Heidi Lichtwark Community Manager Sport Bay of Plenty

I haven't had to write an article for a wee while and so after years of writing once a week, it was weird but inspiring to have to think hard about a key topic to discuss.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for a meaningful subject to present itself. A primary school near where I live recently opened a new pool, which the community could access outside school hours with a security wipe card. Fantastic.

Since buying a swipe card last November, my 4-year-old son and I have been many times. I swim lengths some mornings and we go as a family in the late afternoon or evenings. I now have a host of new people to chat to in the morning; initially about the pool temperature and increasingly about what events or goals we are training for.

We inadvertently encourage each other to lift the bar on our swimming, and other exercise too. A break-out group of local women are now also training for an Xterra team.

My son thinks he can swim with the 10-year-olds (he can't, but loves to try), and is desperately upset if we don't fit in a trip to the pool on a hot day. The older children at the pool have developed loads of creative water games; and it's exciting to attempt cracking the code of the game-challenge on each visit.

So many different people, so many ways to enjoy the pool!

Overall, it is community recreation and all that's amazing about it - in action. In a small community where the pool didn't exist 3 months ago, we now have a thriving connection of social exercise. This reinforces everything we know about the evidence for getting active.

Gemba (internal research firm) and the Active NZ survey show us that the ‘biggest groups of people like to be active socially'.

Quite often they do this alone, or in small groups. Women, in particular are more likely to get involved if they can do it with the family / whanau.

Sport BOP's Play in the Bay aims to profile get-involved type activities in a theme each month. For more information, check our website www.sportbop.co.nz or call into / phone our offices anytime. These monthly guides are also a great way to keep those fitness New years' resolutions going strong.