Active Dorset County Sports Partnership, with the aid of Sportivate innovation funding, have successfully created a new link with the Arts University Bournemouth.
After an initial meeting with the Student Union in 2014 where it was stated that "...our students are not interested in sport", Gary Head, Active Dorset's Youth Participation Manager and his team have influenced AUBSU to engage fully in 'Give It A Go' - and they have now taken on a new member of staff to focus specifically at sports development.
Technology and research have been a large part of the project. Every student who turns up to a session can register at a session by having their student ID card scanned, which automatically gives the SU session registers. The CSP team and SU have worked together to ensure that all activities are desired by the students with Surfing, Fencing and Yoga proving most popular. Sessions and even the logo are also designed specifically with Arts University students in mind. There are no facilities at all on site so the CSP have turned the canteen into a Table Tennis session in the evening!
Almost 50% of the students who have signed up to the programme rate themselves as inactive. The project launched on Bournemouth beach in September during freshers week. The project will continue into a second term in January but already over 158 have signed up to the scheme, with many more attending taster sessions.
For more information, please contact Gary Head at ghead@activedorset.org.