Ukactive research has revealed that almost four in five Britons say there is a lack of places for children and young people to be physically active during the school holidays (77%)[1].

Access Sport has hosted a summer of sport in Bristol to encourage disabled and underserved young people to experience the benefits of community sport.

Ukactive research has revealed that almost four in five Britons say there is a lack of places for children and young people to be physically active during the school holidays (77%)[1].

Through our Changing Places work, we know that this is particularly an issue for lots of families in Bristol during the summer holidays. Often this leads to young people missing out on the social, emotional and physical benefits of community sport during this period. To tackle this worrying problem, we have planned a free, open access and inclusive summer of sport in Bristol.

End of Treatment Day for families finishing cancer treatment

On 4 August, we organised a day of sport for young people and their families to celebrate the end of their cancer treatment. 

Put together in partnership with University Hospitals Bristol, the Weston NHS Foundation Trust and Young Lives Vs Cancer, this brilliant annual event provides advice, information and support for patients, carers and family members to help maximise their health and well-being following cancer treatment.

Hosted at the Edge Church in north Bristol, our team planned a range of sports for the young people, including wrestling, netball, Boccia and basketball. Working with our local community clubs, we organised for coaches and volunteers to come down and run the sessions for these amazing young people.

Saeed, from Wrestle for Humanity, said
“As an international coach, I can confidently say that working with post-treatment cancer children through Wrestle-dance is the pinnacle of my career. A profoundly rewarding and meaningful experience that has touched my heart in ways I could never have imagined.”

By helping the local organisations to organise events like this one we can create inclusive and inspiring spaces for young people who have completed their cancer treatment to reconnect with physical activity. We recognise that sports and physical activity can be inaccessible for many reasons, but children and young people with cancer deserve the same opportunities as anyone else. By working with experts on a grassroots level we can make inclusion the norm for everyone, regardless of the barriers they face!

Inclusive Tennis Festival

On 12 August, we put on an inclusive tennis festival for young people in the bath area. Organised in partnership with the University of Bath and Blue Sky Tennis Foundation, this brilliant day was hosted at the Sports Training Village.

Having previously taken part in our Disability Inclusion Training, coaches from across the area came down to adapt games and drills using specialist equipment for participants including those with autism, visual impairments, and wheelchair users.

Tennis is a fantastic sport for disabled young people as it is flexible and can be adapted for different particular needs. So it was great to see so many young people feeling included in the creative games and drills!

Our stand-out participant was a young man named Max. Max is autistic and often feels excluded from traditional sport. His mum even told us that she was worried about him spending too much time watching his brothers from the sidelines. However, the festival offered a brilliant opportunity for Max to play tennis in a supportive environment and he is now planning on playing with his brothers in the future!

Max’s mum said:
“It was lovely for my son to go and play a sport he enjoys in an environment geared up for him, and with peers he felt comfortable with!”. 

On top of all the fun, the Lawn Tennis Association were also in attendance to present Helen Abbott (volunteer) with her Lifetime Achievement of the Year Award and Jonny Fenner (Development Manager, Access Sport) with his Tennis For All Award.

Helen Abbott said:
“The event was excellent and demonstrated what can be done when partners pull together. There is a great need to ensure that there is the appropriate, coordinated and well-managed provision of inclusive tennis within the Bath area”.

You can take a closer look at the event with the photos from the day. Use the arrows to scroll through the images below or click here to visit the gallery to download an image.

Bristol - BMX Pump Track Race Series

From our work across Bristol, we know that low-income families struggle to access sport and physical activity in the summer. For many families living in underserved areas in Bristol, sport and physical activity can be financially inaccessible for many young people during the summer holidays.

To address this issue we partnered with British Cycling to put together a summer of open-access BMX races. With events in Hillfields, Hartcliffe and Stockwood, this series of races provided young people from across the region with their first opportunity to try racing.  Geared towards beginners, the young people had access to bikes and the opportunity to compete in a real BMX race.

Dan Coast, Cycle Sport Developer at British Cycling, said:  “It was a great session at a great facility which saw the riders really develop and hopefully inspired them to take part in future competitions”.

Interested in learning more about our work in Bristol?

Changing Places – Bristol 

 

[1] Ukactive, 2019