Sunderland City Council has partnered with SHOKK to enhance the youth activity provision across the region.

Children using Biddick School Sports College, Hetton School and The Raich Carter Sports Centre, will all benefit from the installation of SHOKK’s wireless, multiplayer dancemat system.

A fourth dancemat package has also been purchased to tour leisure centres across the City, delivering dancemat sessions to as many youngsters as possible. This tour is scheduled to begin during the summer half term, starting at Sunderland Tennis Centre.

Christine Bulmer, Wellness Programme Manager at Sunderland City Council, says: “Getting kids more physically active is vital if we are to reduce obesity statistics in the north east. Many children are not keen to participate in traditional sports so we need to look for new ways to inspire and motivate them to get active.

“The dancemat system is great fun. In addition to training coordination, balance, heart and lung function, speed and agility, it also encourages skills which children can benefit from in other areas of their life such as social interaction, concentration and the importance of practice.”

Kieran Murphy, Marketing Director at SHOKK, says: “We are really looking forward to taking our youth activity concept to the north east. Dancemats tend to appeal to children who do very little exercise and prefer a non competitive environment. For these reasons I am confident that the installs will help Sunderland City Council achieve youth participation targets.”

Instructors delivering dancemat sessions will complete SHOKK’s bespoke dancemat training workshop. Sunderland City Council is also working with SHOKK to train instructors to deliver youth specific Kombat and Street Dance sessions. All SHOKK’s training courses are REPs accredited.