WEEKLY NEWS

Community Stories December 2011

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The Oban Winter Festival

The Oban Winter Festival was fantastic, giving the community the chance to try new and exciting things.

The Festival was organised by volunteer group Ready Steady Christmas, who previously hosted two tremendously successful afternoon events, raising money for local charities.

The Festival follows on from last years’ popular Victorian Market and Santa’s Postbox which ran alongside the Reindeer Parade and switching on of the Christmas Lights.

It was opened on Thursday with Ballet West and continued for the next 9 days. It was filled with different events, from the Argyll Animal Aid Fayre to Winter fairgrounds. There was certainly plenty of events to suit all ages.

Atlantis Leisure played a big part with our synthetic ice rink, which was extremely popular. Nursery's, school's and the public kept the rink filled to capacity. The Sea Life Centre were kind enough to bring their touch pool along to Atlantis which allowed children (and adults!) to handle Crabs, Muscles, Sea Urchins and Star Fish. The two friendly Sea Life Centre staff supplied lots of information about each one. Janet from Argyll Fun Events had the famous Body Zorbes in the Tennis Courts which were great to watch and take part in.

Donna Smith - New Youth Work in Sport Initiative

Donna has been working at Atlantis as a sports coach, receptionist and lifeguard for the past 6 years. She was recently selected by the Atlantis management and directors to apply for the new youth work in sport initiative set up by The Ranch Foundation and Robertsons Trust and was successful in her applicatiion. The idea behind this is to use sport and activity as a tool to break down barriers, to engage with young people and to help them develop a positive lifestyle and recognise and act upon any issues effecting their lives.

Her work is based at Atlantis doing a variety of youth work in the centre and also working with other youth organisations within the community. Donna said "I hope to get fully involved and learn what other youth work goes on in the Oban area."

The main aims of the project are self development, the development of youth work in Atlantis and the wider community.

Donna is studying for a Diploma in Informal Education and Community Learning at George Williams College, London, on a distance learning course. She travels to London for residential days and also has study days in Edinburgh. Donna said "I'm really excited to be doing a Gym Instructors course in January. This will be a great qualification to contribute to my work with young people."

Racketball

Recently Atlantis Leisure received funding from the Cash Back Initiative which allowed us to set-up a new sport in Atlantis called racketball. Racketball is essentially squash BUT squash that anyone of any age can play.

It is played on a standard squash court but uses a larger ball and a racket with a larger head and shorter handle. As a result the game is easier to play, skills are acquired quickly, rallies are longer and beginners rapidly gain confidence in their game. Players are therefore able to get both a competitive game and a great work out.

To obtain qualifications in delivering racketball, two of our coaches, Ben Pollock and Donna Smith attended a racketball course in Barrhead. They learned basic technique and fun drills and advice on organising racketball sessions.

Following this course Atlantis set up FREE regular racketball sessions running on Friday 11th November to Friday 16th December. An hour session from 6.20pm to 7.20pm for P6-7 and 7.20pm to 8.20pm for S1 –S6. Along with these sessions, Atlantis Coaches have also visited Oban Youth Cafe, Park, St Columba’s and Rockfield primary schools delivering racketball taster sessions to over 150 young people.

Atlantis Leisure will be running more racketball sessions in the new year from Friday 13th January to 27th January. If these free sessions continue to be popular we could see racketball introduced in the play sport programme.

Biggest Achiever - Lisa Anderson

I wanted to take part in the 'biggest achiever' challenge to push myself as I wanted to lose weight and tone up. My instructor, Christina Campbell, really gave me the motivation and encouragement I needed to push myself to my full potential. I feel that my fitness levels have really improved and I can now run, which I have never done before, and manage a whole Zumba class without stopping. I have really enjoyed being part of this 12 week challenge and look forward to continuing with my gym sessions and classes in the new year.

I feel that I have changed my lifestyle and can now keep achieving great results.

Lisa

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