Go for Life programme

Information

Go for Life

Go for Life is the national programme for sport and physical activity for older people in Ireland. The aim of Go for Life is to involve greater numbers of older adults in all aspects of sport and physical activity.

The Go for Life programme has four different elements.

• The Active Living Programme
• The Sports Participation Programme.
• The National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People
• A newsletter, factsheets and information designed to raise awareness of the benefits of physical activity and opportunities to participate.

Active Living Programme

The Active Living Programme aims to get more people involved in health-boosting physical activity and is implemented in partnership with the Health Promotion Officers from the Health Service Executive (HSE) Areas.

Go for Life tutors are trained in physical activity with older people in each health board area. Tutors are then available to train local physical activity leaders. Leaders tend to be members of community groups, such as active retirement associations or day centre workers.

Both tutors and leaders are available locally to:

• Give talks to community groups of older people about ways of becoming physically active (these are called Go for Life Presentations)
• Facilitate workshops aimed at volunteer physical activity leaders.
• Workshops involve a mix of theory and practical elements, focusing on how to engage safely in a range of activities.

Another element of the Go for Life Active Living Programme is aimed on professional staff at leisure centres. Programming for Older Adults is a workshop that is designed to enable leisure centres to implement physical activity programmes that are appropriate to the needs of older people.

Sports Participation Programme

This programme aims to boost participation rates in sport by older people.

National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People

The National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People is a government initiative aimed at encouraging older members of the community to participate in sport and physical activity.

The scheme is aimed at

• Helping clubs/organisations to enhance existing opportunities for their members in recreational sport and activities
• Helping clubs/organisations to progress new initiatives geared at involving older people in recreational sport and activities.

Grants range from €500 to €3,000. In 2007, 627 groups nationwide shared just under €350,000 under the National Grant Scheme.

Applications for funding under the National Scheme are usually invited from local clubs and organisations wishing to implement initiatives, through advertisements in the press and media. Further information and application forms are available from The National Grant Scheme for Sport and Physical Activity for Older People. Tel: (01) 8057733 or by e-mail: gfl@mie.ie.

The closing date for receipt of applications is normally towards the end of October each year. When the application forms for the National Grant Scheme are published, you can download them from the Age & Opportunity website.

Go for Life Newsletter

The Go for Life Newsletter is published twice yearly and is available free of charge to active retirement groups and other groups of older people.