26

By Mary Ferguson

PUPILS and staff at a Shropshire sec-ondary school are benefitting from anew gym that will be used in the cur-riculum from September.

Thomas Adams School received a£75,000 grant from North ShropshireDistrict Council to buy 17 new piecesof equipment and sixth form studentsand staff are working out togetherafter school.

The gym is also open to the com-munity and from September, thefacilities will be available to youngerpupils during PE time.

Helen Fischer, project manager forthe gym, said: “I think it will reallybenefit the children that don’t enjoyteam sports. My son hates playingfootball and I know he would muchprefer to be inside using the equip-ment. Hopefully, it will also inspirethose that don’t enjoy PE to feel bet-ter about exercise.”

Helen added that staff and studentsenjoy working out alongside eachother and said it’s beneficial for themto interact outside of the classroomenvironment. The CV and resistancemachines were supplied by VisionFitness.

Staff using the new gym

Council weighs in with £75kgrant for new school gym

A new rotating climbing wall, aimed atschools, colleges and youth groups,has been launched by FreedomClimber.The sport is becoming more popularthan ever and this equipment helpsyoung people to increase strength,flexibility, stamina and coordination ina safe, low level environment.As users climb, the wall mountedclimbing surface rotates so they arealways a safe distance from the floor –meaning that no ropes are needed.Andrew Bagnall, Freedom Climber dis-tributor, said: “It enables schools toprovide an exciting activity with thechallenges and exercise benefits ofclimbing in a safe environment – whichallows kids of all ages to participatein this great recreational sport.“Kids have always loved to climb andif they get exercise and increase coordination at the same time, it’s perfect.”

High-energyyoga bid tocurb violenceBy Mary FergusonYOUNG gang members in Glasgoware being taught a high-energy formof yoga in a bid to curb violence andbring them together.

David Sye, a master yoga instructorbased in London, is teaching the boys ‘Yogabeats’ through the Yoga Beats Conflict project, which is being filmed for a television docu-mentary.

The discipline – which uses ener-getic, non-structured movements toloud music like hiphop and dance –was introduced to the youngstersalong with the film crew.

David told Future Fitness: “Whenwe asked them what they thoughtabout yoga they totally rejected theidea but when I showed them ademonstration they loved it.

“I challenged them by jumping intohandstands and bending myself like apretzel and it seemed to really inspirethem.

“Kids on crack cocaine or heroine –or any other type of narcotic – can get the same kind of high from yogaand that’s what I’m trying to teachthem.”

Yogabeats uses spontaneous move-ments instead of traditional postures,

which David said is better suited toyoung people’s bodies.

“I started off teaching kids static postures but they repeatedlyused different movements, as theirbodies naturally fell into other posi-tions.

“This type of yoga gives theminstant good feelings and like withdrug addiction, the body then wantsto feel that again.

“I don’t want yoga to be confined tothe middle classes in Kensington andChelsea, I want to use it as a tool forsociological change.”

David said that introducing the con-cept of Yogabeats has the potential tohelp schools combat extreme badbehaviour or substance abuse, but it has to be taught by the rightperson.

David developed Yogabeats when hewas caught up in Yugoslavia duringthe Bosnian war, teaching traditionalyoga to people in the community tohelp them cope with the fear ofdeath.

He added loud music to drown outthe sounds of fighting and bombsand he taught the discipline to sol-diers in return for food.

Boarding school upgrades to maintain first class facilitiesA BOARDING school in Somerset hasupgraded its gym equipment tomaintain its reputation for havingfirst class fitness facilities.

Wellington School’s Princess RoyalSports Complex, a £2.6m indoorsports facility, has installed new CVand resistance equipment fromCybex as part of its rolling replace-ment programme.

Pupils in year 11 and above are able

to use the full fitness facilities and a‘junior gym club’ is run for 13-15 yearolds who are closely supervised onthe equipment.

Complex manager JJ Rowland saidthe boarders don’t need muchencouragement to use the facilities intheir spare time because they look forthings to do after school finishes.

“We have lots on from the finish ofschool up until six, including foot-

ball, rugby and hockey training,which is made easier because of ourastro turf. We also do fencing with aninternational coach which is verypopular.

“The time between finishing schoolat 3.30pm and dinner at 5pm is a keytime to do sport and we are fortunateto have it.”

The centre also runs sport camps,coaching camps for traditional sports

like football and netball and anadventure camp takes place whichinvolves children being taken outinto the countryside to play games in woods and learn how tobuild fires.

JJ added: “Because we are an inde-pendent school we don’t have targetsdictated to us, but there really is anincredible amount of sport that goeson here.”

26 14/4/09 17:11 Page 1

23

This spring Future Fitness will be launching its very own e-newsletter. The monthly letterwill contain breaking news from the industry as well as information about forthcoming featuresand events. Like the magazine, the e-newsletter is completely free to receive. All we needyou to do is register your e-mail address by visiting our website, www.futurefitness.uk.net, calling01226 734695 or complete the registration form that arrives with your copy of FutureFitness. Any companies wishing to take advantage of the sponsorship opportunities available onthe e-newsletter should contact 01226 734672 or e-mail sales@futurefitness.uk.net.

27 resource 14/4/09 17:17 Page 1

28 Leisure Lines 16/4/09 09:47 Page 1