February 2020
The UK’s No 1 fitness industry magazine
ukactive and Sense launch partnership THE ukactive Research Institute has announced a three-year research project with national disability charity, Sense, which seeks to better understand the needs of parents and families of disabled children. Parents of disabled children are encouraged to feed back on the challenges they face when it comes to accessing sport and physical activity, by completing an online survey by March 15. Matthew Wade, senior researcher at ukactive, said: “Our partnership with Sense marks an exciting chapter in our work to understand the inequalities facing families with disabled children who want to be more active. “ukactive’s members want to create a level playing for all children, with opportunities for every child to be more active, no matter where they live or what disabilities they have. “Through our research with Sense, we aim to produce evidence that will help make physical activities more accessible for every family and child.” The project will explore the barriers and motivations of the families, and also look at access to provision, the challenges of
families being active together, the impact on siblings with no disability, and if there are differences between community and education provision. Following the initial research, Sense will establish an activity programme for disabled children and evaluate the impact of it on the child and the wider family. Sense is a charity dedicated to ensuring that no one – no matter how complex their disabilities – is isolated, left out, or unable to fulfil their potential. Its research with children and young people with complex disabilities shares parallels with the work of the ukactive Research Institute. The project will be divided into two phases, beginning with a consultation to understand the needs of families with disabled children in order to inform the development and delivery of sport and physical activity sessions, family days and other initiatives. The second phase will see ukactive’s Research Institute undertake the measurement and evaluation of interventions that Sense provides for families with children who have complex disabilities and non-disabled siblings.
Nominations to open for 11th annual accolades
OPERATORS wanting to put themselves forward for industry recognition have been urged to enter the 2020 National Fitness Awards. Nominations for this year’s event open on February 10. The awards, organised by Script Events in partnership with Workout and headline sponsor ServiceSport, recognise excellence and achievement in all corners of the fitness industry. And with more than 20 categories up for grabs, there’s something to suit every type of gym and trainer. New for this year is the return of the Gym Team category. National Fitness Awards’ director Judith Halkerston said: “We’re extremely proud that the National Fitness Awards are for every club – our awards are free to enter and our judging A new campaign is seeking to address and put an end to the criteria means that it’s not taboo surrounding eating disorders within the fitness industry. down to the size of your workEDout was launched in 2019 as a collaborative effort facility but how you run it!” between Carly Wilkinson, a fitness instructor, and Leah Newton, Trophies will be handed who had previously battled an eating disorder before attending out at a glittering ceremony Carly’s class during her recovery. The aim of their campaign is on Friday November 27 to open up the conversation about eating disorders within the at the Athena in Leicester fitness industry, and empower fitness professionals to educate themselves in recognising, approaching and referring clients with where the industry’s best will gather for a fun filled eating disorders. Full story on page 14. night.
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