Foundation ‘crucial’ to helping local residents stay healthy

Participants in Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s Shape Up with Spurs programme have revealed how the exercise programme has become 'crucial' to their physical and mental health.

Such is their belief in the benefits, Rob and Mav Highsted have now been attending sessions, that take place across various community venues, for seven years.

They spoke about their experience at the Premier League and Professional Footballer’s Association (PFA) Community Fund conference, hosted at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The fund enables our Foundation to deliver its Making Sport a Daily Habit programme - encompassing activities for all ages and abilities, from after-school girls’ and disability football sessions to walking football and Shape Up with Spurs - to 2,000 local residents every year.

Rob and Mav, who live nearby the Stadium, explained how they got involved to try and help deal with various health issues - Rob being asthmatic, overweight, having a high blood pressure and two knee replacements, and Mav living with chronic fatigue.

Rob, 66, said: “It’s certainly become something that’s crucial to our health and our week as a family. I try to get to three or four sessions a week.

“The Foundation is doing something very special, benefiting our physical and mental health, and it’s something that allows us to make a lot of friends when there might not be so many opportunities in this stage of our lives.”

Mav, 68, talked through a typical session: “We do circuits. It’s challenging, but there’s lots of thought that goes into it, so whether you’re at beginner, intermediate or advanced level, everybody’s needs are taken care of.

“At the end, we all clap our achievements. It’s a great community of people and great people from the Foundation helping us.”

On the impact Shape Up with Spurs has had specifically on their health issues, Rob said: “I’m having much better appointments with my asthma nurse, so my lung capacity’s improved greatly.

“I’ve had to ask for adaptations at times because of my two knees, but the team are always offering alternatives that allow us to get the best for ourselves.

“I’m a stone lighter - not quite beach body yet! But I’m fitter, stronger and happier.”

Mav added: “With my chronic fatigue, my character is I do everything, then can’t do anything.

“I manage a team of volunteers, providing a weekly community lunch for people in the local Antwerp Arms, and going to Shape Up with Spurs sessions has really helped me manage and recognise when I have to rest - that’s the biggest impact for me.”

Alongside Rob and Mav at the conference was Foundation chief executive Marc Leckie, who emphasised why funding received from the Premier League and PFA is so important.

“We’re really proud of Making Sport a Daily Habit. We’ve got a vibrant community here and everyone’s proud of where they’re from. There are challenges, though, not least that a significant number of people live in poverty, so to be able to provide opportunities for people to stay healthy, physically and mentally, reduce their social isolation and engage with others is vital.”

Club ambassador Ledley King also joined the conference to talk about his experiences engaging with the community.

Asked what goes through his mind when seeing the difference made to people’s lives, he said: “Part of me thinks back to how important it is to have opportunities. A lot of these opportunities weren’t around when I was young. To have opportunities to learn different skills is huge. With opportunity, people start to believe that anything they want to do can become achievable.”

Administered through the Premier League Charitable Fund, funding from the Premier League and PFA enables football clubs to demonstrate that football is more than a game, by tackling inequality, responding to local challenges and supporting people and their communities to be more inclusive.

Click here for a regular timetable of the Foundation’s free community activities, including its Shape Up with Spurs programme.