Sport Aberdeen Active News by Sport Aberdeen

Active News Sport Aberdeen | Newsletter Edition #1

Welcome

Table of contents

Sport Aberdeen is a registered charity committed to

02 - 03

Introduction

04 - 05

Spotlight

06 - 07

Insight

Creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity

Insider

We do this through the “5 ‘P’s”:

The 5 ‘P’s

Get Active @Jesmond Undercover Boss Office Move 09

Case study

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Upcoming

Active Girls Committee

Charity no SC040973

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Participation Place Partnership Processes People

Introduction : Active News

elcome to the first edition of Active News - registered charity Sport Aberdeen’s quarterly newsletter. The newsletter looks to provide our partners and stakeholders with a brief snapshot of activity taking place across the organisation.

Sport Aberdeen is committed to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity. It’s impossible to put all of our business activity into our newsletter, so please do have a look at our website or follow our social media channels.

The spotlight turns to the 5 ‘P’s from Walk Aberdeen’s patient participation group at Whinhill GP Practice to the introduction of FootGolf at Hazlehead Pitch and Putt site. Find out why we are rolling out new Digital Guidelines to help steer the company’s marketing efforts into the digital age.

To all of our partners and stakeholders, I hope this first edition is an inspiring start to an active 2017. The diverse nature of our achievements truly shows why there are #naeexcuses not to get active in Aberdeen!

The spring edition will also give you an insight into the newly modernised and state-of-the-art Get Active @ Jesmond and provide the inside scoop on Sport Aberdeen’s undercover boss experience as well as our recent successful integrated HQ office move.

Thanks

Editor Active News Sport Aberdeen

Natalie Coupar Communications Manager

If you’re interested to learn more about anything in this newsletter, or to work with us to enable more people to become active in Aberdeen, get in touch by emailing information@sportaberdeen.co.uk If you’d like to sign up to receive this directly to your inbox visit www.sportaberdeen.co.uk/mailinglist

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Spotlight: The 5 p’s

THE FIVE ‘P’S Sport Aberdeen is committed to: creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through physical activity. People Whinhill GP Practice approached Walk Aberdeen to talk to their Patient Participation Group (PPG) to learn more about how to engage with patients in a different way. The Health Walk Coordinator met with the PPG and presented a short talk on the proven health benefits of regular walking. At the end of this talk it was decided that it would advertise a walk to patients and plan a few walks to gauge interest. The practice advertised the walks over a three week period, mainly to patients attending their diabetes clinic. To date there have been five walks with a total of eight patients and friends attending each week. Access to nearby Duthie Park enables pairs of walkers to go a bit further or faster if they wish and still link back to the group, benefitting from the

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social aspect of group walking. Tea and coffee is supplied in the practice meeting room after the walk, providing a further opportunity to reduce social isolation. Participants report that they “are very enthusiastic” and now “looking forward to Wednesdays” which is walking group day. The Practice Manager is happy with participation levels and plans by inviting the Health Walk Coordinator to the next practice meeting.

Place An accessible 9 hole FootGolf offer will be introduced at the current Hazlehead Pitch & Putt site. The FootGolf course layout will be designed around the existing pitch & putt course with the addition of 21 inch FootGolf cups to the greens. FootGolf will be launched in time for the 2017 Easter holidays as a taster / introduction for both pay and play customers and target user groups within Active Lifestyles and Aberdeen Football Community Trust. Sport Aberdeen Business Development Committee members were introduced to the concept of FootGolf in August 2016 and the company’s plans to boost its golf course offer. Consultation has taken place with the Hazlehead Golf Club Committee regarding the improved offer with the club recognising the potential increased income that may arise directly for the golf club itself, thus helping their overall longer term sustainability.

Spotlight: The 5 p’s

Meetings with the AFC Community Trust have taken place to discuss their interest in FootGolf as per the Aberdeen Active Partnership Strategy (May 2016), which itself is referenced within the Aberdeen Sports Facilities Strategy. The project is in its early stages, and a working group comprising of Sport Aberdeen and the AFC Community Trust is working.

Participation In October 2015 the Community Sports Development Grants were transferred to Sport Aberdeen from Aberdeen City Council, as part of the increased responsibility for the delivery of a wider sports service. The grants are now dispensed and reviewed by the Active Aberdeen Partnership, particularly to ensure funding is aligned to the objectives of The Strategy for an Active Aberdeen 2016 - 2026. The Community Sports Development Grants were later closed in April 2016 to enable a review of criteria and assessment arrangements to be undertaken. Consultation included two surveys, open for four weeks, targeted at the Community Sports Clubs Membership and the Sport & Physical Activity Workforce, and two focus group meetings. The survey results did not throw up any major issues with the previous grant scheme, however, there was a need to sharpen up the new scheme given the reduction in the Sports Grants Budget and the reduction in capacity to administer the grants programme. The new system will see that applicants are actively encouraged to look for other sources of funding that can be matched before applying for AAP Grants; a pre application checklist to ensure that applicants are eligible for grant funding; streamlining of the application process and there will be a direct link to the newly launched Crowdfund Aberdeen. The Active Aberdeen Sports Grants Programme reopened in early February with a new online application form accessed via Sport Aberdeen and the new Active Aberdeen Partnership websites. A full launch of the new grants will take place prior to April 2017.

