Joseph's - Story
Before I joined Get on Track, I was at home most of the time, but I did do some volunteering at the local food bank. I helped by checking on expiration dates on goods and then colour coding them so it was easy to see what was going out of date when. I also volunteered at my local church.
On the Get on Track programme, we did activities like trampolining, indoor climbing and the obstacle course at Henry’s ‘Ninja Warrior’ gym. It was really thrilling to work with Henry on Get on Track and get involved with lots of different sports related activities. My favourite activity was doing the obstacle course, the hardest bit was keeping my balance on the see-saw obstacle, but I managed it after a few attempts.
“ Joseph was a quite nervous about having a go on the see-saw but with some encouragement from the team he cracked it, and after a few goes he got his confidence and was flying across it. He also beat the 10ft wall which was really impressive. ”
Henry Cookey, athlete mentor
After starting the course, I kept fit by going to the gym with a friend, lifting weights, using the treadmill and sometimes going for a swim.
For our social action project, we did a beach cleaning project at Crosby Beach. We picked up garbage from all over the beach which was hard as I remember it being a really windy day, we were out doing it as a group for about two hours.
We recruited lots of people to help us and got Sefton Council to provide the equipment and we joined up with the Friends of Crosby Beach so we made a really big impact on that day.
During lockdown, the online sessions with Henry have been really useful and enabled me to keep active and given me something to do during the day. He has encouraged us to keep active and so during the week I am doing daily workouts with Joe Wicks.
Due to coronavirus, I am shielding at home until the end of the month so I can’t do my normal volunteering, but I have signed up to do some NHS online courses so I can understand more about potential jobs once lockdown finishes and I am allowed out again. I would really recommend this programme to other people because it helps you with your confidence and helps to get you active.
“Joseph has come on in leaps and bounds on the programme! His communication has improved so much, at the start of the program it was a real challenge to get two words out of him but now he is able to talk to members of the public so clearly and articulately like we saw in his recruitment for the social action project. We’re so proud to see the change in him and also how willing he is to try new activities and his new interest in staying fit and active. We were so impressed with how far he’s come, it’s really inspiring to see. ”
Joseph is currently attending the Get on Track for Wellbeing programme in Southport. Thanks to funding from Sport England, we are working with 700 young people in coastal communities all across England to help them become more active.