First Cleethorpes Beach Sports Festival

FORGET about Bondi beach and Muscle Beach, the super fit were strutting their stuff on the sands of Cleethorpes for a special event.

The resort’s first Beach Sports Festival took place at the weekend, organised by YMCA Humber and funded by Sport England.

Visitors were able to try their hand at a range of activities, including volleyball, cricket, basketball and football, as well as watching the experts from local clubs in action.

Organiser Jenny Hodson, community games co-ordinator for YMCA, said: “After the London Olympics, an initiative was launched called Community Games, which encouraged people to find out more about sporting activities available in their area.
“It was only funded for 18 months, but Sport England has decided to continue supporting it.

“As part of that new funding, five pilot events are being held across the country and this is one of them.
“We’re so lucky to have been blessed with good weather and we hope that some of the people who have come along will be motivated to take up one of the sports and join a local club or society.”

Clubs in attendance included Grimsby Snaprats Basketball Club, Get Hooked On Positive Activities and Grimsby Freestyle Kickboxing Club.
Demonstrating their kickboxing skills were club members Mollie Austin and Emily Allison, both 10, from Grimsby.
Mollie said: “I’ve really enjoyed showing people what we do. Kickboxing is fun because you get to make new friends and learn new skills.”
Emily added: “We both take part in competitions and it’s fun when you win medals and trophies. I think more people should start kickboxing.”

Showing how cycle power can pay dividends was Alex Doll, from Cycle Lincs, who was pedaling to power a smoothie maker.
He added: “Today is all about promoting healthy lifestyles so we wanted to come along and promote the benefits of cycling.
“It’s great to have an event like this to show people all of the clubs and activities that are available in the area.”

Enjoying a game of badminton were Ian Marland, 40, from Cleethorpes, and his children Esme, 8, and Niall, 7.
Ian said: “It’s a beautiful day so we thought we could come out and see what was going on. It’s great being able to try the different sports.”
Esme added: “It’s fabulous. They should have something like this every weekend.”