DESCRIPTION : The Satellite Club Project ‘Achieve’ offers multi activity sessions with a specific focus on tennis, providing inclusive physical activity sessions for young people with disabilities.
SPORTS: Multi-activity sessions with the theme of tennis.
OVERALL FUNDING RECEIVED: £2,500
KEY PARTNERS:
- Riverside Tennis Club #NoBarriers, Head of Disability Tennis- Neil Frankel, nobarriers@riversidetennisbedford.co.uk
- Transitions UK Contact number- 01582 380 620, Charity number- 1160105 SOCIAL MEDIA
THE JOURNEY
In January 2020 team BEDS&LUTON facilitated a youth forum in partnership with Transitions UK, a charity who work with disadvantaged young people to discuss sport and physical activity with the service users in Bedford. The discussions highlighted the young people were predominately inactive due to a number of barriers including, lack of confidence, low mood and limited offering for disabled individuals. They also favoured quiet, relaxing venues which were easy to get to. They needed the sesssions to be affordable and would benefit from an awards or recognition programme.
HOW DID WE HELP?
Following the youth forum and consultations team BEDS&LUTON, Transitions UK and Riverside Tennis Club worked in partnership to produce an inclusive physical activity project which was tailored around the views and opinions obtained within the youth forum. The Satellite Club Project delivered by Riverside Tennis Club in Bedford will provide multi-activity sessions with a specific focus on tennis, for young people with disabilities in Bedford.
The project aims to support young people with disabilities to become more physically active in a safe and comforting environment, building their confidence and helping to develop their individual skills and capabilities.
CREATING THE SATELITTE CLUB
Having held a youth forum and gathered crucial insight into the young people’s behaviours around sport and physical activity, the partners involved produced a physical activity project tailored to the needs of the young people.
The partners involved delivered the following outcomes:
TEAM BEDS&LUTON - FINANCIALSUPPORT
We provided the Satellite Club Project with £2500.00 of funding to support delivery until March 2021, this included the projects initial launch via social media due to COVID-19 as well as continuing with face to face sessions when possible in the future.
TEAM BEDS&LUTON - NON FINANCIAL SUPPORT
We linked together the partners involved in order to collectively plan and deliver the targeted project, providing insight and an evaluation framework. We also facilitated a youth forum in partnership with Transitions UK to ensure the project was young people led and the target audience were involved in shaping the project.
TRANSITIONS UK
Transitions UK managed the project,including marketing the physical activity sessions to the targeted young people, ensuring the sessions run weekly and obtaining feedback throughout the project to allow the sessions to be adapted if required. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Transitions UK created a safe and secure online platform to ensure the project’s launch and delivery during these uncertain times, allowing the young people to gradually build their confidence in the comfort of their own homes before attending the sessions at Riverside Tennis Club in the future.
RIVERSIDE TENNIS CLUB
Planning and delivering each physical activity session, taking into consideration the individual needs of the young people and providing a fun and comforting environment with a familiar coach allowing relationships to be built with the young people prior to face to face delivery in the future. Riverside Tennis Club have also supported Transitions UK with online delivery, finding a suitable platform and time for the project to be delivered online.
KEY CHALLENGES
- COVID-19
The project was due to launch in March 2020 at Riverside Tennis Club. However, by the middle of March 2020 the government had understandably implemented numerous social distancing measures to combat the spread of Covid-19. The focus of the Satellite Club shifted slightly and the importance of physical activity and socialisation for mental wellbeing became prominent.
- DIGITAL CHALLENGES
The partners worked towards launching the project online with a closed and secure Facebook group that the young people and parents could access. They also helped any parent who needed help to get online via advice and guidance.
- ADAPTED PROGRAMME
With the young people now having limited access to equipment, different environments and space available to participate, Riverside Tennis Club had to quickly adapt the style and nature of the coaching
LAUNCH
The project launched online at the end of March 2020 and the first session attracted 21 participants and both Transitions UK and Riverside Tennis Club were overwhelmed with the postive feedback and engagement from the young people. Team BEDS&LUTON provided online feedback forms as well as weekly registers to monitor attendance levels. The online physical activity sessions run twice a week, alongside Transition UK providing workshops and online support. The online satellite club has provided the young people with some structure to their week, social interaction with peers, boosted their confidence in the comfort of their own home and created a rapport with the coach at Riverside Tennis Club.
