General Information

The Council’s Sports Development Team provides a professional service of sports coaching, health & fitness development and general lesiure provision, throughout the district on a year round basis.

With specialist Sports Development Officers in football, racket sports and fitness, children and young people of all abilities have the opportunity to learn new skills or improve existing ones, under the expert guidance of our team of qualified staff.

We also have staff tha work with adults and the 50+, with specific programmes to encourage participaton in physical activity, sport and social activities including dancing and special day trips.

A major part of our work is delivered in conjunction with local partners including schools, clubs and the local Primary Care Trust (PCT), with the aim of providing sports and health improvement opportunities for youngsters of all levels of ability, including those with special needs.

Health Related Programmes

A large part of our work currently focuses on improving young peoples health, by working pro-actively with the local PCT in the delivery of ‘Bodycare’ sessions for primary age children and a ‘Bodyfit’ programme for 11 to 16year olds.

‘Bodycare’ has been adopted by districts across the county and provides a structured course of theoretical and practical lessons based around the workings of the body, healthy eating and fitness exercises especially for primary school children. ‘Bodyfit’ is a similar programme which incorporates aerobics and circuit training, but has more emphasis on nutrition and drug and alcohol awareness and is especially for secondary school pupils.

Football for Boys and Girls

Sports Development has worked in partnership with Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme for over 10 years, to provide a whole range of football coaching sessions and courses, mainly based in and around the Loughton area. Coaching is available on an after school basis and during holiday times for boys and girls up to 15 years old, and ‘girls only’ sessions are also provided, with the opportunity to join a local club which has several girls teams. In addition, for youngsters that prefer to be ‘in goal’ rather than ‘on the pitch’, a special goalkeeping school operates on a weekly basis.

Tennis

District tennis development has recently been reviewed, with the introduction of a new Epping Forest Tennis Partnership - 'Tennis Vision'. This new initiative will bring education, private tennis clubs and community together, through sharing of facilities and expertise across the district. The new structure will also provide a complete development arena for tennis, from grass roots level provision at Davenant Sports College and a range of local schools, club to performance level within local clubs and provision of an academy of excellence at Connaught Tennis Club, which has the only indoor clay court facilty in the area.

In addition, the Council continues to work in partnership with David Lloyd Club, Chigwell, to provide a junior development programme, that operates on an after school basis and during holiday periods and which feeds into the clubs main development structure.

All Weather Pitch

The astroturf pitch based at Roding Valley High School in Loughton is now managed by
Roding Valley High School. For more information on bookings and costs etc please call the school on 0208 508 1173.

Grant Aid and Leisure Bursary Schemes

Sports Development operates a range of funding schemes for the benefit of individuals and groups in the area. Small Grants of up to £200 are available to individuals that have attained certain levels of performance in their respective sport and for people that undertaking coach education or coach award courses. Clubs and groups can apply for anything up to £5000, for items including specialist equipment and for new development initiatives introduced.

The Leisure Bursary Award Programme enables national level sports people (who live within the district) between 13 – 25 years of National and regional levels, to apply for a £1,500 award to support high level training, specialist coaching and competition expenses. The bursary scheme operates in January each year and is promoted throughout the district. For more information please download the form below.

Download the Leisure Bursary Scheme for Sports and the Arts (782 MB)