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Blackburn Rovers and FIT FANS has given Scott a second chance at life

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FIT ROVERS gave Scott a new positive outlook on his future after a difficult period of mental health issues and substance abuse.

Scott enrolled in the FIT FANS initiative after having to start his life over again at the age of 40 due to drug and alcohol dependency.

Prior to the programme, Scott was unemployed, unable to see his son, and unsure in what direction his life was going to continue but one thing was certain for him and that was that change was needed.

Average weight loss statistics for the FIT FANS programme are impressive and exceed those of many other programmes. On average women lose well over 3kg and men over 5.5kg by the end of the 12 weeks. We also have evidence that lifestyle change and weight loss is sustained over the following 12 months. More than 90% of men and 85% of women lose weight during the programme with many losing a clinically significant amount.  Our data shows FIT FANS helps people to increase physical activity, and reduce sedentary time, leading to weight loss, a significant reduction in blood pressure and improvement in self-reported mental wellbeing measures.

The course’s practical and educational benefits were at the forefront of Scott’s progress in his physical and mental well-being where he learned and implemented a balanced lifestyle regime whilst adapting methods to ensure he was able to manage his mental health. However, the biggest impact on Scott was his ability to meet a whole new group of people without fear of judgment.

He said: “I had lost everything, you never judged or discriminated against me and gave me a chance to come on the course which I’m very grateful for because FIT FANS has given me so much.”

As a result, he was more motivated and positive than ever as his whole lifestyle and well-being were focused on positive environments. On the back of this development, Scott was successfully offered a job as a Community Sports Coach at Blackburn Rovers Community Trust where he hopes to create an impact on younger generations.

He explained: “No words can describe what it means to work for the club I’ve grown up supporting and to try and make a difference to children and young people in the community to hopefully help them not take the path I, unfortunately, fell down.”

Scott’s mental health has, in his own words has ‘improved so much’ and his journey to the position he finds himself in today started at Blackburn Rovers Community Trust.

The life Scott once lived is a thing of the past as he is due to begin a whole new, more positive chapter in his journey with his son back in his life and aims of becoming a primary school teacher, Scott has enrolled on to a university course.

Find out more about FIT FANS

EFL Trust Wins £0.5 Million for Active Ageing

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The Trust will receive £0.5M of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Active Ageing fund to help older adults stay active.

The ‘Extra Time’ project will harness the power of football clubs in the local communities to create Extra Time Hubs.

Research shows inactivity among older adults (the over 55’s) is responsible for as many deaths as smoking. 36% of over 55’s are inactive compared to 26% of the population as a whole. Research also shows those who do the least exercise stand to benefit the most.

Starting in 2018, twelve EFL clubs will run ‘Extra Time Hubs’ . The hubs will be a regular gathering place for older people to come together to socialize and to prove that you’re never too old learn to do the things you’ve always wanted to do.


Based within the stadium and utilising the clubs facilities, the programme will create a community of like-minded people to shape what’s on offer. The activities will be peer led and could include anything from archery to zumba, bowls to walking football. Nothing is off the menu. The members can contribute to organising and running the groups and sessions, or just come along for the fun.

Mike Evans, The EFL Trust Director of Operations, comments:“With the support of Sport England’s Active Ageing fund, our programme will directly address inactivity in older adults right in the heart of UK communities.

”The power of our football club badges will bring people together in a comfortable, familiar environment and allow them to shape their future path to improved health and well-being.”

Sport England is investing £10 million of National Lottery money into 20 projects across England to reduce the number of inactive older adults in the country. The 20 funded projects will use activity to help tackle problems including poor mental health, dementia, loneliness caused by bereavement, and addiction.

Mike Diaper, Executive Director at Sport England said: “People are living longer but not necessarily in the best of health. We’re excited to be supporting these 20 partners with National Lottery funding to help get older adults get active. We’ll be sharing learnings so successful approaches can be scaled-up or replicated across the country so we can help more adults lead happier and healthier lives.”

