Get Out Get Active in Wales teams up Strength Academy Wales
Women in Sport launch their #TimeTogether campaign this October. The campaign aims to inspire teenage daughters and their mums, aunties, step-mums and grandmas to get active while spending #TimeTogether. GOGA is proud to be working with Disability Sport Wales and Strength Academy Wales to bring families together in inclusive activity sessions.
Our partners Disability Sports Wales are helping disabled and non-disabled communities become more confident in physical activity.
Disability Sport Wales and Strength Academy Wales (SAW) approached Get Out Get Active (GOGA) to create some daytime activities that would allow participants to have fun while challenging themselves.
The GOGA team saw this as the perfect opportunity to introduce some home-educated families to forms of exercise they had never tried before – weightlifting!
GOGA successfully broke down barriers to accessible and inclusive fitness opportunities in the local area. We offered daytime activities (SAW Active Together sessions) that worked for all ages and abilities, including children and grandparents.
To encourage as many people as possible to attend the SAW Active Together sessions, we worked alongside local families to provide plenty of information about the club, the coaches, and what the sessions would involve. We also prepared participants for entering gym and weightlifting settings to build confidence.
The GOGA team found that many participants were encouraging their own family members to come along and try something new. As the information on the programme travelled quickly by word of mouth, some home-educated families were even travelling from other counties to attend a session.
As the programme began to grow in popularity, we saw lots of young people taking an interest in youth weightlifting, and grandparents who wanted to build their strength with tailored weights.
One SAW participant said:
“I would’ve never come to an environment like this. But with my grandchildren coming too, it’s motivated me to come and try something new. It gets me out of bed in the morning, and it’s something we all look forward to.”
With whole families participating together from the ages of 6 to 76, the programme has continued to expand.
Many attendees are now taking part in other activities run by Strength Academy Wales, including youth weightlifting and Lift the Bar.
As demand is so high, Strength Academy Wales is continuing to work on a brand-new timetable which will allow more families to come together and enjoy physical activity.
This story is part of our campaign, #TheGOGAWay. Showing how the GOGA approach can help organisations do things differently across the UK.
About Get Out Get Active
Get Out Get Active (GOGA) is a programme that supports disabled and non-disabled people to enjoy being active together. Activity Alliance is the creator and lead partner. The programme is funded by Spirit of 2012, Sport England and London Marathon Foundation.
