‘Healthy competition' among children part of success for park shortlisted for award
'HEALTHY competition' is a part of families returning to a York fitness and adventure park shortlisted for an award.
Agility has been placed into the top ten of indoor family entertainment venues in the city, as voted for by readers of The York Press.
Readers can vote for their favourite from the list by picking up a copy of The Press newspaper until Saturday April 19 and sending in a voting slip.
Acivity on the main floor at Agility (Image: Agility) The winner is set to be announced in the week commencing April 28.
Sam Willis, duty manager at the venue in Millfield Lane, said: 'We've been open since 2019.
'We employ 10 to 12 people on a day-to-day basis and when you add up our seasonal staff, we grow to a team of around 30.
'A lot of the seasonal staff we employ who live in York are coming back from university.
'We rely on them and they just fit right in, they've done the role before, and they come back because they really enjoy it.'
Monkey bars are part of the action at Agility (Image: Agility) Sam said Agility is a busy place and coaches on the floor of the facility - especially the coaches who are also studying sports-related courses – get the most they can out of the customer interaction.
Sam said: 'We've got two big ninja warrior courses, with obstacles, rope swings, monkey bars and climbing walls.
'We run sessions for families, we do 60-minute sessions.
'We have a mini-soft play area in the café as well for toddlers, so we cover all areas, including a baby area and the main course is aimed at children aged for and over.
"There are two sides to it really, and we do other things like kids classes, some in the evening, Ninja classes with our coaches – similar to how you might take a swimming lesion – small groups doing training – almost like parkour."
Feedback from the public tells Sam and his team that 'Agility is varied, there's a lot of stuff for all experiences and abilities.'
He said: 'It's great for families, to burn off kids' energy, they can stay active, many of them come week in week out.
'Both sides of our course are designed for racing – you can race one on one, we also have monthly time trials by age category, the coaches that are on the park will time them for the time trial and their name goes up onto a whiteboard, they get prizes and there's some healthy competition and some of the kids come back and ask about beating their best time.'
'The coaches are on the park – just like swimming pools have lifeguards - and there are always two coaches on hand to help all the children, giving them tips and tricks to best pass over or through each obstacle.
'That interaction, those pointers, and the guidance, I think people really like.'
Sam said it was 'a massive honour' to receive the shortlisting from readers of The Press and said getting the recognition was 'a big pat on the back for all of the team.'
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