Sporting Recovery

By Sandra Evans

I was lucky enough to attend Sporting Recovery’s celebration on Wednesday 30 October.

I was immediately welcomed in and felt like I had been there for years with the warm and friendly atmosphere the staff and clients create.

Sporting Recovery Wellness Centre is a place where people can get involved with team or individual sports. They can get nutritional and lifestyle advice from qualified professionals and they can gain nationally recognised qualifications. Clients can use the indoor and outdoor pitches, gym and dance room to train, compete and grow in confidence.

I have had people come here who could barely lift their head up they felt so low, people on the verge of tears, but after just 10 minutes of physical activity they are actually smiling. I got one person to punch the punch bag for 10 minutes, which is really tough if you haven’t done exercise, then they sat down out of breath, they were smiling. Their carer told me that was the first time they had seen them smile.

Similarly, our football team, these boys were low and disinterested in exercise, preferring the play station, and now? Well they have started their own football team called the Peckham Dragons and compete in a local tournament!

Exercise has the power to transform your physical and psychological state over time, and in the immediate it can help bring you out of your dark place, even if to begin with, that is just for a few minutes. It also means people talk and interact with new people in a safe environment, helping people to build those relationships, which can be difficult when you are very low.

Sporting Recovery’s regulars about to play their football game

I like it because we play football, do activities, have food, it’s fun. No arguments, you just hang out with your friends. We just have a good game with our friends.

At first, I didn’t really like it but when I saw there were activities and football I got really into. It’s a place you can get away from everything else and just chill out.

We have been enjoying ourselves. It’s like a real team, we practice together and get better and better together. Also, other people are joining in, so you make new friends.