The Story So Far

James Story

“During Spring 2002 I had to take a decision to either continue working in a job that I didn’t really enjoy but I knew how to do, or to start something completely new and learn a lot of new things!

The easy part was making the decision. It was also pretty easy to come up with an idea. There was a lot of media attention on childhood obesity and there were a number of so-called experts telling kids to get up and play sport. I never thought, and still do not think, it’s as easy as that. The ways in which adults present sport to children is crucial in any potential success. For example if you ask any adult to recount their experiences during PE lessons at school a large portion of these adults have had bad experiences. My own personal memories of PE weren’t that great and that’s coming from some one who loves all sports! If these are the ‘impressions’ that are influencing kids opinions on participation in physical activities, what hope is there? Mix this with parents not wanting children to play out in the streets, more ‘easy’ alternatives such as TV and video games to occupy children, and the simple fact that some children don’t have the self confidence to join in with competitive sports, there is no wonder that there are health issues with a lot of today’s children.

I wanted to address all these issues and spent three months designing a programme that confronted all these problems. I spoke with teachers, head teachers, youth workers and children to get together as much information on what would make such a programme successful.

During the summer I ran some pilot sessions with a local church during their holiday programme. A teacher sat in with me and gave me feedback on how the session went. At this stage I was described as being similar to a ‘hyperactive children’s entertainer!’

I worked on how to work with groups of children and launched ‘ActivKids’ in September 2002. I had many great ideas on how it would work, which soon evaporated once I started going into more and more schools and tried to implement these ideas. For example, I started running 30 minute sessions for children aged 4 – 7 years. By the time kids had got changed, I only had about 10 minutes left!

I contacted approximately 60 schools local to me and heard back from about 25. I spent the first half term running from school to school speaking with head teachers, PE co-ordinators or whoever would listen to me! That first half term I ran 2 sessions. By October half term, I had increased to 8 sessions. More and more schools were showing an interest and by January 2003 I had 10 sessions running and had asked a friend to help with some of the coaching. By the end of the school year I was running 15 sessions and had 2 other coaches’ helping. I had also increased my target area to around 300 schools.

The following year saw a dramatic increase in interest. I doubled the number of sessions I was running each week and had a team of about 6 coaches’ working with me. I had put together a coaches’ operations manual, training programme, merchandise and an observation and analysis programme for my coaches’. I contacted health and fitness operators throughout the country and started working with one of the largest. I even got through to the final of a young entrepreneur competition!

By July 2005 nearly 400 children every week were participating in an ActivKids session. We were now offering not just after schools clubs but before school, lunchtime and PE lesson cover. Schools were bringing us in to deliver assemblies, as part of health weeks and local authorities were using us for school holiday programmes. We were using coaching assistants in some classes and our coaches’ training programme was accredited to REPS and SkillsActive.

I have spent the past three years dedicated to finding out what works best with children, parents and schools. I still feel as passionate today as I did at the very beginning and now I have the additional knowledge of how it works best. I have absolutely loved working with children who are the most honest people in the world. I challenge anyone to not smile at least once during any time spent working with kids.

We have additional support through Kelly’s hours and school PPA time requirements and I am taking the programme to a higher level of quality by specific National Curriculum standards being achieved.

All I’m looking for are people who love working with children, are willing to work hard and share the same passion as myself to make a difference in children’s lives. I can show you the rest!”