Access Sport’s Changing Places programme focuses on filling a gap so that disadvantaged and disabled young people can experience the life-changing benefits of community sport.

Pulse Social was founded in 2018, with the social purpose of increasing involvement, inclusion and confidence with all participants playing sports throughout London and surrounding areas.

As a not-for-profit community sports social enterprise, Pulse Social provide a variety of inclusive sporting activities and workshops for all ages to enjoy with the aim of “Creating a Sporting Smile” on all their participants' faces.

Access Sport has been supporting Pulse Social since 2022 through skill sharing, training and funding. Working together, we have been able to extend Pulse Social’s reach across London so more disabled young people can experience the joy of community sport.

In the below article, Marlon, Managing Director at Pulse Social, explores the growth in their impact since partnering with Access Sport, as well as their plans for the future.

Article by Marlon from Pulse Social

When Pulse Social started in 2018, our ultimate goal was to provide inclusivity to disadvantaged and isolated groups. Over the last couple of years, we’ve been working with deaf, neurodivergent and disabled young people, providing community sports projects across London. It's always great to see children having a smile on their faces, which is our main goal. The more smiles we create, the better we are helping the community.

We use sport as a vehicle to get families, kids and young people together.  Sport activities we deliver include multi-sports like Dodgeball, Rounders and Boccia. We try to get sports that have no line drills to get young people engaged as much as they can. I think there's been a pattern that a lot of the young people who came to the sessions either had a confidence barrier or were quite shy when interacting with others. But when they come to the sessions, they realise that there’s no pressure, they can make friends, and they have the confidence to get involved in sports. The buzzword for us is social; it’s about getting young people interacting with each other. The more they come to the sessions and make friends, the more their confidence grows.

We've been working in partnership with Access Sport for about three years now. It's been an incredible learning experience in terms of my understanding of the disability sports sector and looking at the sustainable ways to grow and reach out to more young people. Access Sport has been incredible in terms of that support. For example, the words to use, the marketing, how to approach parents, how to build that relationship and rapport and looking at funding beyond just grant forms. I think teamwork is a really big thing I've learned in terms of sharing resources, ideas and working together to get to that ultimate goal.

One of the programmes we run is in Bromley. It targets young people aged 8 to 17 years old, who haven’t had the best experience in engaging with sport. But when they experienced our environment, they felt no pressure, and parents often comment on how inclusive we are.

A few months ago, we arranged a bowling party with some young people and their parents. The young people probably had never interacted with other young people outside of our sport sessions. It was an opportunity where they could meet with others outside of the sport setting and build confidence and relationships. Finding new places and meeting new people grows your social network. It was a great experience for everyone involved.

We always try and get young people to think bigger and meet new people as well as support them within the safe space of our sessions. Some parents were just amazed by how much impact young people experienced through sports with us.

Our momentum is growing, and we’ve been looking at new ways to reach out to more young people across London. We are currently looking at another borough in London that we could potentially work in, to reach more groups of young people who want to engage in sport.