Year 2 of Every Body Active 2020 saw a total of 84,864 participants take part in physical activity as part of the programme throughout Northern Ireland during 2017/18. Of these participants 51,128 (60.2%) were women and girls, which not only met the target of 57%, but saw a significant increase on the figure of 20,866 women and girls who took part in year one. Another key target is people with disabilities and year 2 saw 14,139 (16.7%) participants from this group taking part in the programme, 99.3% of the numeric target figure. This again was a significant increase from the year one data, where 49.9% of the numeric target was achieved.

There were several new sports and activities introduced in year two of EBA2020 and this was demonstrated with Yoga/Pilates emerging as the most popular sport for engaging with women and girls (87.3% of participants in this activity were female). Unsurprisingly, Boccia had the highest percentage of participants with a disability (67.3%), whilst Badminton had the most participants from areas of greatest need (Q1 IMD), with 1414 participants. There are plans in place to increase the offering of sports even further in year 3 with the introduction of new activities such as Kinball, Parkour and Laser Run.

A key target for the Every Body Active 2020 programme is to increase the level of participants in sustained activity (11+ sessions). In year 2 the number of people taking part in sustained activity through EBA2020 more than doubled from year one, rising from 10,546 in 2016/17 to 25,269 in 2017/18. Adults were most likely of any age group to achieve this mark, with 4 in every 10 adults participating in at least 11 activity sessions. There were over five and a half thousand people who participated in an EBA2020 activity more than 20 times during 2017/18, 539 of whom took part in 40+ sessions.

If you would like to get #BetterFitter at an Every Body Active 2020 programme in your area, contact the sports development team in your local district council.