Sport Aberdeen have got off to a flying start this awards season, winning the Community Award at the 10th annual TREND – Life with Style Awards on 14 June.
The Life with Style Awards has been described as being all about excellence in the areas that contribute to the quality of life people enjoy in the North-East, and it’s clear to see that Sport Aberdeen’s work fits that criteria perfectly.
The award recognised Sport Aberdeen’s commitment to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity regardless of barriers such as age, cost, ability and gender.
Sport Aberdeen’s involvement in a diverse range of initiatives designed to increase participation across all ages and abilities includes programmes such as Active Schools, a partnership with sportscotland, which gets children involved in extra-curricular school sport; Active Ageing – which aims to help older adults stay active and the partnership with Me Too! who run relaxed skating and swimming sessions for people with additional support needs at the Beach Leisure Centre and Linx Ice Arena.
This success continued into the following week when Get Active @ Jesmond was named Scottish ‘Centre of the Year’ at Active Uprising Awards 2018. This is a flagship award scheme and celebrates facilities which live and breathe excellent customer service with the aim of getting more people more active more often.
Get active @ Jesmond is Sport Aberdeen’s most recently modernised sports centre, boasting a state of the art gym with over 60 work stations, comprehensive fitness class programme, sports hall and dedicated immersive spin studio.
Keith Gerrard Director of Operations and Asset Development at Sport Aberdeen said:
“I am delighted that Sport Aberdeen’s work within the communities in which it operates is being recognised both on a local and national level.
“Sport Aberdeen is committed to creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity. These awards are a great reminder that we continue to pursue that vision”
The Scottish Charity Awards also recognised Move More Aberdeen (MMA) – a partnership between Sport Aberdeen and Macmillan Cancer Support – which highly commended and received runner up in the Pioneering Project category. MMA was nominated for being at the forefront of working with people living with cancer and translating the evidence of the benefits of physical activity across the cancer pathway into practice.
Macmillan Support Assistant, Anna Bailey who attended the ceremony on behalf of Sport Aberdeen and Macmillan Cancer Support said:
“Although we did not win at the award it was still an honour to be a finalist, especially when there were so many amazing projects present, all working to improve the lives of people in Scotland”
People are being asked to think about how to keep safe around water this summer – whether on Aberdeen’s beach, it’s two rivers or other lochs and water sources.
Aberdeen Water Safety Group made the plea as its members from emergency and safety organisations gathered to highlight the issue on a beautiful sunny day at the city’s beach.
AWSG chairman Dan Price-Davies, who is a member of Aberdeen Surf Lifesaving Club, said:
“We’re all hoping for a lovely sunny summer especially with the school holidays fast approaching so we’re asking children and adults to think about being safe around water.
“Going swimming or paddling about in the sea or a river can be great fun but there’s some safety advice we’d like people to think about before they go, and also when they’re out beside water.
“Before people go, we’d ask them to look at weather conditions and tide times, and also to remember to take a mobile phone for emergencies, warm clothes for when you come out of the water, and sun cream as you can burn when it’s cloudy – even in Scotland.
“We’d ask people to look at the RNLI’s Respect The Water campaign at www.respectthewater.com which asks that when you fall into water, to fight your instinct to swim until the cold water shock passes, as cold water shock makes you gasp uncontrollably and breathe in water.
“The Respect The Water campaign asks you to pause, float on your back until you’re able to catch your breath, and it would be great if people had a look at the website which has lots of incredibly practical lifesaving advice.
“When you’re at the beach or rivers, look at your surroundings and take a mental note where you are in case you have to call the emergency services – there’s location codes on signs at the fencing beside the promenade at Aberdeen beach which are helpful for pinpointing an exact location.
“When you get to the beach, look out for submerged objects when you’re swimming such as rocks, and also don’t assume a sandbank will be there all day for you to walk out to and walk back from.
“Also take a note of the nearest lifebelt just in case and, above all, remember to phone 999 in an emergency.
