Breaking the Mould: Innovative approaches to engaging young people in physical activity...

Chris has been working in the leisure industry since 1995 and his experience to-date has seen him progress from delivering parties and holiday camps at his local sports centre to high profile national roles for both public and private leisure operators.

Children’s activities, sport (particularly football) and fitness have always been at the core of Chris’ work and since his move from General Management in 2004 he has been responsible for developing innovative products and cutting edge brands for various high profile national and international organisations; such as Disney, Virgin Active, Thomas Cook, Challenger Sports, David Lloyd and global children's TV show LazyTown.

Chris has a flair for creating financially profitable products that truly engage children of all ages, increasing participation whilst at the same time re-energising staff and coaches set the task of bringing his products to life and using them to drive successful businesses.

Chris co-founded Topodium Group in 2020 with a single mission; to transform the sports, health and wellbeing industries. By leveraging a powerful set of collaborative solutions and industry expertise, from sports marketing and technology, to youth consultancy and business growth, Topodium Group are able to effectively and efficiently address change, achieving better outcomes and inspiring new possibilities for partners across the globe. 2022 has seen Topodium Group launch Kidztivity, an innovative new brand delivering a series of off-the-shelf solutions for the children's activities sector.

Vicky has working in the fitness industry for almost 18 years, working her way from front of house to her current role as Health Improvement Lead with the UK’s largest health and wellbeing Charity, Nuffield Health. Before moving to her current role, she spent 14 years as general manager of some of the largest fitness centres in Greater Manchester, and has overseen the roll-out of national youth fitness programmes. In her current role Vicky is focused on the Charity’s community based health interventions that reduce health inequalities and address unmet health needs in some of the UK’s most disadvantaged communities.

Children’s sport and activities expert, Charlotte has conceptualised, developed, and more importantly launched a series of innovative products engaging children in physical activity. Charlotte balances creativity, structure and process to projects having spend many years working across the USA and the UK.