Boris welcomes Waddon's new leisure centre

Boris testing out the shoulder press

Yesterday morning the Waddon team were very proud to welcome the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson to test out what was on offer at the new leisure centre on the Purley Way in Waddon.

In January, the leisure centre was officially opened by Paralympian David Weir CBE, where local residents and school children came together to celebrate this wonderful occasion. 

Boris was delighted with the facilities on offer and tested out the shoulder press machine in the gym and also managed to play table tennis or as he calls it 'whiff-whaff'!

He said that he was very proud that the Conservative-run Council delivered on its promise to residents. 

Boris with the Waddon team outside the leisure centre

Pilot programme for deaf children a resounding success

Last night I was invited to watch and participate in a pilot sports project for deaf children at the newly built Waddon Leisure Centre. The project has been coordinated by James Dixon and Jonathan Moore from Croydon's newest sporting co-operative JAM Total Sport Limited (JAM) who are working in partnership with the Centre of Excellence for Sensory Impairment and Croydon Deaf Children's Society (CDCS). 

This multi-sport programme was developed to introduce young deaf people to exercise and team games as normally they do not get the chance to participate in main-stream team games. JAM sports coaches incorporated British Sign Language into the games and it was great to watch the children engage and participate as a team in an area of sport that they don't normally get to play. 

JAM are keen to work with other agencies and organisations to develop and design multi-sport programmes for their members as design their programmes for young people wishing to engage with sport, either as a leisure or competitive activity and who may not have found any one sport that fully meets their needs.