positive and customer-focussed approach to engagement. The new process has already resulted in the launch of three new digital channels including Sport Aberdeen LinkedIn and Instagram pages. Positive outcomes have included growth in engagement and follower rates for Facebook, and a cross-business approach to promoting events through all social media accounts.

Partnership Aberdeen Wanderers RFC and Aberdeen Rugby have merged as part of a Sport Aberdeen initiative to form a city-wide Youth Rugby “super-squad” to enter the SRU Caledonian Cup Youth Competition. Under 15, 16 and 18 levels are now sitting together under the newly formed Granite City Colts. Negotiations have been ongoing for the last year with the Aberdeen City Rugby Club youth sections, in a bid to further develop and sustain youth rugby for all age groups and genders across the city. Consultation with the Aberdeen city clubs (Aberdeen Rugby, Aberdeen Wanderers & Aberdeenshire), Sport Aberdeen and Scottish Rugby found that the vision and ambitions for rugby development across the City were not joined up and needed to be refocussed. The new rugby partnership aims to connect to local, regional and national strategies and planning, benefiting the community and the sport. With aspirations to deliver an Aberdeen based youth section (U13-U18) that is capable of competing on a national level, the hopes are challenging Clubs in the Central belt and further afield. The programme aims include increasing youth playing numbers in the city with demonstrated success at school, club, regional and representative rugby across the age groups, and to launch a development plan that provides a pathway to a successful senior rugby environment for players and clubs in Aberdeen city and the region.

Processes Sport Aberdeen’s Marketing and Communications team recently rolled out Digital Guidelines to steer the company’s marketing efforts into the digital age. With over 30 digital channels managed across the business, the digital guidelines will ensure that the company takes a consistent,

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Insight: The Jesmond

Get active @Jesmond

Sport Aberdeen was overwhelmed by the fantastic response of the public to the modernised Get Active @ Jesmond, which reopened its doors at 6am on Wednesday 11th January.

xtensive modernisation to the venue included the installation of a brand new 70 station gym, fitted with stateof-the-art resistance, cardio and functional training capacity. The flagship venue also signalled innovative ways to increase local participation in sports and physical activity through the UK’s first virtual activity room, an immersive cycle studio and flexible opening hours. Hundreds of local residents and people from across Aberdeen visited the venue in the first few weeks alone to see first hand the £0.75m improvements. The feedback was wholly positive, with new Sport Aberdeen member Matthew Hance noting: “I am very impressed with the amount of new equipment and really like the fresh new layout.”

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Insight: The Jesmond

Extensive modernisation to the venue included the installation of a brand new 70 station gym. This glowing endorsement was reinforced by the figures, with new membership numbers during the January promotional period smashing all targets at the venue. The January promotional offer of “Join now, get January free” was embraced by sales staff across Sport Aberdeen, and reinforced by a strong marketing and communications strategy through digital, radio, direct mail and in venue advertising. At Get Active @ Jesmond, the team was 48% ahead of target at the time of going to print. This is down to the strong commercial offer of the modernised venue, reinforced by a positive sales culture and a highly visible marketing and communications strategy. This success will continue to enable Get Active @ Jesmond to grow as the premier sport and physical activity provider in Bridge of Don and Aberdeen. The extensive opportunities to participate in physical activity has already been embraced by Sport Aberdeen’s Active Lifestyles groups, and is set to expand to more young people with the launch of the virtual activity zone. Get Active @ Jesmond embodies Sport Aberdeen’s commitment to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity. Beyond

confidence to upsell the product to a captive audience. The quick turnaround of the project should not go unnoticed, with Group Operations Manager David Selkirk effectively overseeing the extensive refurbishment alongside fitness development partner Pulse Fitness. The venue will ensure that Sport Aberdeen will continue to be seen as the leading employer of choice for those seeking to work in the leisure sector. At the time of going to print, the formal launch of the Get Active @ Jesmond is to be marked by a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by the Board of Directors and led by Chairman Fred Dalgarno and Councillor Willie Young. To have senior members of the council administration in attendance at this event underlines the true scale of this momentous project for Sport Aberdeen and for the people who live and work in Aberdeen.

the strong offer to the local community and to customers, Sport Aberdeen staff at the venue have benefitted from extensive industry training. Group Operations Manager Allan Rae has led on sales training, which has given staff

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Insider: News

The latest news and events from colleagues across Sport Aberdeen

Managing Director Alistair Robertson with Northfield Swimming Pool supervisor Callum Kerry.

