01
16/4/10
15:16
Page 1
Sport and fitness for today’s youth
May 2010 £2.75
Club gives a last chance to troubled teens By Louise Cordell TEENAGERS who are facing prison are being given a final chance to get their lives on track thanks to a health and fitness club. Ultimate Physiques in Castleford is working with young people from a local pupil referral unit, providing training to help them improve their self esteem and cut down on anti social behaviour. The approach has been so successful that others schools in the area are asking to get involved, bringing along their most challenging pupils in a bid to address their problems before they get out of hand. The club’s owner, Jason Matthews, said: “These kids are really in the last chance saloon, most of them have ASBOs and they are no longer in mainstream schools because they have gone beyond what the teachers can cope with. When they first came to the club a lot of them walked in smoking, some stood outside and threw stones and another threatened one of my instructors with physical violence. “They were really badly behaved and I thought that there was no way we were going to be able to train them.”
However, once the boys started training twice a week with the club’s instructors, who are experts in disciplines including martial arts, rugby and self defence, their attitude and behaviour began to improve. The training sessions are made up of a range of boot camp style exercises with T-shirts and water bottles handed out as rewards for improvement. The programme has become so popular that it now works as an incentive in itself, with pupils who behave badly during the week being stopped from attending the sessions as punishment. There has been such an improvement in the boys’ behaviour that the club is now starting work with schools in the area, including Airedale High School, where teachers are selecting pupils with challenging behaviour who they feel will benefit from the project. Jason added: “We have had an overwhelming response from schools and we are keen to work with as many young people as possible. The schools feel that we are providing something that they don’t have the expertise or facilities to do, but the pupils take the better behaviour that comes with the training back to classes with them.”
Dance leader scheme launched
Young people in Manchester are being given the chance to find out how they measure up to Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt. In a bid to take athletics to the streets, the organisers behind the Bupa Great Manchester Run and the Great City Games are giving people the chance to compare their time to the record breaker’s over a 150m sprint. The event will take place at the specially constructed running track on Deansgate where, at the Great City Games last year, Usain Bolt ran the fastest 150 metres in history.
YOUTH Dance England has launched a career development programme for the young dance leaders of the future. The organisation has selected 41 young people from across the country to take part in YDE Stride!, a scheme designed to help boost the career opportunities available within the dance sector for young people. The participants will take part in one of three residential courses where they will have the chance to complete their Arts Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards as well as learning from established industry professional and devise and coordinate dance projects.