21 PARTICIPANTS 2 x SESSIONS PER WEEK AMAZING FEEDBACK
IMPACT
- PARENT
“Thank you for sorting the Facebook out, I really think he will love to get back involved with his friends. We usually go to the gym on a weekend as a family so hopefully we will all get involved with the exercise videos together.”
- TRANSITIONS UK VOLUNTEER
“The things that really stuck out to me, is how the coach adapts his exercises to different levels (i.e. level 2 and 3) so it doesn’t limit people. I love the way he speaks to people, he seems very kind and patient. As for the classes themselves, the exercises are diverse and work on different parts of the body which is good. I’d say my final point is that it is very easily accessible.”
PARTICIPANTS
- Participant 1- “The coaches exercise routines are great because it gets you up and going and keeps your mind busy. It’s great for me because I can challenge myself to train harder and keep a positive mind-set.”
- Participant 2- “I think it’s a cool idea it’s something to distract you and a way to do something when you have zero motivation to do anything. I like the exercises and the coach seems like a really funny guy.”
- Participant 3- “I think it’s a great initiative to get us all moving. It should keep us fit instead of sitting around doing nothing all day- its giving me a break from doing my computer work and going out to work. It’s a laugh.”
- Participant 4- I will prefer the face to face sessions because I don’t like watching videos but I feel good knowing that I know the coach and understand what kind of work we will be doing so I feel more confident.
- TRANSITIONS UK PROJECT LEAD
“I am delighted with the partnerships and relationship we have formed with all involved. Neil is a fantastic positive coach who is able to engage and reassure all young people involved. I can’t thank Jade from team BEDS&LUTON enough for supporting myself and Neil through this process and making the exercise for all our young people accessible. The overwhelming response to the classes from the group has really helped lift moral and boost spirits during this difficult time. We all look forward to meeting at the Riverside Centre and continuing/ moving onto our face to face sessions.
- RIVERSIDE TENNIS COACH (Neil)
“It’s been a smooth process from inception to delivery, We adapted quickly to the restrictions in place due to Covid-19 and it’s been a privilege to see so many get involved remotely. We can’t wait to meet everyone in person!”
KEY LEARNINGS
- Before planning and delivering any project, gather data from the target audience to help understand their behaviours around physical activity and produce a project which is tailored to their individual needs.
- Obtaining feedback throughout the project allows for continuous learning, making sure the sessions are meeting the needs of the young people and adapting where required.
- Online sessions have their own sets of problems including finding a suitable online platform, dealing with subscription charges and the upskilling of staff and parents.
- Physical activity projects should be delivered with sustainability in mind. The Satellite Club Project will introduce a small fee in the future to ensure the project can continue, as well as being linked in with a local club who are part of the open court disability network, providing participants with an outlet to pursue their engagement in physical activity.
- The importance of organisations and partners working collaboratively, sharing learnings and insight throughout the project to ensure the desired outcomes are achieved.
NEXT STEPS
- The Satellite Club will continue to run until March 2021 supported by Satellite Club funding from Team BEDS&LUTON.
- Transitions UK provide workshops surrounding physical activity and health to reinforce learning and help the young people adopt healthy lifestyles for the future. Topics include; Mental Wellbeing, Nutrition, Quiz’s, how to workout at home and hygiene to support the Covid-19 outbreak.
- An evaluation framework which includes WENWBS will be used to monitor the impact of the project and will shape future projects across Bedfordshire providing a greater understanding of young people and their views and opinions surrounding physical activity.
- Following the Covid-19 outbreak, once safe to do so the project will link in with Riverside Tennis Club with face to face sessions being delivered and providing young people with an outlet to join a club or attend additional sessions.
- A small number of online sessions will continue to be offered past the COVID-19 outbreak, with some young people not having the confidence to attend a new session straight away and therefore helping to build their confidence and self-esteem via online platforms.