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YMCA Awards launches new disabilities in sport and leisure award

YMCA Awards leads the sector in the creation of qualifications that help people live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives
21 August 2017

YMCA Awards know how to craft the highest quality gold-standard qualifications. We also know that as one of the only registered charities creating awards for the health and fitness sector, it is our duty to make sure that these qualifications also achieve a broader social objective.

People with disabilities have long been under-represented in health and fitness, and a lack of suitable qualifications have acted as a barrier to participation both for those seeking to become instructors for disabled athletes and for disabled athletes themselves.

It is absolutely imperative that this changes as the proportion of disabled people participating in sport at least once a week is now only 16.8% and has been declining consistently for the past three years.

With this in mind, YMCA Awards will be introducing the Level 2 Award in Working with Participants with Disabilities in Sport and Active Leisure from September 2017.

The aim is to give learners a thorough understanding of how disabilities impact upon sport and leisure so that they may build a career within the industry, and so that they may be able to successfully create an inclusive environment in which disabled athletes are able to thrive.

As part of the course, students learn about the key issues which affect athletes with disabilities, learn how to undertake safe and appropriate working practices and learn how to lead suitable sporting activities for people with disabilities.

Successful completion can lead to careers as a sports coach, a youth and community worker or to a number of other job roles within the health and fitness sector. The award also opens up pathways to further education, for instance by way of a Level 2 NVQ in Activity Leadership, or a Level 2/3 NVQ in Instructing Exercise and Fitness.

YMCA Awards know that if young people are to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, they must be given a broad range of educational and sporting opportunities regardless of disability.

YMCA Awards Head of Products and Services Adam Williams said, “I am extraordinarily proud of the YMCA Awards team for bringing our new Level 2 Award in Working with Participants with Disabilities in Sport and Active Leisure to the market.

“As well as supporting our existing portfolio, it clearly fits with the charity’s ethos and commitment to helping all young people live better and more fulfilling lives; and we look forward to furthering this vision together with our customers and partners.

“The Level 2 Award in Working with Participants with Disabilities in Sport and Active Leisure is the result of a great deal of hard work, commitment and dedication, which I am sure will be mirrored by our centres and learners, and which I know will be just as rewarding to deliver and complete as it was to create.”

YMCA Awards know that if young people are to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives, they must be given a broad range of educational and sporting opportunities regardless of disability. We will, therefore, continue to keep creating the highest quality qualifications and will continue to strive to make sure these qualifications contribute to our wider social well-being.

If you are interested in delivering this qualification or becoming an approved training provider, please either email us at awards.support@ymca.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 7343 1800.

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