In February 2024 the Cha in the City Open Group for Punjabi men met virtually to discuss the topic of Sport for Wellbeing. Here are some reflections from the brilliant team who facilitate and contribute towards those conversations.
This month the online forum topic for discussion was ‘Sports for Wellbeing ‘this was a topic for discussion including the experience of forum members. This month was a smaller group and we welcomed new forum members as well as returning participants which created a rich conversation around the topic.
As usual there were some questions to guide the discussion on the topic, although the questions are posed to support the discussions, the conversations often are led by the participants. The questions this month that were offered included
- How does sport affect your health and wellbeing?
- Are some sports more effective than others?
As a group we used the questions to think about the discussion and to get it started but didn’t stick just to the prompts that were offered. The conversation flowed well as a group and reflected on both the questions and personal experience.
The group spoke about sport participation and included within this was both team sports and individual activities. The benefits that were highlighted included mental and physical wellbeing as well as taking into consideration some of the other skills that were transferable into life. Participants talked about past experiences as children and young people as well as current activities. We talked about some of the barriers/challenges in maintaining sports in adult life and finding the time to be able to commit or undertake sporting activity. What came across was whilst sometimes it did slip down the priorities list in life whenever people participated in a sporting activity, they often quickly felt better within themselves.
The group also spoke about watching sports and following teams and sports personalities. Whilst there was some great humour at this point, especially around football team rivalry, all agreed that there were benefits of watching sport too for mental wellbeing especially. The sense of belonging and connecting were strong themes that came out, as well as using sport in everyday conversational interactions with others.
Overall the conclusion the group came out with was that sport is good for both mental and physical wellbeing and it is sometimes overlooked or becomes the first thing we sacrifice in our busy lives, however the benefits are often both immediate and loner term.
The forums are a great safe place to explore issues that have an impact either directly or indirectly to our wellbeing. Participating in the facilitated spaces are a great opportunity to share and hear about a range of subjects, and we are always keen to hear from participantsand those considering participating, about subjects for future forums. The online format makes it convenient place to engage and all participants new and returning are welcome. Keep an eye on the social media channels for future forums.
We also now have a WhatsApp Announcement Channel that will share information relating to forums just click on the link here.
