Community Outreach, Reebok Sports Club, Canary Wharf, London.

Community Outreach

At the Reebok Sports Club we believe in playing an active part in the wider community. Working with local schools and projects we support and encourage healthier and fitter lifestyles.

The Reebok Sports Club & The Local Community

Burdett Neighbourhood Centre - Tower Hamlets

A community centre which hosts regular activities throughout the year and provides training and employment opportunities for local residents around health, education, training, employment and the environment.

The club will continue to work with ELBA this year to help the local community get fit and healthy. January 2012 saw the start of another local initiative, the club are offering free women only exercise classes at the Burdett Neighbourhood Centre near poplar. Kelly Wootton one of Reeboks top group exercise instructors will be helping up to 20 ladies each week to keep fit, many of which have never exercised before.
New Horizon Youth Centre

www.nhyouthcentre.org.uk

New Horizon Youth Centre works with young people who are vulnerable, homeless or at risk. Many of these individuals have problems stemming from poor self esteem, low confidence, and a history of rejection, harm and abuse. The Centre aims to help them improve their lives by providing a range of psychological and practical support, including advice on housing and job-seeking, an on-site nurse, gym facilities, and counseling services.

Reebok Sports Club is keen to support this cause by donating fitness equipment to their gym. Experience shows that exercise is incredibly beneficial to aiding motivation and helping individuals overcome many other challenges.
John Scurr Community Centre

John Scurr Community centre works with local Newlon residents. The Centre’s services have a strong emphasis on sport, activities and health, allowing individuals to interact with others, stay healthy and build self-esteem.

Recently, the extremely popular women-only fitness classes saw a drop in attendance when the club imposed a charge. Reebok Sports Club was able to help by providing a fitness instructor (Kelly Wootton), which meant that the classes could remain free and accessible to all. This was incredibly beneficial and provided a boost to the women who otherwise did not have access to free fitness activities.

Reebok Sports Club is keen to support this cause by donating fitness equipment to their gym. Experience shows that exercise is incredibly beneficial to aiding motivation and helping individuals overcome many other challenges.
Fight For Peace

www.fightforpeace.net

Fight for Peace provides young people with free classes in boxing and martial arts. It operates in communities with high levels of crime and violence. Boxing is a proven strategy to help overcome community issues such as division and violence, and, combined with education and personal development, helps individuals realize their full potential.

With over 1000 members and an average of 156 young people attending per day, Fight for Peace needed help in maintaining its facilities. Reebok Sports Club overcame this problem by donating much-needed fitness equipment to their centre in North Woolwich.
City Gateway

www.citygateway.org.uk

City Gateway aims to bring hope to women and disadvantaged young people in the local communities of Tower Hamlets. It achieves this through running programmes, workshops and courses which engage and train individuals, providing them with all the skills and confidence necessary to entering work and further education.

Amongst many other services, City Gateway runs fitness classes and offers a Sport Apprenticeship. Reebok Sports Club will be donating four Cross Trainers, fifteen Spin Bikes, and several Balance Boards. This will help City Gateway to fulfil their goal to ‘build active lives’ by promoting sports-relating activities, thus improving individuals’ health, fitness, motivation and confidence.
ELBA (East London Business Alliance)

www.elba-1.org.uk

ELBA connects businesses with the East London Community. By providing mentoring, volunteering and apprenticeship schemes in disadvantaged areas, ELBA aims to ease broader problems of unemployment and poverty by focussing on individual development.

Reebok Gym is working alongside ELBA’s employment team by helping place local people in temporary and permanent employment. Furthermore, it is running apprentice schemes to train individuals, offering them the opportunity to find employment and improve their lives.
FOILS

Reuters, the Reebok Sports Club and the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets teamed up to offer a unique opportunity to primary and secondary schools to develop their skills in the Olympic sport of fencing.

The students commenced lessons at each of their schools and were coached by qualified instructors leading to a Basic Foil Proficiency. Heats were held in schools to select the 32 competitors to participate in the tournament. The participants competed for the Reuters FOILS trophy at the prestigious annual fencing tournament on June 22, 2007, at the Reebok Sporting Club.

Fencing is a lesser known Olympic sport and by offering coaching and a tournament to inner London schools the FOILS organisers hope to develop a real interest in the sport within the Borough in time for the 2012 Olympics.

The initiative is being taken as part of the East London Business Alliance “Legacy 2020” activities. In future years it is hoped to expand the number of students and participating Boroughs.

According to Ivan Newman, Head of Internal Service at Reuters and a member of the Tower Hamlets ELBA board, the initiative “gives East London students a unique opportunity to develop coordination, speed, agility and self assurance and at the same time a love of competitive sport.”

Ian Mahoney, Managing Director Reebok Sports Club, “This is a fantastic opportunity to become involved with the local community and create something special that will be remembered by the children for the right reasons some time to come.”

Louise Rambaud, Partnership Development Manager for the Tower Hamlets School Sport Partnership, “ This is the first year Fencing has been offered to many of our schools and it has proved to be an exciting activity which students are thoroughly enjoying. It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm for a new and different Olympic sport.”

Tower Hamlets School Sport Partnership works strategically with schools to deliver high quality Physical Education and School Sporting opportunities for all pupils.