The Lord Mayor of Belfast, John Finucane joins Aidan Thompson from Avoniel Leisure Centre, Leila O’Rawe from Falls Leisure Centre, and Ronan McKenna, GLL Community Sports Manager, at the annual Belfast Summer Sports Day hosted by GLL.
The Lord Mayor, Cllr John Finucane joined more than 200 young children from across Belfast to take part in the annual Belfast Summer Sports Day at the Ozone Complex today.
Over 2,000 have been attending the city’s Better Summer Schemes at nine leisure centres run by social enterprise GLL and the annual sports day celebrates the end of this year’s schemes.
The children who participated in this year’s Sports Day tried their hand at more than ten different sports activities from rugby to hurling, as part of the summer sports activities, making new friends from across the community.
In keeping with GLL’s aim for its schemes to be inclusive to all children, one of the new stations for participants this year was wheelchair basketball, and inspired by the city’s boxing tradition, a boxing drill station was also on offer.
The young budding sports stars were also joined on the day by some of the city’s most promising young athletes who are supported by the GLL Sport Foundation as part of the social enterprise’s commitment to nurturing local sports talent.
Speaking at the Summer Sports Day today, Lord Mayor John Finucane said;
“It’s absolutely fantastic to see so many young people enjoying such a diverse offering of sporting activities at today’s sports day, with some of the activities being delivered by our dedicated Everybody Active partners. Not only is participation in sport a great way of fulfilling an active and healthy lifestyle, it’s also a brilliant way for young people to come together and meet new people and build friendships. I’m delighted to see our leisure provider GLL Belfast, continuing to deliver first class leisure provision for everyone across the city.”
Ronan McKenna, GLL Community Sport Engagement Manager, said:
“Our aim is to encourage as many children as possible to get active and stir up their enthusiasm for sports of different kinds. We’ve spent the last few weeks with these kids and wanted to mark the end of a great summer scheme by bringing them all together at the Ozone to have a bit of fun and try out a range of different sporting activities, whilst showcasing what is on offer for them across the city.
“This is a really exciting time for GLL and Better in Belfast as we approach the reopening of three newly developed leisure centres, so to get kids active and excited about sport is a real is key to transforming leisure in Belfast.”
GLL along with Belfast City Council will reopen the redeveloped Lisnasharragh, Brook and Andersonstown Leisure Centres early 2020 and aim to encourage as many children and their families to join their local leisure centre and get fit and active.
The summer scheme provides the opportunity for those involved to link in with local sports clubs and community groups in their area by bringing children together from all across the city.