New Sports Sessions Hit the Mark at Sunnybank

Carmen and Lisa, our Learning Disability Day Services managers, have been telling us about the new sports sessions at Sunnybank and reflecting on the theme for 2024's Learning Disability Awareness Week:

Sunnybank Community Centre already had regular sports sessions where people could play darts, bowling, parachute games and beanbag target practice, but when Active Future enquired about using the centre as a Social Space for evening sport sessions, we knew people we support would enjoy an adapted version of their soft dodgeball and foam dart blaster games too.

We hadn't had a session like this before and hoped, due to its fast pace, that people we support would really enjoy it! We've seen lots of healthy competition and everyone's excited to come to the session each week. A bonus is that we can see people's mental and physical wellbeing improving because of the movement, exercise and connection involved in these games.

Starting off with some taster sessions, we then asked for feedback and used people's suggestions to liaise with Active Future and further adapt the sessions to meet everyone's goals and needs. The new sports are a hit; the group has grown every week! Word of mouth means people have been coming from all our LD services, but it is open to everyone supported by Persona to join in too.

We've just seen Learning Disability Week 2024 come to a close and we strongly believe we've met each of this year's themes through these new sessions alone:

Do you see me?

We identified a gap in the current sports session that was seen as 'adequate' - we saw the need and the means for this session to be improved.

Do you understand me?

We understand the need to to keep the people we support engaged by continuously adapting and updating the sessions we offer.

Will you work with me?

We have worked with all the people supported at Sunnybank and throughout LDDS to offer tasters, ask questions and make any changes to ensure the session's adapted for everyone.

Do you hear me?

We listened to feedback from the people we support about the sessions and how they thought improvements could be made.

Do you include me?

We actioned people's feedback to ensure the sports sessions are adapted to and bespoke for the needs of the people we support.

Will you support me?

We ensure these sessions include our enthusiastic and supportive staff so everyone has a great time! 

To find out more about the sports sessions, click here for our events.

To read more of our development and management blogs, click here.