Essex sports charity say 40% more people are looking to try Olympic sports

An Essex charity that delivers sport to the community have said this year's Paris Olympics has been 'fantastic' in encouraging people to try new sports with 40% of their website visitors clicking on Olympic sport classes.

The Active Essex Foundation is a registered charity that has been set up to increase the use of physical activity and sport to engage and support the most inactive communities and tackle the inequalities that exist across Essex.

Dawn Emberson is the strategic lead for children and young people at Active Essex:

"There's lots of things adults and children will have not seen before in the games. It gives them lots of inspiration to try something new. We've noticed that40% of visitors to our activity Finder, which is on our website and helps to find new activities in the area, are clicking down on Olympic sports.

"Over the past year our campaigns have been Olympic driven. There's a Path to Paris campaign that we've been heavily involved in. We've had some fantastic athletes being part of that and which has allowed us to offer new and exciting sports to children and young people. As part of the Olympic legacy, we've had some fencing, some climbing, breaking, Taekwondo, and they've all been included in our events for the first time.

Active Essex say Essex-born Olympic athletes such as Lewis Richardson and Max Whitlock have inspired young people to get involved in their sport.

"Lewis Richardson has been heavily involved with our programmes: the Active Essex Foundation, the Box Smart programme. All of the Essex athletes, when they spoke in their post games interviews, were all heavily citing the fact that they wanted to inspire young people and take the next generation through to their sport. It's amazing.

"It's positive experiences that we're really looking at trying to promote, especially with young people. So again, making sure that young people find something that they like to do and the clubs are accessible for them, they're welcoming, they're suitable, they're safe, and the young people can start to excel at those activities.

Active Essex say it's not just the sport itself that inspires people but the 'comraderie, teamwork, determination, losing gracefully, and teams from all over the country coming together.'

You can find out more about the organisation and their 'Find Your Active' activity finder here