“We want everyone to have a fun time and come and enjoy our beautiful nature resources we have in Aberdeen such as the gorgeous walks full of interesting nature along both the beach and the River Dee and River Don, and also we want everyone at the same time to have a safe summer.”
Young people with experience of the care system in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire will be given opportunities to become more creative and active thanks to a funding award of £150,000. The money comes from Scottish charity the Life Changes Trust.
Working in partnership, Aberdeen Foyer and Sport Aberdeen will use the funding to engage more care experienced young people in sports and creative activities.
The aim of the project is to develop the skill sets of the young people involved, to improve their confidence, their physical and mental wellbeing, their relationship skills and their long term quality of life. Participants in the project will be given opportunities to get involved in activities that matter to them, such as sport, music, drama, art and media.
Sport Aberdeen’s Looked After Project will continue to use sport and physical activity as a vehicle to improve the lives of looked after children and young people. Current activities include skateboarding, boxing, horse riding, swimming lessons, ice skating, climbing, snowboarding, skiing and athletics.
Aberdeen Foyer will offer creative activities such as creative writing, painting, craft work, graffiti art, lino printing, hand casting, jewellery making and cooking.
Heather Coady, Director of the Trust’s Care Experienced Young People Programme said:
“Care experienced young people have often told us that they would love more opportunities to be active and have fun, developing their interests and trying out new things in areas such as music, art, sport and crafts. This project is great because it combines all of these things, and really does offer something for everyone. Care experienced young people don’t often have ready access to opportunities like these. Not only will they have to chance to take part in a range of activities that matter to them, they will also be able to make new friends, improve their self-esteem and be valued for their contributions and talents.”
Both Sport Aberdeen and Aberdeen Foyer already have experience of working with young people who are care experienced, and have witnessed the positive effects when they try new things and experience positive opportunities that enable them to discover what they are good at, grow their confidence and feel good about themselves. The project will also encourage young people to understand and value their own aspirations, abilities, health and wellbeing.
Simon Starr, Director of Sport and Active Lifestyles at Sport Aberdeen said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this funding from the Life Changes Trust as it will enable the Looked After Project to work with more looked after children and young people. The partnership with Aberdeen Foyer is very exciting as it will allow both organisations to share experience and learn from each other. We’re already seeing the positive impact the Looked After Project is having, so it is great to be able to expand the project and help to increase the number of looked after children and young people achieving positive destinations.”
Kathleen Singer, Operations Manager at Aberdeen Foyer said:
“Aberdeen Foyer is absolutely delighted to be working in partnership with Sport Aberdeen to engage with care experienced young people and make a difference together through the funding awarded by Life Changes Trust.
“Aberdeen Foyer is guided by the belief that it is a young person’s unique strengths and capabilities that will determine their journey and define who they are – not their limitations and our values align very well with those of Sport Aberdeen. Both organisations want to enable young people to feel ‘I can’.
“We are also aware of the health benefits (physical and mental) of engaging with positive activities and the improved resilience to deal with past and/or ongoing challenges in their lives. Young people will have space to be kind to themselves, to reflect on their journey and progress, recognise their strengths and talents. They will find lost and new aspirations and feel hopeful about their future.
“At Aberdeen Foyer we work with amazing young people who are vibrant and talented, and we can’t wait to see the outcomes of this project and to celebrate their achievements with the people that are important to them.”
Heather Coady added:
“Research shows that these activities can actually support a healthy lifestyle, and help to improve physical and mental wellbeing. We very much look forward to watching these young people flourish as they develop and grow as individuals.”
The funding award is one of fourteen made by the Life Changes Trust under the banner of ‘Creative and Active Lives’, with a funding total of £1.75 million.
Creative and Active lives awards aim to improve the physical and mental well-being of care experienced young people by increasing their participation in creative and physical activities. Each of the fourteen funded projects will focus on growing opportunities across a broad range of creative and active pursuits, so that care experienced young people can engage with their peers and increase their skills, self-esteem and social connections.
The Life Changes Trust was set up with a Big Lottery Fund endowment of £50 million to improve the lives of two key groups in Scotland: people affected by dementia and care experienced young people.
