All’s well with the wall at Romford YMCA

ZigZag’s Sportwall has only been installed at Romford YMCA for a matter of months, but already it’s bringing in revenue and coaxing new and intrigued visitors.

“It’s early days, but from the reaction we’ve had so far I’m certain it will impact positively on our family memberships,” said Mark Marley, Sports Development Manager at Romford YMCA.

Romford YMCA has integrated the wall into its existing junior and adult programmes to cover a whole range of sports, including basketball, badminton and even table tennis. In football it’s used for passing practice – illuminating just one light on the wall that they must hit. It’s also used as one of the stations in the circuit classes and three specific ZigZag Sportwall classes have been introduced for the 6-12, 12-16 and 16+ age groups.

ZigZag installed the four wall panels in the main sports hall, which means it’s not currently on offer to gym-only members. But Mark claims the wall is so popular that they will soon be expanding it, and relevant classes, to all their different membership types.

“We’ve got lots of great ideas,” he said. “For instance, early next year I’m planning to introduce ‘Dads and Lads’ family classes on a Sunday evening, where fathers and sons can compete against each other on the wall. We already run special needs classes, community programmes with four local secondary schools and several colleges, as well as an over 50s programme.”

The Romford YMCA is currently working alongside its local PCT to combat childhood obesity, and ZigZag Sportwall will play its part at the centre in tackling the problem.

“It’s a referral scheme for children who have become obese and have sought advice from their local GP. The PCT then refers them to us,” said Mark.

“The Sportwall is what I like to call ‘stealth fitness’ - you don’t actually realise how much exercise you’re doing until you’ve finished. Therefore the wall will play an important role in combating childhood obesity.”