Staff job swap

o mark the launch of Sport Aberdeen’s new internal staff hub, Managing Director Alistair Robertson offered a “job swap” competition to all staff. Colleagues were asked to submit entries on what is most enjoyable about their job. The selected winner was then asked to name the new staff hub. It is not unusual for company bosses to go back to the shop floor, which in many cases is incognito. After all, what better way to see and hear first-hand what goes on at centres, how things are done, what people are thinking and also what can be improved to make working life better for colleagues. Supervisor at Northfield Swimming Pool, Callum Kerry, was selected as the winner, and on Thursday February 2nd, Alistair Robertson looked out his Sport Aberdeen uniform shorts and set off to begin his shift at 05.15am. Callum Kerry gave Alistair Robertson the induction process and immediately set him the task of cleaning front of house, followed with more cleaning and even more cleaning. By 09.30am the whole reception and spectating area was spotless! Alistair Robertson explained the day: “Next I moved on to the more exciting task of cleaning 160+ lockers. This is a weekly task I was told. Very conveniently this fell on the day I was visiting! Now

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it is safe to say that Northfield is - well it certainly was when I finished my shift at 14.30 - the cleanest centre in the city. In actual fact, this has much more to do with Callum Kerry, John Greig and the staff on site who clearly stay well on top of cleaning. The way the centre is presented is a credit to them all.” “I want to thank Callum and John along with Joanna, Chelsea, Kelsea, not forgetting Lois from Aquatics, who made my day a really positive experience. I learned much from the time spent and I received some good feedback on Sport Aberdeen and what I could do to make things better. It’s important to listen and in turn I have assured the team that I will pick up a range of issues with Director of Operations & Asset Development Keith Gerrard.” Callum Kerry is due to come to HQ for his day as Managing Director, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates! Alistair Robertson looks forward to doing another job swap in April.

Office move

port Aberdeen’s business services successfully completed the move to integrated headquarters at Broadfold House. The long planned move from the previous base at Inspire on the Beach Boulevard follows an instruction given to Managing Director Alistair Robertson by the Board several years ago to find better accommodation and facilities that will set up Sport Aberdeen for the long term. The new premises brought together separate services and teams– currently based between Inspire and the Gordon Centre – under one roof. As a registered charity, it’s important that Sport Aberdeen seeks to increase efficiencies wherever possible and this move will certainly help with that. The new HQ will allow Sport Aberdeen to collaborate and innovate with speed and effectiveness. The extensive meeting rooms provide the right environment for doing business and will make coming together easier and will improve communication and interaction. Alistair Robertson has been particularly interested in some of the exciting ideas for “Lunch and Learn” sessions which will provide the opportunity for everyone from all areas of the company to develop their skills and knowledge, and share ideas and good practice. These will also be open to colleagues who are not based at the HQ. The “One Team” approach at the new premises is a great launchpad to meet Sport Aberdeen’s commitment to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity.

Case Study: Active Girls Committe

Participation: Active Girls Committee We Are Active Girls: a new project to empower girls to become more active in Aberdeen

he number of girls participating in sport and physical activity in Aberdeen city is lower than it is for boys. As girls move through S1-6 the numbers decrease to much lower levels than seen at primary school age. There are many reasons for this, including confidence, body image, change in interests, and not wanting to be different to peers. The best people to inform thinking on solutions to this issue are girls themselves. So with this in mind Sport Aberdeen’s Active Schools have formed the new Active Girls Committee to help to increase participation levels.

Some have a very sporty background, while others don’t. But they all share the same passion for wanting to help. Active Schools Coordinators were tasked with recruiting girls from the academies they work with who had a real passion for getting more girls active. From this a number of girls were identified and joined the committee. Some have a very sporty background, while others don’t but they all share the same passion for wanting to help. One of the first tasks that the committee did was to successfully apply for a grant from Aberdeen City Council’s Youth Activities Small Grants for £1019.95. This was to allow the committee to receive leadership training

in the form of the Sports Leaders UK Award Women Get Set, Go! As well as this the grant also allowed for special Active Girls Committee t-shirts to be purchased. The Committee has met twice so far and the Women Get Set, Go! course was delivered in the recent half term holiday to 10 girls. Over the course of their time together and with their Active Schools mentors the committee has been deciding on how they are going to be structured and so now have a Chair, Vice-Chair and other posts. As well as getting their structure in place the girls have been deciding on what it is they want to achieve and how they want to do this. They are looking at a large scale event to be held in June and want to invite girls from every academy in the city to come and participate in a variety of different sports and activities to show how much fun they can be. On a smaller more local scale within the areas they live they would like to do similar taster type events to again encourage more girls to get active. There may also be the opportunity to have blogs to highlight opportunities that are available to girls. As this is a new project there will be other developments and actions that will come from the committee. It is still in its infancy but the girls that are on the committee are hugely inspiring and all very keen to get more girls active. It is an exciting project and one where there are high hopes that a real positive impact can be made.