Sport Aberdeen has been shortlisted for ‘Making the Difference’ at the 2018 Northern Star Business Awards.
Organised by the Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce (AGCC), the Northern Star Business Awards recognises companies across the North-East for their exceptional accomplishments in pioneering innovation and outstanding customer service to excellence in people development, environmental outlook and marketing prowess.
Sport Aberdeen has been shortlisted in the Making the Difference category in recognition of its ongoing commitment and investment into creating opportunities, inspiring people and changing lives through sport and physical activity.
Over the last 12 months, the team have worked in partnership with a range of local and national bodies to showcase how Sport Aberdeen is helping to make Aberdeen an active and healthy city. This includes the Active Ageing Programme, the Looked After Project and Move More Aberdeen.
The winners will be unveiled at the awards ceremony which takes place at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on Thursday 27 September.
To read more about the awards, visit: https://www.agcc.co.uk/northern-star.
Stars of ITV’s Dancing on Ice Mark Hanretty and Sylvain Longchambon are set to wow Aberdeen audiences this July when they visit the Linx Ice Arena for the Summer Skating Spectacular.
The Summer Skating Spectacular will bring together local skaters nominated by coaches from skating and hockey clubs across Aberdeen to perform alongside the TV dancers in a one-off showcase for family, friends and spectators.
Neither of the dancers have performed in the North East before so this will be a first for both performers and viewers alike.
The showcase will be the centrepiece of a day that also includes a series of workshops for juniors and adults – allowing skaters of all ages to receive, invaluable, expert advice from two professional ice dancers who have competed and won medals for their respective countries at a championship level.
Jon Behari, Learn to Skate Coordinator and NISA Level 2 Coach & Choreographer said:
“It’s great to be able to include Mark Hanretty and Sylvain Longchambon in the showcase. Both are extremely talented dancers but also, with their history of coaching, they’re certainly a great pair to pass on some invaluable wisdom to the juniors and adults in attendance.
“The event will provide a great insight into the number of paths available within ice skating – be that; dancing, hockey, or figure skating and we hope that it will encourage those in attendance to come back and give it a try.”
Tickets for the showcase can be purchased here.
A recent funding boost has allowed for significant improvements to be made to basketball facilities at Sport Aberdeen’s Beach Leisure Centre.
A total of £10,000 has been secured by two local sports organisations from the National Lottery and Nexen, to carry out transformational work to the Granite City’s home of basketball.
Over the past 18 months, volunteers from Grampian Flyers Basketball Club and Basketball Grampian have worked to secure the funding and have since purchased four new height adjustable baskets for junior wheelchair basketball, four new full height competition backboards with protective padding and two sets of 24 second shot clocks.
This has led to a three-year partnership agreement between sport Aberdeen and Basketball Grampian, who relocated their senior local league to the central Aberdeen venue, turning the Beach Leisure Centre into a hub for basketball in the region.
Grant Wilson, Chairman of Basketball Grampian and coach of Grampian Flyers Wheelchair Basketball Team, said:
“This joint project from the national league club and local governing body has created a platform to take basketball to the next level in Aberdeen.
“There has always been a high quality of basketball in the area, however this has been an underground world, where if you knew where to go and when to be there you would see excellent basketball. This will pull our competitions together and hopefully lead to creating a closer basketball community.
“We cater for everyone with male and female senior leagues, a senior and a junior wheelchair team, we even have a Lithuanian team, a Polish team and a Filipino team who all compete in our leagues.
“I hope that this will now pull everyone together to work collaboratively with Sport Aberdeen to increase participation, improve competition and strive for excellence in performance.”
The Beach Leisure Centre already hosts a number of Aberdeen based basketball clubs including the only wheelchair basketball team in Aberdeen, and will now be able to host a full spectrum of youth, senior and wheelchair pathways from local, national and international competitions. We hope the new facilities will also attract Basketball Scotland events and competitions, including local youth leagues, senior cup games and international matches.