Sport England has put tackling inactivity at the heart of its strategy ‘Towards An Active Nation’. There are roughly 5.8 million inactive people over 55 in England and the number of inactive people is growing as people are living longer.

Being active is one of the most important things people can do to maintain health and wellbeing as they age. Physically active older people have higher levels of mobility and a lower of risk of disease than those who are inactive. Ill health often means the loss of independence and is linked to social isolation and depression.

For more information on the Active Ageing fund please visit:  www.sportengland.org/funding/active-ageing-fund/

About Sport England

Sport England is a public body and invests more than £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport. It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.

Sport England’s Active Lives survey November 2015 – November 2016 shows inactivity levels for age 55-64 (28% inactive), 65-74 (31% inactive) 75-84 year olds (49% inactive), 85+ (72% inactive)

Sport England’s Active Lives survey November 2015 – November 2016.

The number of people aged 60 or over is expected to pass the 20 million mark by 2030 (Office for National Statistics, 2015).

Over 1800 females active through Female Fitness Exercise project

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Over 1800 women across London have got more physically active thanks to the EFL Trust’s Female Fitness Exercise (FFE) project supported by the Mayor of London.

1287 of those females on the project were previously inactive and by December 2017, the project aims to have engaged at least 2,625 females across London.

The project also targets reducing the number of females who are classed as ‘inactive’; and specifically those who struggle to exercise regularly, such as the over 40’s or those with a disability.

Seven EFL clubs run the project through their community trusts, offering a wide range of activities – in addition to football – to help women keep active and improve their overall health and well-being.

One club in particular, Leyton Orient, have been working with the local Asian Women’s Support group through the FFE project to help ladies lose weight, increase fitness levels and improve their health and fitness knowledge.

Leyton Orient Trust have been working with the group, trying out a range of sport based activities and ran a 12-week football fans in training (FFIT) session alongside ‘soccersise’ – exercise fun using a football and football based techniques.

Philip Smith, Head of Health and Wellbeing at Leyton Orient Trust said: “It’s been great to work with the Asian Women’s Support Group to set up these sessions. Over the 12 weeks the group got to try out a range of activities, helping to build an enjoyable and positive experience around physical activity along with an understanding and deeper knowledge of how to make healthier lifestyle choices.

“It’s been lovely to see the group develop and see the impact it has made on their health. We are always keen to explore ways we can work with local groups to achieve positive outcomes for the community and this project is an excellent example of the impact partnership working can make.”

Many participants on the project had a chance to try out sports for the first time and after reaching their 12 week goal as a group, losing over 3 and half stone in weight, the ladies were invited to attend their first ever football match, enjoying a day out as guests of the club.

Manjit, one of the participants, commented: “The sessions were excellent. It was really interesting learning how to make healthier good choices and doing it together in a group made it lots of fun. I really enjoyed playing football and tennis; two sports I’d never tried out before. It was also great to attend my first ever football match too.”

Parm, another participant said: “I have become more active, lost weight and improved my diet. I still have some bad habits to get over in consuming food but I know they are bad now through the knowledge I have gained doing the course! I’ve also made lots of new friends through the programme too.”

To find out more about the Female Fitness Exercise programme visit: https://www.efltrust.com/female-fitness-exercise/

EXTRA TIME: ‘It takes years off you! I always claim I’m 29. I’m 87 and I love it.’

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Shrewsbury Town in the Community’s ‘Extra Time’ programme is offering people over the age of 50 in Shrewsbury a new lease of life, and you have to look no further than participant Alan Bowers to see the impact the sessions are having on those in the community.

Alan, 69, is a season ticket holder at Shrewsbury Town, but also an active member of the Extra Time programme.

Alan has been a regular participant at the club since it started five years ago, and up until recently was also a part of the Shrewsbury Town in the Community’s walking football team.

Extra Time, is aimed at getting those over the age of 50 involved in sporting activities and socialising, with sessions run every Thursday.

