Future in Fitness – discovering careers with Everyone Active

Students from New Siblands Secondary School had a fantastic opportunity to explore the word of work during a recent visit to Everyone Active Horfield Leisure Centre. The visit was a welcoming and inclusive opportunity for the students to have an insight into the sports and leisure sector and the roles in a leisure centre. 

After a welcome and introduction, the students headed out on a guided tour of the centre, exploring areas such as the office, reception, gym, soft play, cafe and fitness rooms. This gave students an insight into the wide variety of spaces and roles in the leisure centre, and the chance to see how these roles interact with the people using the centre.

To give everyone a more in-depth experience the group was split into three smaller teams, each exploring a different part of the centre at a time. One group headed to the pool where they took part in a buoyancy challenge and learned all about the roles of a lifeguard and swimming coach. It was fascinating to see the swimming coaches at work and learn the importance of the role of the lifeguards.  

The second group went to the newly installed immersive studio, where the walls can be projected to create different scenes – the beach and the underwater landscape were the students’ firm favourites! They heard all about the role of a fitness instructor and how they help people stay fit and heathy. The students were then challenged to take part in a short fitness routine, ending with a restful cool down and mindfulness exercise.   

The final group spent time in the reception, hearing about the important role the reception team have in making visitors feel welcome to the site and looking at how often they needed to answer the phone and deal with customer questions. The students were disappointed that the guide dog that stays behind the reception desk whilst its owner exercises wasn’t there, but loved hearing about individuals with SEND who use the site.  

By rotating between the different zones, the students got a well-rounded awareness of the range of roles available and their day-to-day tasks. The visit was rounded off by the chance to ask questions and hear about the skills and qualities needed in each role, as well as the steps each staff member had taken to get to their job. Students said it was god ‘seeing what people do’ and ‘seeing different places’ and the teachers commented that it was great for pupils to see different jobs, make new links, and go behind the scenes.   

Thank you to all the staff at Everyone Active for providing such a welcoming and insightful visit and well done to all the students from New Siblands for their fantastic participation!