We are the Champions!
A football team from GMW’s Regent House services in Blackburn have won this season’s Café Hub Recovery League with an astonishing 37 wins over the course of the season.
Regent FC - a team made up of service users from Regent House’s community based recovery services - confirmed their status as Recovery League Champions with a 4-2 victory over Thomas FC at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park last week.
The league consists of several teams from different recovery services in the Blackburn area, and Recovery Coach Wilayat ‘Woody’ Waheed, who is also the team’s coach, believes that physical activity is great for people in recovery: “Our service users use football and other exercise activities to continue their journey through recovery and it really is working. It gives them a sense of purpose and empowerment when they are together as a team or group and gives people something to look forward to”.
The football team is part of Regent House’s weekly physical exercise activities that are offered to service users which includes badminton and aerobics as well weekly training sessions for football team.
Woody added that all the staff at Regent House can share in the joys of this season’s victory: “The support from the management here has been fantastic. It’s allowed me and the team to take on the task and just go for it”.
Even though they had just won a championship, Woody remained humble about the season’s achievement, adding: “it’s not just about the team winning - at the end of the day everyone who is in recovery is a winner”.
Well done to the team and all at Regent House.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of exercise why not visit our Physical Health section for more information.
