Following a successful application to the Sport Wales Sport Resilience Fund, Newport Live has received funding to help to support the organisation in overcoming the challenges it is facing due to the coronavirus crisis.

These vital funds are being used to help support training of staff, digitisation within the organisation, and investment in exercise equipment to improve the experience for customers.

The fund has allowed Newport Live to create a new gym at the Regional Pool & Tennis Centre with new Technogym equipment. This has created additional capacity in the gym and means that customers have access to state-of-the-art digital machines in a socially distanced and safe environment. The gym also includes Biocircuit, a 45-minute workout which tailors and adapt to the user.

Newport Live have introduced prescribe to its customers as part of its Healthy and Active app. Prescribe allows Newport Live instructors to support customers with digital programmes, training and exercises to help them to achieve their fitness goals. This includes a personalised digital fitness plan which users can access anywhere and details the type of exercises, how much weight to put on the machines, number of reps, sets, technique and progressions. Video demos will show how to exercise safely.

In addition Newport Live has also been able to introduce online training for its workforce via the Reactivate platform, meaning that team members have been able to access training resources digitally and remotely to ensure they have the necessary skills to keep themselves and customers safe. This is alongside other safety measures including Personal Protective Equipment and digitised access points to further improve safety for everyone in the facilities and to support Welsh Government’s Test, Trace, Protect programme.

Steve Ward, Chief Executive at Newport Live said “We are extremely grateful to Sport Wales, Welsh Government and National Lottery players who have made this funding possible. As a charitable trust, all of the money we make gets reinvested into our facilities and projects within the community, so we are very appreciative of this vital support. We have carefully invested the fund to support key initiatives that ensure we can keep our customers safe and improve their experience whilst in our facilities as we continue to inspire the people of Newport to be Happier and Healthier.”

The Sport Resilience Fund is made up of funding from Welsh Government and National Lottery to help sport emerge from the crisis and continue to support people in Wales to enjoy being active.

This support was made possible through funding from the Sport Wales Resilience Fund and thanks to National Lottery players, up to £600 million has been made available to support communities throughout the UK during the Coronavirus crisis.

To find out more about Newport Live visit www.newportlive.co.uk