Well, that was a whirlwind of fun, adventure and excitement! Beat the Street Sheffield has now come to an end, with over 60,000 people of all ages joining us for a 450,000-mile journey by foot or wheel across the streets, parks and green spaces of the city.
We have succeeded in getting more than 10% of Sheffield residents involved in physical activity. This is a huge achievement, and I’m proud of working with my small team of engagement coordinators in dedicating our summer to the 6-week game.
Together with Move More and key partners such as Sheffield City Council, we have made a huge impact on the activity levels of the city, helping to bring people together and back outside after a turbulent and unsettling time for many, especially children and vulnerable adults.
Working on events across the city, I have been in touch with so many Beat the Street players and heard their inspiring stories. With those I spoke to, the game really hit home.
One woman I spoke to had been walking throughout the day after suffering a running injury and was regularly hitting 20,000 steps, often having to call her sister to come to pick her up as she’d walked across to the other side of Sheffield from the North of the city. A pair of women came cycling past as I was raising publicity at an event at Meadowhall, explaining how they’d discovered cycling and loved the feeling of freedom it gave them, exploring the Blue Loop of the canal linking the mall and the city.
Another older player described to me how he’d been on his feet all day every day during the game – it had given him the motivation to orienteer around the whole city, to the point where he was cycling, running and walking around 20 miles a day!
And those are just the adults! Children loved the game, and it was a pleasure to see their eyes light up as the Beat Boxes beeped and flashed with their fob swipe. The kinds of behaviour change that results from their involvement cannot be underestimated. Children bring their parents, carers grandparents, wider family and friends with them on their journeys. They inspire and motivate us to get out more, explore more of the city, play their games and see the city through their eyes. 60% of the players were under-11s, and they should be proud of their achievements not only in travelling so many miles and getting so many points for their schools, but also in motivating their families to get out there. One family I met said how they were recently undergoing some medical assessments and getting out to do Beat the Street had taken their mind off their diagnoses and put them on to some exciting activities like paddleboarding, which they had never tried before.
Thank You
Beat the Street wouldn’t have been such a success without the backing of a large cast of partners and supporters. We are so lucky to have such active partners in green spaces, sports and exercise, health and social care, and culture and communities. Our events with community partners, British Cycling, Meadowhall, the Olympic Legacy Park and Sheffield Eagles, the Canal and River Trust, Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and Cliffhanger, the Bears of Sheffield and Create Sheffield, the Peak District National Park and SCC’s Parks and Countryside Service, were amazing collaborative events and opportunities that showed off the very best of Sheffield.
Final Standings
The final Leaderboards represent the incredible efforts of all of Sheffield schools, community groups and sports and exercise clubs. It’s great to see the diversity of winners, from health and social care groups, to sports groups and voluntary organisations. It’s no surprise to see South Yorkshire Orienteers so well represented in the winners – the activities are so similar. But if you don’t see yourself in the leaderboards, you should feel a huge sense of achievement – you might not have won a trophy, but your prize is physical, social and emotional. Simply getting involved is a win! Not only are you doing something far more interesting than staying in, you met new people, explored new streets and areas, increased your health and wellbeing, and had fun while doing it.
What Next?
Now while Beat the Street has finished as a game, we have not left Sheffield. The engagement team will be around for a few more months to ensure the game leaves a positive legacy for the city. We continue to work with our partners to signpost you to new events, activities and initiatives, and set up some of our own too.
Our legacy will be outdoors, social and inclusive. We are excited to be working with local residents to help set up Play Streets to help local children play in safe, unsupervised ways on their own streets. It’s so important for children to be able to play without fear and restriction – it’s the least they deserve after our lockdowns. Similarly, we want people to be able to enjoy running in a group, so we are supporting Ingle Runners to put on beginners’ running groups. We continue to work with schools and community groups to reinforce their priorities in active travel, social and physical activity. Do look out for further details of these as they emerge on our website, on our social channels, and in our monthly newsletter.
Finally, if you filled it in, thank you for completing our exit survey. The data from the health survey, the player activity during the game, and the post-game survey will all help to guide how Intelligent Health run the game but also, more importantly, inform how the city and its partners understand its residents, their priorities, and the provision of physical activity resources that could help make Sheffield move more.
Alasdair Menmuir - Senior Engagement Coordinator, Beat The Street Sheffield.
