A team of academics at Loughborough University has worked with England Netball and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) to evaluate the success of their Walking Netball partnership. The team’s findings have been crucial in demonstrating the success of the programme.
The team, consisting of Dr Florence Kinnafick, Dr Emma Adams and Dr Andrew Brinkley, carried out the evaluation over the last three years.
The WI and Walking Netball partnership to date has reached 3,148 WI members across England. At its outset, 17% of WI Walking Netballers were considered ‘inactive’, a figure which reduced to 9% after a year of the programme.
Some of the team’s other key findings include:
- 151 WI Walking Netball groups have been established to date.
- More than 50% of participants rated their satisfaction as ‘5 out of 5’ 12-months into the programme
- Average minutes per week of physical activity increased by 16 minutes and level of intensity increased by 11%.
- Before joining the programme 45% of the WI/WN participants met the national guidelines for activity after 12 months this had increased to 53%
- Mental health improved by 6%
- Social isolation reduced by 2%.
A report celebrating the success of the partnership to date and summarising the key findings of the Loughborough Team can be found below.
Last updated July 2021