As we head into a new school term and our sessions returning to normal after a busy summer, we have had a chilled week here at Wycombe Wanderers Sports and Education Trust. We have been able to reflect on our achievements and successes and take stock of things by doing some training before things kick off properly. On top of a new EDA curriculum starting this week, and a new term of Premier League Primary Stars getting underway, a new cohort of Fit Chairboys begin their weight loss journey with us.
This week started with our colleague Clare Bassett leading an LGBTQIA+ ‘Allyship and Tackling Homophobia’ workshop in association with Stonewall UK who are a team of bold, passionate people fighting for the freedom, equity and potential of LGBTQ+ people everywhere, and one of the UK’s largest LGBTQIA+ charities.
The fascinating workshop took us through a series of exercises in which we looked to understand the prejudices that the LGBTQIA+ community face on a daily basis – be they intentional or otherwise. We learned how we can tackle homophobic attitudes, and learned techniques that will give our coaches the confidence to challenge these behaviours should they see them on any football field we are working on.
Training of this nature is very much in keeping with our ethos of inclusion and cohesion here at WWSET. Homophobia, Racism or any other type of discrimination is abhorrent – there is no excuse for it in 2021 and we will fight it wherever we see it. We have a number of initiatives aimed at creating a more cohesive community, including our ‘Listen, Learn, Adapt’ scheme (more information is on our website).
We would also encourage you to have a look at our ‘All Quarters’ project. This is a project in which the whole Wycombe Wanderers family are working together with four generally underrepresented groups of football fans to create a more inclusive matchday atmosphere at Adams Park. We have just had our second meeting, and it is proving a great success so far.
Also, a great success was our Fit Fans project run by our Health Department, which saw the last team lose an absolutely whopping 40kg last time out. Renamed ‘Fit Chairboys’ by the EFL for the new season, we are looking for people to come down to the stadium and have fun whilst losing weight!
Fit Chairboys is a highly successful 12-week programme which is aimed at men and women aged 35 to 65 years old, with a waist size above 38 inches for men or 31 inches for women, and a BMI of over 28 who are looking to lose weight, get fitter and lead a more active life.
What can you expect? The sessions are based right here at Adams Park Stadium and you can meet other like-minded people on the same journey as you, learn how to make better choices to improve your lifestyle and health, all whilst being supported by our qualified WWSET staff.
These sessions run twice a week on Wednesday (6.30 pm – 8:00 pm) and Friday (11:00 am – 1:00 pm) with an initial ‘Week Zero’ where you will meet the staff and the other participants, as well as have your baseline measurements taken (height, weight, waist, and blood pressure). The weekly sessions are split between educational workshops and physical activity.
As well as our male sessions starting on 13th & 15th Oct, we will also be running a female-only session starting on 19th Jan 2022 at Adams Park. A big thank you goes to Sports Council Trust Company and Heart of Bucks who have funded our courses – without their funding, these sessions would not have been able to go ahead. If you would like any further information, our Head of Health Simon Wears is waiting to hear from you – drop him a line on simon.wears@wwfc.com.
Our WWSET website is something that we have known for a while needs to undergo a fitness programme and get into better shape, as anyone who has visited in the past year or so will know, as it has suffered from some… ahem… technical difficulties.
The whole team at WWSET would like to thank Big Gun Digital who took our site and put it through something of an MOT. They have taken over the hosting of the site, bringing the CMS up to date in the process, fixing framework issues, fixed our broken contact forms, helped us create an SEO strategy and installed an SSL safety certificate. Our site is now working perfectly – we have some design issues to look at, but now that our site works again, we will be making upgrades in the weeks to come!
Big Gun Digital, which is based just around the corner in Bourne End, is owned and operated by Luke Foulkes and his very talented team of Google-accredited staff. “We are excited to come on board as WWSET’s Digital Marketing Partner and are proud to be able to support the charity with its requirements. Having worked for WWSET as a coach in my teenage years it’s great to be working with the charity again in a different capacity. All of us at Big Gun Digital are excited to be part of the Wycombe Wanderers Family” said Big Gun Digital’s Operations & Business Development Manager, Tom Burton. Full announcement to follow in due course.
Our Talent ID days, which need no improvements, however, and they are back with a BANG, and we are now on the lookout for our next footballing superstar. We are currently recruiting for U6 – U13’s outfield players, U7 – U16’s goalkeepers (boys) and U10 – U16’s (girls). So, if you are interested in signing your player up for a trial session with our EDA/GDA then please come to our website.
We were delighted to welcome the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, to Adams Park last month. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner funded our Play Into Space youth club which has been a huge success over the summer. We would like to take a moment to thank Mr Barber, and PC Catherine Bennett for their time in coming to see us personally. We hope that we can work together on future projects.
Finally, we would also like to extend a warm thank you to our Friends of WWSET for their continued support in our projects. We have had a number of meetings with our partners this week and the relationships we have built mean a lot to us as we plan for some exciting projects that are coming up. If you would like to know more about what we can offer your company, please email our Head of Fundraising and Communications, Mark Fawkes at mark.fawkes@wwfc.com.
Enjoy today’s game against Charlton Athletic, let’s hope for another three points to boost what has been a great start for the Chairboys. Up the Wyc!
