This Girl Can: Sam's story
Across the country, television adverts, social media posts and billboards have advertised Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign. It’s a sassy celebration of women everywhere no matter how they exercise, how they look, or how sweaty they get.
The national charity, the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) is supporting This Girl Can to ensure more disabled women can get involved in the campaign.
In January's Sport England’s Active People Survey, it showed that 121,700 fewer disabled people and 125,000 fewer women are regularly taking part in sport. EFDS believes that the results reinforce the importance of understanding and responding to disabled people’s needs and preferences much more effectively.
Campaigns like This Girl Can will play an important role in increasing the numbers of all active women, especially those living with impairments and health conditions.
Here, Sam James talks about her love for keeping fit and teaching the new craze hitting the nation- Clubbercise.
Sam- This Girl Can:
I'm a Clubbercise professional trainer and their disability specialist. Let me tell you where it all began...
I have always been sporty and always wanted to dance, but never really was given the chance to by local dance schools because of my disability. I have Cerebral Palsy.
One Sunday I was watching television and they were talking to the creator of Zumba, Beto Perez. If you have never seen Zumba, it’s a Latin dance fitness class.
This interview got me thinking about taking part. I found a class and went with my Mum. I loved the class, as it was easily adaptable (whereas Mum didn't enjoy it so much!). I started going weekly to that particular class, but once my local gym started classes I went to every single one.
During a difficult time in my life, I upped the number of classes I took part in. This in turn led to me cracking a bone in my shoulder joint!
It didn’t stop me loving keeping fit. Once the physio gave me the go ahead to keep fit again, I started working with my mate who is a physical trainer.
After seeing how quickly I got my range of movement back, I realised the power of exercise. So much so that my physical trainer said I should do it as a job!
When researching what qualifications I needed to work with disabled people, I stumbled across InstructAbility. This is a scheme run by the charity Aspire, which trains disabled people to be gym instructors. I applied and got on the course.
Five weeks later I passed. Two months later, I passed my level three exercise and disability qualification. Then I started my three-month work placement in my gym. I worked on the 'ability' sessions for disabled people, which I loved.
I went on to do a Zumba and boxercise course. I covered a few classes and then got my own class. I started work within my local doctor’s referral gym sessions, which I acquired from volunteering. I continued working with InstructAbility, helping with any events I could assist with.
Then a chance meeting at the Leisure Industry Week exhibition in October 2014 was about to change everything.
I went to enquire about Clubbercise training and spoke with Mel, who is one of the professional trainers and she introduced me to Claire, the director. I didn’t know what would come out of this chance meeting.
If you like the idea of a fitness class that feels more like a night out than a workout you’ll LOVE Clubbercise®. Fun, easy-to-follow dance fitness routines using rave glow sticks to club anthems from 90′s classics to the latest chart hits taught in a darkened room with disco lights.
Due to its high and low impact options, Clubbercise dance fitness classes are great if you’re just starting out on a fitness regime or if you’re already a fitness freak!
That November, I was at the What's on 4 me Awards. I won an award and was runner-up for another. Claire from Clubbercise was at the same awards and she messaged me afterwards to invite me to train- in return for feedback.
I trained in December 2014 and following my feedback, I was employed as a professional trainer. Since then, the past year has been a whirlwind. Most of my dreams have come true!
I set up a partnership with Clubbercise and InstructAbility. Firstly, I set up a pilot course and I trained the first set of disabled instructors. A woman, called Michelle, who is visually impaired, was one of the first to be trained and we have since presented together on stage.
In the summer, I also had the chance of a lifetime and spoke at the Zumba instructor academy in London. It was here that I had the shock of my life when Beto himself surprised me! My dream came true to dance with him on stage. Thinking about it, this is still a surreal moment!
What are my future plans? Well, I am launching my Clubbercise sessions to train more disabled instructors. I also have Paralympian tennis player, Louise Hunt, in my Clubbercise class and she loves it.
Two years on, I have started to work on the disability gym sessions, which I was involved in for my own work placement. But, I also have many more ideas to help other disabled people access and enjoy group exercise classes. I’m very excited about what the future holds!
