Oldham Active focusing on youth memberships

Oldham Active, the charitable leisure provider which operates facilities on behalf of local authorities, has seen a big increase in young people joining its facilities as members since the launch of its Young Person’s Membership in October 2021.

A fifth (20%) of Oldham Active’s total membership is now aged 11-18, while one-third of new members are young persons.

To ensure its workforce can cater to the shift in membership, Oldham Active has partnered with Oldham College to upskill its staff. The first phase of the collaboration will see 30 members of Oldham Active frontline employees complete a specialist Level 2 Qualification in Leading Physical Activity for Adolescents.

Lauren Connis, Group Health and Fitness Brand Manager says: “We’re really proud of the significant uplift in young people using our facilities. Recent findings show that 26 per cent of Year Six children in Oldham are already obese. We want to help combat this and are keen to establish healthier life choices in young people for the long term.

“Helping young people to feel relaxed and confident in our facilities is paramount, as it will help them to navigate and seek out physical activity as they get older and have families of their own. But while we are excited to further expand our offer to young people in the area, to do it safely and effectively we need to ensure our staff have the correct qualifications.

“The expert training Oldham College is providing means our staff will have the key skills to adapt physical training for young people, taking into account their specific physiological needs.

“It will help our staff to teach, plan and advise young people on how best to exercise, plus support them on how to best communicate with teenagers. Our staff, aged 20–68, are thrilled to go ‘back to school’ to help with their own personal career development.”