Team Beds & Luton are delighted to announce that Nazia Qamar has become the first of the 16 ladies on Team Beds & Luton Me Time Leaders/Active Luton programme to pass her National Pool Lifeguard Qualification including Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and Emergency First Aid.
Nazia is currently studying Outdoor Education at Chichester University and is keen to start using the qualification whilst at University and at home during the holiday periods to support the CYCD youth group and their swimming sessions at Denbigh High School in Luton.
Nazia started her training during the Easter holidays at Lewsey Sports Park and Pool and has spent the last 2 weeks travelling backward and forward between Luton and Chichester to attend sessions at Denbigh High School to get ready for her final assessment.
We had a chat to Nazia about her training and how team BedsandLuton & Active Luton has supported her:
"It took a lot of hard work! If the course wasn't funded I wouldn't have been able to afford paying for it, as a full time student it would have been hard to even try and gain enough money! I'm just very grateful for the opportunity given to me. Now I will be able to lifeguard for cycd youth and maybe even the Bengali women's project at Denbigh High School, Luton. They had been struggling to find a lifeguard for the females and had to cancel some sessions, and now they wouldn't need to! It's just amazing that someone who hasn't been bought up with a swimming background could actually become a lifeguard, as well as the fact that not a lot of ethnic minorities have enough courage to do the course because of culture and males being around.
Carol Trower, Workforce Development Manager at Active Luton, said by me passing the lifeguard course I would become a role model to the rest of the ladies taking the course! And maybe even a role model to anyone who wants to be a sports coach and thinks they are aren't up to the task."
Michelle Morris – Coaching Development Manager, who organised the funding for Nazia says "It is such a fantastic achievement, we are so proud of Nazia for all her hard work and dedication. She really is a great role model for women who want to get people in their area more active, so a really massive well done".
Thanks must also go to the Active Training & Development Team (AD&T) trainer assessors for the time spent delivering the qualification, motivating and supporting Nazia throughout to improve her swimming speed and stamina and giving her the confidence to believe that she could achieve anything she wanted and Denbigh High School for all their help with the project.
Me Time Leaders is a project delivered by team BEDS&LUTON and funded by Sport England to help get more BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) females in Luton into sport and coaching. Do you want to be a role model and help get women in your area more active? Maybe have an interest in netball, badminton, walking or rounders? Funding is available for women in Luton to help improve skills and become a sports coach, please get in touch to find out more and see what courses are coming up that you could attend.
There is also funding available towards education around health and well-being as this is extremely important and works hand in hand with physical activity. team BEDS&LUTON have a number of workshops organised and will be looking to hold more. Please get in contact with michelle@teambedsandluton.co.uk if you have a group of women who would benefit from this.
Catrina Lewis, from Active Luton, was interviewed on BBC 3 Counties on Sunday evening about Me Time and Me Time Coaching project, please listen here as it's an interesting insight into the project.