It’s not just limited to football, either. Alan and co find themselves doing a range of different activities each week, and whether it’s hockey, rounders, basketball, walking football or ten pin bowling, there’s something for everyone to get stuck into.

Speaking of the programme, Alan said: ”It’s such a good group of people, and they all get on with one another.

”It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, they just get out there, get some air in their lungs and just do something a bit different.”

When asked how much he has gained since joining Extra Time, he added: ”So much. Making friends, keeping healthy, keeping fit. When you retire, you get to a point of, ‘what do I do next?’

”You can’t go to a pub every day, can you?…Well maybe you can!

”But you don’t want to do that, you want to do something different. We want to do visits, we go to the pantomime every year at Theatre Severn and we have  a trip every year.”

Joining Alan at Shrewsbury Powerleague every Thursday is Irene, 87, who has been part of Extra Time for four years.

Like Alan, Irene can’t speak highly enough of the sessions, and the group that she has become so close and friendly with.

”It’s the best club I’ve ever been to, it really is.” Irene said. ”It’s a laugh from the time you go in, to the time you go out, and everybody joins in.

”It doesn’t matter if you’re any good at it. I am no good at hitting the ball in rounders, the ball goes the wrong way!

”Everybody cares for one another, it’s great! If anybody is off colour or ill, we’ve got out phone numbers.”

For a healthy and youthful lifestyle, Irene insists Extra Time is the programme for you.

”It takes years off you! I always claim I’m 29! I’m 87 and I love it.

”The laughs you have, and the friends you make…A laugh a day makes all the difference.”

To find our more about Shrewsbury Town in the Community’s Extra Time sessions visit: https://www.shrewsburytowninthecommunity.com/activities/extra-time/

Active Choices participant set to represent England

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Marek Hyde, a participant from Derby County Community Trust’s Active Choices programme has been chosen to represent his country in the upcoming Street Football World Cup.

The tournament takes place in Oslo between the 28th August – 6th September,seeing 64 teams, representing 52 countries, come together to celebrate and highlight the life changing work of the Street Football Partner Network.

Following his involvement in the Active Choices programme, Marek, aged 26, from Spondon will be one of 500 players at the competition, each with their own individual story.

Active Choices is a healthy lifestyle and behavioral change programme which helps people who have struggled with substance misuse issues. It has now helped over 500 people with drug and alcohol problems to turn their lives around, giving them the opportunity to receive one-to-one support and take part in worthwhile activities at a critical point in their recovery.

Marek joined the programme back in April 2016 following a referral from Jericho House, a residential addiction recovery project which works closely with Derby County Community Trust, supporting service users in achieving the highest quality of life and in realising their full potential.

Since joining, Marek has become fitter, more active and has stopped smoking. The support and exit routes have even allowed him to find full time employment and complete a Sports Leadership qualification in partnership with the Street Football Association, which led to the England call-up.

Following the news, Marek said:

 “I feel brilliant, it’s such an honor which I thought would never happen to me. It’s something I didn’t think would happen because it’s so unrealistic to think of playing for my country. It’s given me time to reflect on my achievements in recovery.

 “I’m really looking forward to getting out there, meeting my teammates and pulling on the shirt to represent England.”

 On the involvement of the Derby County Community Trust and the Active Choices programme he said:

“They have been there for guidance and support on my exercise and nutrition. The programme has helped me make new friends, given me the opportunity to play at professional football grounds and gain a sport leader qualification, helping me to further myself.”

Marek’s call-up comes following a long line of successes between the Active Choices programme and the Street Football Association. Over the past three years nine participants have made trips to Scotland, Chile, Portugal and Holland for the tournament.

Adam Rowley from Derby County Community Trust said:

“We are delighted for Marek. The opportunity is a reward for his engagement in the programme and the positive lifestyle changes that he has made. We have no doubts that he will do DCCT, Jericho House and his country proud throughout the tournament in August.’’

 

To find out more about Derby County Community Trust’s Active Choices programme visit – http://www.derbycountycommunitytrust.com/programmes/health/active-choices/