Woodbridge School and Woodbridge Rugby Club team up for new ‘Woodbridge Home & Away Challenge’
Woodbridge School and Woodbridge Rugby Club have teamed up to launch the new ‘Woodbridge Home & Away Challenge’, which will be taking place from 8th February to 7th March 2021. The School and Club are working together to prioritise the wellbeing of students and young players, and wanted to find a way to help to stimulate them, away from their screens, and encourage them to participate in a physical challenge.
The ‘Woodbridge Home & Away Challenge’ will be open to all students, staff and members, as well as to the wider community as a whole. The idea of the Challenge is for participants to select a destination in the UK that means something to them and their household – perhaps a favourite holiday destination, or maybe the university town that they hope to go to – and give a reason as to why this destination is so important to them.
They then need to calculate how far the destination is to their home in miles and, either individually or as a household, record exercise activities that get them that distance to their chosen destination: it could be walking, running, riding or even dancing! Each completed challenge will earn a certificate and automatic entry into a prize draw, and prizes will be awarded by a joint School and Club judging panel for the longest distance covered, and the most fun and creative ideas, images, videos and tracking map diagrams.
Shona Norman, Head of Woodbridge School, said:
“We are really proud to be working with our partners, Woodbridge Rugby Club, on this important joint initiative to help to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of our young people, during this very difficult third lockdown period.
“It is especially important that we do all that we can to keep our minds and bodies healthy and active at this time. So, whether it is cycling on your daily exercise, running around your garden or climbing your stairs, we would love to see how fit and creative you can be, and just how far your lockdown ‘travels’ will take you!”
Paul Simpson, Commercial Director of Woodbridge Rugby Club, explains his inspiration for the Challenge:
“We have been discussing ways in which we can help to support the junior members of the Club, at what is a very challenging time. We have been working closely with our major partners, Woodbridge School, on a number of initiatives, with an increasing focus being placed upon the mental health and wellbeing of our students and junior members.
“I found myself scrolling through the achievements of friends on Strava, a fitness tracking app, when I saw that one particular friend of mine, Abi and her son, Arthur, had run around her house 52 times! The first thing that struck me was how amusing the tracking map was and then I discovered that she and Arthur were self-isolating at home and wanted to complete a three-mile run. Unable to take a traditional running route, they calculated that 52 laps of their house was bang on three miles.
“It was this that gave me the idea of a distance-based physical challenge, which would encourage everyone in the household away from screens and mundane tasks to joys of outside and physical activity.
“Everyone is aware of the physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise and I, like many others, can sometimes lack the motivation on dark Winter days. But, hopefully, the ‘Woodbridge Home & Away Challenge’ will provide the necessary stimulus for people to get out and get active.’
The ‘Woodbridge Home & Away Challenge’ is so-called because it invites participants to look ‘away’, whilst still being based at home, and links to ‘home’ and ‘away’ rugby fixtures. Entry forms and joining information will be available on both the Woodbridge School and Woodbridge Rugby Club websites from 8th February 2021.
Entrants are encouraged to post their images and videos on social media at dedicated hashtag #WoodbridgeHomeandAway.
Woodbridge School is a long-standing sponsor of Woodbridge Rugby Club’s Junior Section. Both the School and the Club are committed to developing further new health and wellbeing initiatives together, aimed at prioritising mindfulness and enabling young people to flourish, all within a safe, nurturing and mutually-respectful environment.
