Providing safe, accessible and welcoming environments for the next generation

Tim Mathias Strategic Lead for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion ukactive

Generation Alpha are telling us they care about their health and wellbeing, but how do we ensure they are using fitness and leisure facilities in a safe way? And how can we make the facilities themselves accessible and secure? ukactive’s new guidance, titled Children and Young People in Gym and Group Exercise Facilities, has answered this question, with practical applications around how to welcome children and young people from the age of eight into our facilities.

There is strong demand from this age group for gyms, pools and leisure centres. Sport England recently published its annual Moving Communities report, which found that an increase in gym activities over the past year was driven by growing participation among under-16s, rising by 21%. Meanwhile, Sport England’s Active Lives Survey shows that almost a quarter of children and young people (23%) are engaging in gym sessions, which equates to a population estimate of 1,697,900. This means that gym and fitness activities are one of the top 10 activities that children and young people take part in.

If we are going to welcome more children and young people into our facilities and cater for this upward trend, we need to ensure these facilities and teams are prepared to support them. Our new guidance includes practical applications on how to welcome children and young people (from ages eight to 17) into fitness and leisure facilities, and covers elements like safeguarding, supervision, inductions, and the use of equipment and changing rooms.

Our guidance features some strong case studies from leading operators and suppliers in the industry, including Les Mills, Nuffield Health, Oldham Active, Lifestyle Fitness and Everyone Active. These organisations are already safely supporting children and young people with their facilities and services, running specific programmes designed to support certain age groups, such as Nuffield Health’s ‘Move Together’ programme. This initiative, for 11 to 16-year-old girls, targets lower-income, under-served areas and aims to remove as many barriers as possible to ensure young girls are able to access activities and exercise. The guidance also highlights how Everyone Active saw an increase of more than 50% in the number of young people joining and using its gyms since the COVID-19 pandemic. To support this growth, Everyone Active offers specific junior gym memberships for those aged 11-15, allowing children and young people to access their facilities once they have completed an induction with a qualified instructor. Using this guidance, and the case studies within it, we’re confident it can help more operators set up, improve or adapt their offers for children and young people so these groups can be active in a safe and supported environment.

We need to ensure facilities and teams are prepared to support children and young people safely

At ukactive, this guidance forms part of our wider ambition to get a million more children and young people active in our sector’s facilities by 2030 and we know this is possible. Our polling with insights agency Beano Brain, shows a real motivation from Generation Alpha to use physical activity as a key part of their long-term health, with nearly half (49%) of those children and young people surveyed saying they want to be fit and healthy as they grow into adulthood.

By implementing this guidance, our sector has an important role to play in helping to support even more children to be active in our facilities and helping to instil physical activity as a lifelong habit. ● To read the guidance, Children and Young People in Gym and Group Exercise Facilities, visit: [https://www.ukactive.com/standards/#children](https://www.ukactive.com/standards/)