Hallam Barbell Club funding success

British Weight Lifting would like to congratulate Dave Hembrough, Founder and Head Coach at Hallam Barbell (soon to relaunch as mettle), who has been successful in securing funding and a place on the Ideas to Action programme https://www.ideastoaction.design/.

The Ideas to Action programme ‘aims to help people with great ideas on supporting some of the least physically active people in our communities to become more active.’ The programme is delivered by the Design Council and supported by Sport England with funding from the National Lottery.

There are often many barriers to overcome to become physically fit and active and to challenge this the Design Council have put funding and support in place to be able to work with others to create better places, products and processes and consequently, better performance. They aim to reduce inequalities through health and wellbeing programmes.

Dave has already run a number of successful weightlifting programmes through Sheffield Hallam University and Hallam Barbell Club. These programmes include MindfullySTRONG, Powerbelle, Hallam Barbell Enable and Strength For Life. The club is committed to equality and equal opportunities and have already put in place scholarships and bursaries to support low-income families and inclusive coach development programmes.

Over a six month period, Design Council experts will support Hallam Barbell to apply design principles and methods through a series of masterclasses and one-to-one coaching sessions. They’ll consider the systemic nature of inequalities in physical activity and introduce the club to wider tools and methods to help the team build new partnerships and connect a range of interventions.

Dave’s goal is to “help people be fitter, healthier, happier and stronger through exercising together.” Improving social connection is an important motif behind his programmes and Dave wants to explore how taking part in these programmes can help improve an individual’s confidence, competence and resilience.

”This is the additional benefit that sport provides that is well understood but often not part of the programme design, session plan or the way coaches are educated. We wish to look into this and change the way things are done.”

“The role of sport in society as a vehicle to change lives, connect people and help communities to be fit, healthy and well is needed now more than ever. I believe that Olympic Weightlifting and the lifting of weights has a massive role to play here and there is a great opportunity for our sport. At Hallam Barbell Club (soon to rebrand and relaunch as mettle) we are driving the dual ambition to create champions and record holders while also offering a social programme that builds community and great people – whether they want to compete or not. The Ideas to Action programme is really exciting and well timed in helping us develop our club programme and achieve our ambitions of lifting communities up and making Sheffield Stronger.” Dave Hembrough

For more information on Hallam Barbell Club you can find them on Instagram @hallambarbell, on Facebook or via their website www.hallambarbell.com.