St Albans Outdoor Activity Park

St. Albans Outdoor Activity Park (SOAP)

There are many wonderful parks and open spaces in St. Albans and the surrounding district with purpose-built recreation apparatus.

Much of the apparatus is only geared towards the smaller child or toddler. The recent upgrade of the Verulam play area has notices disqualifying any over 10’s from participating. There is

little outdoor, free to use, nonorganised recreation for preteens, teens and young adults.

This is a large demographic not catered for with nearly the right amount of opportunities. Attempts at trying to create a space for pre-teens, teens and older has been limiting as it is usually single use does not provide much in the way of creativity or imagination.

After the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo where British skateboarder Sky Brown won a bronze medal there has been an uplift of participants of wheeled sports especially by females. This demonstrates the power of positive roles models for getting young people active. This legacy needs to be built upon by constructing a concrete built Activity Park that adds to the diversity of the Health & Leisure portfolio of the city and the surrounding area. The Activity Park needs to be open and free to use for all the community of the district of St. Albans.

It is envisaged that the Activity Park is an all-inclusive area to cater for all wheel sports such as BMX, WCMX, scootering, skateboarding, roller skating and in-line skating. Wheeled sports generally are quite affordable. Skateboards themselves cost between £30-£150 and often need little maintenance or other equipment.

Wheel Sports participants such as skateboarders and other Activity Park users are often highly varied in age, gender, ethnicity, bodily ability, socioeconomic background, etc. This inclusivity in turn allows more riders to feel able to engage in their chosen activity and engenders a general feeling of inclusivity at Activity Parks.

Many local authorities are working to encourage more residents to engage in physical activity more often. There is a lot at stake. Potential outcomes that can be achieved for local communities through enabling more regular participation in sport and physical activity include:-

• Improved health and wellbeing

• More effective management of health conditions

• Higher levels of self-esteem

• Reduced prevalence of mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression

• More opportunities for social interaction and the fostering of community cohesion

• Local economic growth through job creation and place-shaping

Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey highlights how just 17.5% of children are meeting the Chief Medical Offi cer’s guidelines of more than 60 minutes of activity a day, every day of the week (Sport England 2018). Similarly, research by Youth Sport Trust indicates that only 40% of girls and 54% of boys aged 11-18 enjoy physical activity, with enjoyment levels decreasing with age (Youth Sport Trust 2018).

Mental health benefi ts, often among those who otherwise might not be active. These benefi ts range from introducing young children to sport as a playful activity, to engaging teenagers who might otherwise be unattracted to team sports, to twentysomething millennials and Generation Z’ers expanding their sense of community, to middle-aged riders looking to keep active, alert and socially-connected.

A recent and signifi cant trend in related wheeled activities has been the rise in ‘adaptive’ riders using Activity Parks and urban terrains. Users include those who are blind, visually-impaired, deaf and/or are challenged with a range of physical and mental disabilities. WCMX - riding wheelchairs specially adapted for ramps and Activity Parks - has become especially popular. WCMX may well be part of the 2024 and 2028 Paralympics.

The St. Albans Activity Park SOAP campaign is looking to build a team to raise awareness of the need for an Activity Park in St. Albans and raise funds to construct the Activity Park. If you feel you are able to contribute I would really like to hear from you at kylenewman68@hotmail.com