Community Engagement Coordinator Reflections: Natalie Grinvalds
As Alasdair emphasised, Beat the Street has made an incredible impact on Sheffield. The numbers illustrate the impact but the stories really show how Beat the Street has made a difference. From encouraging people to move a little more in their daily lives, encouraging active travel modalities, getting workplaces and schools more active and incentivizing people to explore parts of Sheffield they haven’t seen before.
I have been working on coordination of prize delivery and am in the process of meeting with winning teams individually to hear more about their involvement and the impact of the game.
GoodGym are the 1st place total and average teams winner, with 19 players, scoring a total of 91, 940 points! They deserve to be congratulating not only for their achievement, but also the good work they are doing in the community. They are a volunteer group that use running to complete tasks for community members and organisations (and if you are a community group in need of a task completed, see here https://www.goodgym.org/request-a-task
South Yorkshire Orienteers took the top for Running and Cycling Teams Average and Total Points, with 56 players scoring a whopping 143, 980 points! They have been holding free orienteering events for all ages and abilities (See here to get involved: https://www.southyorkshireorienteers.org.uk/)
Though I have only drawn attention to a couple of leaderboard winners, Beat The Street is about so much more that leaderboards. Beat The Street is also about the stories and legacy. It has helped to get people active, moving and exploring more, given people a chance to discover what is right on their doorstep and connect with others. I’ve heard from GPs, families, young children and community groups about the different ways that Beat The Street has helped them to move more and explore all that Sheffield has to offer in terms of greens spaces, parks and countryside.
Some of my favourite things about working as an engagement coordinator has been linking groups and people together and discovering and promoting all of the existing activities that are going on in Sheffield.
Tania Darby, mother of four, met her sister daily and walked with her children an additional 20 minutes before and after school to play Beat The Street. She even started walking the kids to swimming lessons instead of driving and plans to continue this long term. One day the family walked four hours to tap additional beat boxes.
I met Maya (6 years old) and her father at one of the Sheffield General Cemetery events. At these events with Laura Alston of National Lottery Heritage Foundation which linked green space, heritage, physical activity and nature, members of the community discovered that Sheffield’s cemeteries really aren’t so spooky and are actually outdoor museums or parks. They had been travelling all over Sheffield to play Beat The Street. Maya told me that what she liked most about Beat The Street was that it allowed her to see new parts of the city she's never seen!
Natalie Grinvalds - Community Engagement Officer, Beat The Street Sheffield
School Engagement Coordinator Reflections: Dan Neath
Beat the Street has been a fantastic success with schools. All 148 primary and SEND schools in Sheffield took part in the game. Several secondary schools also set up teams, with one pupil at Forge Valley finishing in second place in the citywide individual leaderboard.
Marlcliffe Primary deserve a big mention for achieving over 500,000 points. Lydgate Juniors and Hillsborough Primary also did very well to engage over 88% of pupils. High engagement was a key reason for the success of the highest scoring teams. In general, teams who had high pupil engagement, and who recruited parents and staff as well as children, scored highly. I saw several parents out and about during the game who were just as excited about playing Beat the Street as their children!
Watercliffe Meadow, St Theresa’s RC Primary and Prince Edward Primary, did incredibly well to score highly in the Average and Total Points leaderboards, and engage a high percentage of their pupils.
It was a privilege to closely support SEND schools and look for innovative ways to engage pupils at these schools. I am delighted to see four SEND schools win prizes on the school leaderboards (Rowan, Woolley Wood, Sheffield Inclusion Centre and Holgate Meadows). Bents Green also did incredibly well to recruit 200 players for their team. Several teachers noted that pupils were able to engage with the Beat the Street activity who often did not engage with physical activity.
During the sustain phase, I will be building on my relationships with schools to promote a wide range of physical activity partners in the city.
Active Travel is a simple way for children to achieve the recommended minimum of 30 minutes exercise a day. I am looking forward to promoting Modeshift STARS, Living Streets and the 10 Day Active Challenge to encourage more children and families to walk, scoot and cycle to school.
The Daily Mile is a great way to incorporate exercise into the school day and I have seen first-hand the enjoyment this brings. There are some innovative projects and organisations, such as the Canal and River Trust, Create Sheffield and Wild Sheffield, giving children the opportunity to connect with Sheffield’s fantastic outdoor spaces. I hope to see more schools take up the opportunity to engage with these projects and encourage more children to enjoy the many benefits of physical activity.
Dan Neath - School Engagement Coordinator, Beat The Street