Graham McEvoy, Operations Manager at Beach Leisure Centre, said:
“We are delighted with the partnership with Basketball Grampian and Grampian Flyers which has allowed us to upgrade our basketball facilities.
“This funding has transformed the Beach Leisure Centre into a ‘home’ for basketball in the region and brings the centre up to national standards which will allow us to continue to attract teams from all levels of the sport.”
Walking for Health project, Walk Aberdeen, run by
Minister for Mental Health, Maureen Watt presented Walk Aberdeen’s coordinator, Brian Harrison, and his team of caring Volunteer Walk Leaders with their Dementia Friendly Accreditation on behalf of national walking charity Paths for All. Brian and his team have worked together with other dementia service
This accreditation standard from Paths for All means anyone living with dementia can be assured that
People living with dementia benefit from being outdoors and in contact with nature as it can help to relieve stress, increase self-esteem, produce vitamin D, and exercises the brain, helping with memory and cognitive functioning. Even 10 to 15 minutes of daily walking outdoors can improve the overall wellbeing of people living with dementia.
Maureen Watt, Minister for Mental Health said:
“I am very impressed with
Brian Harrison, Walk Aberdeen’s Co-ordinator said:
“We understand the positive impact physical activity can have on people’s lives and as such we are delighted to have been able to work with Paths for All to enable people living with dementia, and their carers, to live more active lives to help manage their health and well-being.
“I am thrilled that through this project we have been able to develop and deliver a series of regular walks across Aberdeen City that are accessible to people living with dementia.”
Ian Findlay, Chief Officer with Paths for All said:
“
“I would like to congratulate Brian and his team of fantastic volunteers for making small changes to their activity programme which make a huge difference to the lives of people living with dementia in Scotland.”
Around 1,400 pupils from 45 city primary schools converged on Aberdeen Sports Village on Friday 25 May, as the annual Aberdeen Youth Games culminated in a Festival of Sport.
In the run up to this year’s Aberdeen Youth Games, children from all 45 schools were given the opportunity to submit a medal design for the games.
The winning entry was that of Ryan Lee, a P5 student of Middleton Park Primary. Ryan’s design was selected from a shortlist of 10 entries which was narrowed down by a panel of 5 judges.
As the winner of the competition, Ryan was presented with a bespoke copy of his winning design as well as having it feature as a logo on all this year’s certificates. The prize was awarded by Sir Ian Wood and Dame Katherine Grainger.
Steven Campbell, Active Schools Coordinator for Oldmachar ASG said:
“The panel was very impressed with the high standard and range of designs submitted for this year’s competition.
“We chose the winning design based on its professional look fitting of a high-profile sporting event.
“We particularly liked the logo and trophy on the backdrop of the Scotland flag as it captures the significance of the Aberdeen Youth Games’ which we believe deserves to be recognised nationally for its celebration of sport amongst primary school aged children.”
Primary school pupils from across Aberdeen had a ball this week at the culmination of a unique sports and health project for children in the Granite City, cheered on by Chair of UK Sport Dame Katherine Grainger DBE.
Around 1,400 pupils from 45 city primary schools converged on Aberdeen Sports Village on Friday 25 May, as the annual Aberdeen Youth Games culminated in a Festival of Sport.
Dame Katherine Grainger DBE said: “It is wonderful to see so many young people taking part in such a variety of sports and physical activities across the day. Their enjoyment today was clear, and I hope that enthusiasm for sport and physical activity is something they each take forward beyond this festival.
“I must also give huge credit to the coaches from RGU and NESCol, who have inspired so many young people and helped them with their passion for sport.”
This year’s event also saw the launch of the national Big Fit Walk – taking place for the first time in the North-East – with around 100 walkers joining the youngsters for Scotland’s biggest daily mile, before continuing their own route around Old Aberdeen.
Launched by Robert Gordon University’s (RGU) Sport and Exercise Science team and Sport Aberdeen in 2013 – with support from North East Scotland College (NESCol) and The Wood Foundation – the Aberdeen Youth Games is an innovative and multi award-winning programme which promotes physical activity, health and wellbeing amongst young people.
