Manchester Academy of Community Gymnastics
Categories of Work: Children, young people & families, Community services and/or facilities, Day care services, Health and well-being, Out of school provision/play work, Social activities, Sports and leisure, Volunteering
Who do you work with?: Children (aged 6-11), Children (aged 12 - 15), Children & young people with disabilities, Families and/or parents, Veterans/ Ex service people, Voluntary and community groups, Young people (aged 16-19)
Organisation description: The Manchester Academy of (Community) Gymnastics (MAG) is the brainchild of local couple Maxine and Mike Grech. Having lived in the Salford area their whole lives, they understand the importance of sport to the local communities and being from humble beginnings they are acutely aware of how difficult it is for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and deprived areas to access good, safe, inspirational and affordable sporting facilities within their communities.
This project is their way of giving something back to the local community and they have a vision of providing a world-class state of the art sports and recreation facility, operated as a charity, not for profit organisation which will enable young people, irrelevant of social disadvantages or disabilities, to achieve as much as possible, giving them a platform to help them achieve in their chosen discipline and helping them get the best start in life.
Whether it’s a lack of ambition, local facilities, negative behaviour and attitudes, or opportunities, the current childhood crisis is well documented. The Manchester Academy of Gymnastics will be designed to give young people aged 2 – 18 years old (22 for those with a disability) opportunities to progress through our Try Train Team modules in several sporting and recreational activities.
Centred on, but not limited to Gymnastics, Dance, Wrestling and Boxing, the centre will focus on offering state of the art facilities to the most deprived in Salford and Greater Manchester, giving them opportunities to try the sports on offer, train in their chosen disciplines and progress onto the team training where they can be supported into achieving their full potential. Gymnastics is an elite sport and young people with disabilities or those from deprived areas that suffer from financial hardship or other disadvantages can struggle to access these types of opportunities and facilities. MAG’s aim is to break down barriers to accessing these sports and we want to create a mechanism for those who have the talent to progress as far as they can, even onto Regional or National level by providing a hardship fund to support those whose circumstances prevent them from progressing.
This project is their way of giving something back to the local community and they have a vision of providing a world-class state of the art sports and recreation facility, operated as a charity, not for profit organisation which will enable young people, irrelevant of social disadvantages or disabilities, to achieve as much as possible, giving them a platform to help them achieve in their chosen discipline and helping them get the best start in life.
Whether it’s a lack of ambition, local facilities, negative behaviour and attitudes, or opportunities, the current childhood crisis is well documented. The Manchester Academy of Gymnastics will be designed to give young people aged 2 – 18 years old (22 for those with a disability) opportunities to progress through our Try Train Team modules in several sporting and recreational activities.
Centred on, but not limited to Gymnastics, Dance, Wrestling and Boxing, the centre will focus on offering state of the art facilities to the most deprived in Salford and Greater Manchester, giving them opportunities to try the sports on offer, train in their chosen disciplines and progress onto the team training where they can be supported into achieving their full potential. Gymnastics is an elite sport and young people with disabilities or those from deprived areas that suffer from financial hardship or other disadvantages can struggle to access these types of opportunities and facilities. MAG’s aim is to break down barriers to accessing these sports and we want to create a mechanism for those who have the talent to progress as far as they can, even onto Regional or National level by providing a hardship fund to support those whose circumstances prevent them from progressing.
Contact details
Fortunata Building, Salford, M50 1BB