Impact Update - Barton Lift Youth

Hot off the press! Our LiFT Youth project has launched in Barton. 

The Oxfordshire City Council has allocated funding to our Social Impact Team to conduct weekly sessions in Barton over the next six months. These sessions will include weightlifting, alongside multi-sports and boxing, aimed at enhancing life skills, athletic prowess, and community involvement.

We recognise that many areas of Oxford have the need for sporting interventions. Our interventions support young people to develop life skills, as well as achieve qualifications, helping them to transition into employment or further training. Despite a rising need, Barton, is currently underserved in terms of youth interventions and support, this funding therefore presents us with a real opportunity to create some valuable impact.

If you are aged 12-16 and live in Barton, or spend time socialising in Barton, this session is for you! 

Sport Plus:

Yes, these are sport sessions. Yes, young people will have a lot of fun with our awesome coaches. 

What else? 

Our sport plus aspect is delivered through mentoring, and the delivery of nationally recognised fitness qualifications. We will support every young person to complete 30 hours of work experience in our Magdalen Road Gym, allowing for fitness-specific employment experience. 

Transferable skills we aim for young people to achieve are;

• Communication (verbal, non-verbal, and written)

• Organisation

• Team work

• Emotion management (to better understand and manage emotions that arise)

• Social situations (to understand how they may be perceived by others, and choose how they’d like to be viewed in the community)

• Reflection and critical thinking 

We look forward to keeping you updated with these sessions!

 Read about how sport interventions can reduce involvement in criminal activity:

Liang, B., Spencer, R., West, J. & Rappaport, N. (2013) ‘Expanding the reach of youth mentoring: partnering with youth for growth and social change’. Journal of Adolescence, 36(2), 257–267

Thompson, N. (2019). It’s a No-Win Scenario, either the Police of the Gang will get you: Young people and organised crime – Vulnerable or Criminal?’ Youth Justice, 19(2), 102-119

Walpole, C. and Mason, C. (2020) Literature Review Summary: The use of sport-based mentoring programmes as an intervention for preventing and reducing youth offending. [online] available from <literature-review-on-Mentoring1.pdf (streetgames.org) > [05 April 2024]