Fife sports instructors launch weekly catch-ups with centre users

It aims to help combat worries of isolation among older adults and people living with long-term health conditions who cannot access gyms and sports centres under Level 3 COVID restrictions.

Fife Sport and Leisure Triust (FSLT) cannot provide indoor group exercise classes or sports for adults until the region is moved back to Level 2.

It is now using funds from its Fife Health and Wellbeing Fund to support a weekly outreach programme where instructors will make regular contact with participants.

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Fiona Prendergast, wellbeing and programming manager, said: “The trust has had a successful track record of engaging older adults in its health and wellbeing programme, and we took action during the first lockdown to stay engaged with users with daily online physical activity sessions to support those living with long-term health conditions.

“We were really happy to see participants, many of whom are elderly, come back to centres when we were able to re-open, so the Level 3 restrictions are a real blow for those who were enjoying getting out of the house and seeing their fellow classmates again.

“We carried out a survey to find out what we could do to keep supporting participants this time round and overwhelmingly they said that staying connected was vital to their mental and physical wellbeing.”

Instructors will contact users of the health programme weekly either by phone call, Zoom class, WhatsApp video call, or, a socially distanced walk outdoors.