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Community Scheme sticks its oars into Rowing |
Notts County FC, the World's Oldest Football League Club in the world, has turned to rowing to promote better health and fitness amongst City children. Situated just across the water from some of the country's oldest boat houses on the banks of the River Trent, Football in the Community at Meadow Lane (a Charitable Trust for Sport), has launched a unique project - Row for your Life! - to engage children who don’t play football in worthwhile physical exercise. The project is backed by Nottingham-based market leaders in static rowing machines Concept 2, the Amateur Rowing Association and the Football Foundation. Funding has also been awarded by Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire FA, Nottingham School Sport Partnership, Sportsmatch, and the Bernard Sunley Charitable Trust. Row for your Life! has been developed after Community Staff from Meadow Lane identified a reluctance to engage in football amongst some of the many thousands of children they help to develop healthier lifestyles across the City of Nottingham. Notts County Community Director Steve Hill explains: "Those for whom team games or contact sports are intimidating or simply not sufficiently inspiring, now have something they can use to improve their fitness, become more healthy, and set their own challenges and goals". "Everyone knows how inspirational the likes of Sir Steven Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent have been over the years and we hope that for those children who don't engage with football - sometimes due to their own fears and sometimes due to parental pressure - Row for your Life! will give an exciting and safe alternative to finding a healthier lifestyle," added Mr Hill, whose team have delivered primarily football-based activities from Meadow Lane for over 12 years. Former Olympic rower Tom Kay of Concept 2 welcomed the arrival of Football in the Community into the world of rowing. "It's great for us as it adds a new dimension to rowing and its fantastic that Football in the Community see the potential of rowing," he said. "It hits all the facets of the Healthy Schools Standard and for many young people, its more meaningful as they can actually measure the calories they burn, so it becomes more of a challenge to keep improving week on week, which doesn't always happen in team sports if the team around you isn’t performing," added Mr Kay. "Its also a great sport to take with them into later life of course and once they have got used to our rowing machines, they will feel confident with them when they are old enough to use gyms, fitness clubs and at University. Who knows, this project may discover the next Redgrave or Pinsent right here in Nottingham!" Concept 2 are supplying six state of the art rowing machines and training staff at Football in the Community to deliver sessions in City Schools, where children would not normally get access to the sport.
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