Fits Up / Heart & Soul Awards

inclusfit
Jul 30, 2024
4 min read

Quite a few months ago, I received an email to say I been nominated in the Heart & Soul Awards. I went on to the website to see the categories & saw they also had a participant award so I nominated one of my PT clients for the hard work & results she has seen through working with me.

I was nominated in quite a few categories, I had to do a video & got a few people I work with to do videos to add to my nominations. I did this as a lot of the work I do within the disability community is not visibility seen to the fitness community. ESP when a lot of the work I do, cannot be put on social media due to safeguarding reasons.

I ended up being a finalist In 4 categories:

Regional Instructor- South West

Inspirational Fitness Personality

Brand - Inclusfit

Upcoming Brand - IncluSeat

My client Vicki was a finalist in Inspirational participant.

We discussed going up for the awards but confirmed it when we both were finalists, with Steve, Vicki’s husband driving us.

I was a bit nervous as despite a successful recovery from my spinal injury last year/ this year. I had a sciatic relapse 8 weeks prior to the events. I could hardly walk, couldn’t teach stood up or stand up for long.

But again, with thanks to advice from my absolutely amazing spinal consultant- Neil Orpen. I did everything he said to do & just before the event, the pain reduced down & my walking had improved enough to cope with a weekend away. I literally cannot recommend him enough!

Though I still cannot stand up for long. But I’m still working on this again!

It took us about 8 hours to drive up there from Shropshire. Along with an instructor friend of mine.

There was a event in the day called Fits Up. With different brands showcasing there offerings.

I didn’t do all the day, as knew I had to be careful due to my sciatic pain.

But I did the ones I wanted to do sat down. But I absolutely loved doing Panache with my very good friend Barry, he absolutely cracks me up, salsa with mumma Mel & Rockbox!

The 2 events were organised by Karen Gibson who is the brand creator of Soulsa. She noticed that all the fitness events were in England & none in Scotland. So she created one instead.

Fits up was really good fun, a good mix of brands, a very good atmosphere & wild legs got to showcase their amazing leggings! Hopefully I get to present one of my brands next year 🤞

It was great to catch up with all my fitness family & catch up with good friends. We all live in completely different parts of the UK, so it was nice to catch up & see everyone!

Karen really thought about the 2 events & gave everyone time to get ready for the awards. Which isn’t normally the case. It was so nice to have time to relax & have time to get ready.

The heart & soul awards was a celebration of all the hard work us fitness professionals do in our communities. A time for us to celebrate together!

The food was nice & so was the company of everyone.

Karen started the awards with 2 speakers from 2 Aberdeenshire charities who focus on male mental health/ suicide.

Then the awards started with the regional instructor categories.

I certainly was not expecting to win at all, so when it was announced I won the south west instructor, I was in complete shock. It was a tough category with some amazing instructors in it. And hence why I was so shocked at winning.

Thanks to my friend Mel for escorting me on to the stage.

Unfortunately like most with physical disabilities, I cannot do steps without a handrail. My balance isn’t the best to manage that unaided! It can give a lot of anxieties when you don’t see a handrail thinking how am I going to get on stage without face planting the floor! This is why I cannot teach step. I can get on to the step, but not off it again.

I had no time to fully process it when they announced the inspirational participant award which Vicki won. I cannot describe how I felt at that moment in time. For once instead of me making her cry, she made me cry. Everyone was on their feet, cheering for her. It was a small appreciation for all her hard work & commitment to improving her Cerebral Palsy. Even across the weekend, I was noticing she was doing things, I never seen her do before. The simple things, non disabled people take for granted.