At the festival, pupils participated in a number of team-based sporting activities, such as rugby, basketball and tennis. Each activity used the skills they have learned from in-school coaching by RGU and NESCol students over the course of the term.
Graeme Dale, Senior Development Manager (Young People) with Sport Aberdeen, said: “The Aberdeen Youth Games has become a hugely anticipated and enjoyable event in Aberdeen’s sporting calendar.
“The games underline the importance of keeping young people active in a fun environment, and our partnership with RGU and NESCol encourages a healthy lifestyle and helps get more children, more active, more often.
“In the Year of Young People, there’s no better time to celebrate our fantastic young role models who are inspiring others to take part in and enjoy sport and physical activity.”
Dame Katherine Grainger DBE returned to the festival this year to cheer on the pupils, having been an inspirational ambassador for the Aberdeen Youth Games since its launch.
Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian was joined by fellow ambassador and supporter Sir Ian Wood CBE, as well as invited guests including Maureen Watt MSP and Commonwealth Games participants from RGU, NESCol and the University of Aberdeen.
A Legacy 2014 programme, the Aberdeen Youth Games initiative sees second year BSc (Hons) Applied Sport and Exercise Science students from RGU deliver over 900 hours of skills-based coaching to pupils as part of their work placements with Sport Aberdeen’s Active Schools Team.
Bryan McCann, lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at RGU, leads the university’s involvement in the programme.
He said: “The Aberdeen Youth Games is made possible by our exciting and innovative partnership approach to allow students to act as community assets. It provides them with invaluable work-related, real-life learning opportunities, which enhances their employability whilst making a huge difference to the lives of young people in Aberdeen.
“Having so many primary schools taking part again this year – along with launching alongside the incredible Big Fit Walk – just goes to show the powerful and positive impact that sport and exercise can have on society.
“Add in the valuable bonus that the young people can interact with Dame Katherine and Commonwealth Games heroes from all of the city’s higher education institutions and it all adds up to a fantastic day for everyone involved.”
Ian Findlay, Chief Officer at Paths For All said: “Launching the Big Fit Walk is one of the highlights of our year because it sees communities, groups and individuals come together to enjoy the many benefits of simply going for a 30-minute walk.
“Last year, over 200 walks took place across the country involving people of every ages and ability.
“Paths For All are committed to promoting everyday walking as one of the easiest ways to improve your overall health and wellbeing through physical activity. The Big Fit Walk is a great way for us to spread this message, bring people together and nourish a sense of community.
“We’re so pleased to have kick started this year’s campaign with all the young people involved in the Aberdeen Youth Games, and we hope this year will be bigger and better than ever before.”
Maureen Watt MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Mental Health, visited Aberdeen Sports Village to launch the Big Fit Walk and to see the Youth Games youngsters in full flow.
She said: “The scale and impact of the Aberdeen Youth Games has been very impressive since its launch in 2013. Not only does it provide the young people involved with important life and sporting skills, it does so in a fun and active setting.
“As we celebrate the Year of Young People, partnership-led programmes like this can create a really beneficial culture amongst the next generation, with physical activity and a sense of community at its centre.”
Funding for the 2017-18 Aberdeen Youth Games has been provided by The Wood Foundation, the RGU Foundation and First Aberdeen, with the latter also committing transportation and logistical assistance for schools to and from the festival.
In 2015, The Wood Foundation committed to provide £50,000 to the Aberdeen Youth Games over a five-year period, following an initial £10,000 award to support the scheme.
Sir Ian Wood, Chairman of The Wood Foundation, added: “The scale and impact of AYG activity across Aberdeen City is impressive. The programme provides significant benefits to participating young people across all Aberdeen primary schools, whilst also providing invaluable work experience for our university and college students who have been so actively involved in the coaching.
“AYG provides both sets of learners with the opportunity to develop new skills and the focus upon nutrition and healthy lifestyle for the young people through fun activities is invaluable. The Wood Foundation is pleased to continue to support this initiative.”
Find out more about the Aberdeen Youth Games.
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