As a return to sport and physical activity draws closer, Levelling the Playing Field takes a look at some of the ingenious ideas that our Local Delivery Partners are using to stay connected with children during lockdown.
Keeping participants engaged through Covid-19 is most certainly not easy, with many people suffering from ‘Zoom fatigue’ and access to online services simply beyond the means of some families. However, LtPF partners across England and Wales have shown hugely impressive agility and invention in adapting their services to ensure children in their care are supported.
Ellesmere Youth Project
In Burngreave, Sheffield, EYP offer young people 11 online sessions per week in a huge variety of formats and topics. “It’s been overwhelming,” says Imran Ali. “I’m struggling to put on enough sessions to include everyone who wants to join!”
As well as sessions on fitness and holistic health, Imran has introduced his young people to Street Doctors who offer practical advice to empower young people affected by violence, including emergency first aid and support with trauma.
Young people have especially loved quizzes on Kahoot, which they co-design. There’s been an online reading club and Imran invited on guest author Novid Shaid. He proved especially popular, with over 60 children logging in, most accompanied by other family members, who took part in a lively Q&A. “The parents loved him, as an author from a British-Pakistani background who was very relevant to them,” says Imran.
Iman says engagement levels have been “crazy” with one young person even joining in from hospital having regrettably been involved in a violent incident.
“I have 400 names on my WhatsApp group from this community, so we don’t need to advertise what we do,” says Imran. “It’s made me realise what a solid relationship I have with the parents. When you get that buy-in it shows it’s working. We have their trust for the children to be online and doing something productive.”
Socialising with friends via headsets while gaming has been a vital way to stay connected with peers for many young people through the pandemic, and Gloves Not Gunz has used that same platform to stay engaged with participants.
GNG and its sister programme Urban Yogis have a partnership with Nike, who have supplied free equipment including home yoga kits.
In-house coaches have hosted fitness, boxing and yoga sessions on Instagram Live, as well as setting up a mental health helpline and moving mentoring on to Facetime and Skype.
Participants have also been taking part in UK Active’s excellent Move Crew fitness sessions, with each one hosted by a different role model athlete, such as star sprinter Dina Asher-Smith, netball playing sisters Sasha and Kadeen Corbin, England rugby union international Jonathan Joseph and former prisoner turned inspirational Nike-sponsored triathlete John McAvoy.
They’ve set up Netflix accounts for families who can’t afford them and encouraged young participants to share film reviews.
In February, they launched a Game Challenge, with young people downloading a different game each week from the App Store and taking a screenshot of their scores, with the winner each week receiving a prize.
The activities included tie-dying a t-shirt, ingredients for cooking a curry and a roast, and making your own ‘wellbeing calendar’.
Most importantly, the content of their support is always dictated by the children.
Young people on Rotherham United Community Sports Trust’s Levelling the Playing Field sessions have been lucky to benefit from the club’s Lottery-funded ‘Esports School’.
The initiative uses online gaming to tackle physical and mental health problems caused by Covid-19. It’s a great platform for improving social skills and reducing loneliness, isolation, depression and anxiety caused by the lockdown.
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Partners! How have you been engaging with your participants throughout the pandemic? Tag us in your posts on social media or tell us all about it on Workplace.