OLDHAM Active (Oldham Community Leisure) is partnering with Oldham College to upskill its staff to provide specialist health and fitness support for local children and young people, ahead of the launch of new young people-only group exercise classes.
The partnership will initially see 30 members of Oldham Active’s workforce completing the specialist Level 2 Qualification in Leading Physical Activity for Adolescents at Oldham College.
The collaboration follows a boom in the number of young people signing up for a Young Person’s Membership, with 20 per cent of Oldham Active’s total members now aged 11-18 and one third of new members being a young person.
The college will be putting the Oldham Active staff through the training to help the charitable leisure provider meet the demands of the community.
Lauren Connis, group health and fitness brand manager, said: “We are excited to further expand our offer to young people in the area. However, to do this 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 to 68, are thrilled to go ‘back to school’ to help with their own personal career development.”
Oldham Active first introduced its Young Person’s Membership in October 2021 and is further developing the membership, launching young people-only group exercise classes, including its unique class, BLAST, using Technogym’s specialist curved treadmills, Skill Mills, SKI ergs, which replicate Nordic ski function movements, rowers, free-weights and other pieces of functional training kit.