As part of her Sport and Exercise Science course at RGU Abby Harrity took part in a 6-week work placement at Aberdeen FC Community Trust.

“My name is Abby Harrity and I’ve just completed a hectic, fun-filled, rewarding 6-week work placement at Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust (AFCCT) through my Sport and Exercise Science course at RGU.

During my placement, I was tasked with planning, running and evaluating Aberdeen’s first ever Winter Golden Games with the help of the Active Aberdeenshire Partnership(AAP).

This event was the perfect opportunity to reward and thank the Golden Games Ambassadors for their continued support in promoting the games in and around their communities.

The Winter Golden Games came about thanks to the huge success of the summer Games which were introduced in 2011 to provide free opportunities for over 65s to get involved in physical activity and sport. The Winter Games took place on Monday 13 February and provided more than 30 over 65s with hour long taster sessions across 5 different sports and 3 different venues. The event kicked off at Aberdeen Sports Village with a circuits based exercise class, followed by lunch, boccia and pickleball at Pittodrie Stadium before everyone headed to the Beach Leisure Centre for badminton and walking basketball.

The event was well attended and has fuelled participant and AAP enthusiasm for this year’s summer Golden Games. The Games will run from June 7-16 in venues throughout the city and will include a free programme of more than 40 different activities.

This was a fantastic opportunity for me to put what I have learned on my course into practice.  As a game co-ordinator I was able to work with a range stakeholders across Aberdeen including AFCCT, Sodexo, ASV and Sport Aberdeen.

I’d really like to thank AFCCT for letting me take part in such a fantastic experience and I look forward to volunteering in the 2017 summer Golden Games.”

David Smith, Senior Community Projects Officer and Abby’s placement supervisor said “It’s always such a positive experience for the RGU students to get their placement at Pittodrie, but also for AFCCT as an organisation and out participants. Having excellent students taking part and delivering such a high quality of work is such a great way to expand what we do. Well done to all our RGU students for completing their placement and thanks to Abby for making the Winter Golden Games such a huge success!”