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The Active Aberdeen Sports Grants Programme In October 2015 the Community Sports Development Grants were transferred to Sport Aberdeen from Aberdeen City Council, as part of the increased responsibility for the delivery of a wider sports service. A Sports Grants Implementation Theme Group (SGITG) was formed as part of the Active Aberdeen Partnership (AAP) with the task of considering application for funding and making recommendation to the AAP Board. The Active Aberdeen Sports Grants Programme reopened in early February with a new online application form accessed via Sport Aberdeen and the new Active Aberdeen Partnership websites. A full launch of the new grants will take place prior to April 2017. The next deadline for application is March 17 2017, with the SGITG meeting the following week.

93 year old reveals secrets to long and healthy life 93-year old Georgina, one of Sport Aberdeen’s oldest participants, has attended Easy Movers exercise classes weekly for the last three years and attributes this, alongside an active lifestyle, to a long and healthy life. The classes are run through Sport Aberdeen as part of the Active Ageing Programme. Granite City resident Georgina said: “I have always been an active lady throughout my day to day life. The secret to keeping healthy and active is to keep those legs moving, I love it. Get up and do it now! Don’t sit in front of the TV, go to a fitness class and I’m sure you will enjoy it.” Sport Aberdeen’s Director for Sport and Active Lifestyles Jo Bell said: “Georgina’s pearls of wisdom are an inspiration. Sport Aberdeen is committed to ensuring everyone has the opportunity to take part in sport and physical activity.”

Move more digital activity project Cancer patients in Aberdeen are being invited to take part in a new digital pilot project which will help them become more active. The GetActive project has been funded by Macmillan Cancer Support and is being delivered as part of the charity’s physical activity programme, Move More Aberdeen. The new service will enhance the current programme by providing people with a wearable tracking device, developed by Scottish walking charity Paths for All in partnership with Storm Health, so they can manage and improve their physical activity levels outside of 010 | Sport Aberdeen Active News classes.

Sport Aberdeen pedals its way to healthier workplace Sport Aberdeen has been officially recognised as a Cycle Friendly Employer by national body Cycling Scotland.The award, given to organisations in Scotland committed to increasing cycling amongst its employees, was received by Sport Aberdeen at the end of 2016. Sport Aberdeen’s Director of Operations & Asset Development Keith Gerrard commended his colleagues for their work in achieving the award: “I am delighted that Sport Aberdeen has obtained Cycle Friendly Employer status. Our commitment to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity begins with our own employees.”

Local children asked to make splash in 10k bottle design competition Deeside Mineral Water, official partner of the Baker Hughes 10K running festival, has launched a competition for local children to design the label for the 15,000 water bottles that will be handed out on race day. Young people from schools across Aberdeen are being asked to design labels which focus on the importance of staying hydrated. The winning design will be made into the water bottle label that will be handed out to everyone taking part in the 30th year of the running festival on 14th May 2017.

2016 Ice Show success Sport Aberdeen’s 2016 Ice Show was a roaring success with families in the Granite City. Ice Aberdeen, part of Sport Aberdeen, hosted the fun ice extravaganza “Once Upon a Christmas” at the popular Linx Ice Arena. the homegrown cast performed over two days to a sell out audience. The show was performed by talented local skaters who have honed their skills at the Linx Ice Arena, including Learn to Skate participants, local and national medal winning skaters, British synchronised skating champions Team Zariba and the junior Lynx Ice Hockey Team. Organisers are already looking forward to further developing the show in 2017.

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Upcoming / Events at Sport Aberdeen

Dates for your diary Baker Hughes 10k Running Seminar 9th of March @ Transition Extreme Active Schools Basketball festival 21st of March @ Active Schools Shelter housing tasters day 21st of March @ Westburn Outdoor Centre National Autistic Society at Beach leisure centre 2nd of April @ Beach Leisure Centre Walk to work day 7th of April @ Broadfold House Easter Holiday camps 3rd - 14th of April @ Sport Aberdeen venues

Feedback Customer

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- Matthew Hance

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Sport Aberdeen has given me the opportunity to progress within the company to the role of supervisor at the new Get Active @Jesmond, and helped me decide my chosen career path. - Hannah Crawford

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I am very impressed with the amount of new equipment at the Jesmond and really like the fresh new layout. The interactive immersive wall is incredible, I have never seen anything like this in a gym before.

Staff