E R E H W Y R E EV 2018 AT A GLANCE
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SPORTS PARTNERS BOOST PARTICIPATION
SLM CHARITABLE TRUST
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Your source for the latest news from Everyone Active
Issue 1: Autumn 2018
SPORTING CHAMPIONS
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SWEET SUCCESS
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Track your activity with the Everyone Active fitness planner
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WELCOME TO EVERYONE ACTIVE’S NEW-LOOK NEWSLETTER. As 2018 draws to a close, we want to take a look back over what has been an incredible 12 months, and update you about all the exciting developments that are helping us to get more people across the country active.
A word from David... 2018 has been a year of significant success for Everyone Active, our partners and our members. It has presented new challenges but we have remained unwavering in our commitment to increase participation and mobilise whole communities to become more active.
“2018 has been a year of significant success for Everyone Active, our partners and our members.”
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Through our partnerships with some of the nation’s top sporting talent, we have helped to ignite young people’s passion for grass roots sports, and are continuing to provide pathways to elite activity through our talent development programme, Everyone Active Sporting Champions. We have invested heavily in new technology to reflect the soaring popularity of recreational fitness, updating a number of gyms with state-of-the-art equipment and introducing increasingly diverse group exercise programmes to meet the changing needs of customers. Our charitable arm, SLM Community Leisure Charitable Trust, continues to go from strength to strength. Through the Trust, we support over 136,000 young people to learn life-saving skills in the water every week, provide vital health
interventions through our GP referral services and continue to run activity programmes that ensure sports and activity are accessible to everyone. However, the year has not been without its challenges. The landscape of local authority leisure provision is changing, characterised by ever-tightening budgets and increased scrutiny of outsourced services. With more than 30 years’ experience in the sector, Everyone Active understands the need to adapt and respond to such changes. We are more determined than ever to prove the value of our services and deliver results-led outcomes that have a real impact on the wellbeing of communities. As we turn our attentions to 2019, I’d like to thank our fantastic colleagues and partners for their dedication over the past 12 months. It is our shared enthusiasm for improving lives through activity that is the driving force behind our development and success, and I look forward to continuing this into the future.
This newsletter marks a new approach to keeping you informed, and we would love to hear your thoughts about how we can improve it. Please send your suggestions through to newsletter@everyoneactive.com
2018 AT A GLANCE Everyone Active is rapidly expanding. In the past 12 months we have launched new partnerships, opened state-of-the-art centres and breathed new life into existing leisure facilities. We will be ending 2018 with more than 170 leisure and community facilities in our growing portfolio which, when compared to the 39 we had in 2008, proves just how far we’ve come. Despite this growth, our focus remains on understanding the unique characteristics of every community we serve, and ensuring our members benefit from a combination of localised services delivered by an operator with years of national-wide experience.
Members of Havering Council with special guests, Ray Quinn and Colin Jackson, at the opening of Sapphire Ice and
We kicked off the year by joining forces with Bracknell Forest Council to manage its three fantastic sports and leisure facilities. This includes the impressive Coral Reef Water World, which hosts as many as 500,000 visits every year.
MARCH
Our reach into the Midlands expanded when we joined forces with Solihull Council to take on the running of Tudor Grange Leisure Centre and North Solihull Sports Centre, where we immediately set to work renovating the fitness suites.
APRIL
We began a new partnership with Dacorum Borough Council to manage its centres across Hemel Hempstead and Berkhamsted. A ÂŁ2.3 million project to update fitness facilities across the contract is already well underway.
JUNE
JULY
We teamed up with The Hamble School to run its Hamble Sports Complex.
SEPTEMBER
Our new partnership with Three Rivers District Council swiftly followed, seeing us manage four high-quality community leisure facilities.
Before the year is out, we will also be welcoming Manchester based Wythenshawe Forum Trust on board.
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
We have also taken over the reins at the prestigious K2 Crawley along with two more superb centres as part of a new agreement with Crawley Borough Council.
As well as building a wealth of new partnerships, 2018 has also seen us strengthen our existing bonds with a number of longstanding partners, including Watford Borough Council and Blaby District Council, who we have committed to working with for a further 15 and 10 years respectively.
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NEW AND IMPROVED
As well as starting new partnerships, we have worked with our existing partners to give communities across the country access to both brand new and significantly improved ways of being active.
We have invested in the wellbeing of older residents in Gainsborough by introducing a dedicated Active Seniors Hub as part of a wider £1.4million renovation of West Lindsey Leisure Centre. The investment has also seen the centre’s gym significantly extended and the changing rooms refurbished.
A new four-lane, 15-metre swimming pool in Hatton Country World opened in November under Everyone Active’s management, bringing our award-winning swim lessons to more people in Warwickshire. We have also reopened three state-of-the-art leisure facilities in partnership with Slough Borough Council. Slough Ice Arena, Salt Hill Activity Centre and Langley Leisure Centre all opened their doors this year following significant renovations, helping us to support the council in working towards its aim of making Slough one of the most active towns in the UK.
Further south, customers in Petersfield are benefitting from the completion of a £2.8million refurbishment project that has brought with it a hugely improved gym, renovated changing rooms, and a new soft play and reception area to Taro Leisure Centre.
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Following on from a new 15-year agreement with Watford Borough Council, both Watford Central and Watford Woodside Leisure Centre have undergone significant renovations to expand their fitness offering. In total, 140 additional exercise classes are now hosted every week following the introduction of new studios and virtual classes. The fitness suites at both sites have also been significantly updated to offer more customer the opportunity to get active. We worked closely with Westminster City Council to open the new £28 million Moberly Sports Centre in June. As well as the first newlybuilt public swimming pool in Westminster for almost 40 years, the centre also offers an eightcourt sports hall, 100-station gym, exercise and dance studios, gymnastics and boxing hall, and a community space with multisensory lighting.
We have supported Havering Council to open Sapphire Ice and Leisure, a flagship site in the centre of Romford. Across its four storeys, Sapphire contains a full-size ice rink, two swimming pools, 100-station gym, a sauna and steam room, café and two exercise studios. It overcame the limitations of its town-centre footprint by becoming one of only a handful of centres world-wide to contain an ice rink above a pool hall, and has spearheaded a new approach to urban leisure design.
SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS TO BOOST PARTICIPATION Last year, the Government announced its commitment to use revenue from the sales of sugary soft drinks to double sports funding in primary schools, meaning the investment of more money into children’s activity. The Sugar Tax has pushed the health of young people even further up the national agenda, and refocused our efforts on getting children active from an earlier age.
As a result, we have formed a number of sports partnerships to deliver activity programmes that support children to develop healthy activity habits that will continue throughout their lives. In addition to these programmes, we are also helping children to make healthy choices by pledging to remove more than three tonnes of sugar from our food and beverage products over the next two years.
Max Whitlock Gymnastics We have teamed up with double Olympic champion, Max Whitlock, to offer more young people exciting opportunities to participate in gymnastics. Together, we have pledged to get one million children engaged in the sport by 2022 by delivering Max Whitlock Gymnastics sessions in participating Everyone Active centres across the country. The sessions are aimed at children of all abilities aged 3 – 11, and focus fundamentally on the benefits of participation. The partnership came about as the result of our long-standing relationship with Max through the Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme.
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Mavericks Netball Programme Two million fewer women than men regularly play sport. To bridge this gap, we have joined forces with Vitality Superleague Netball club, benecosMavericks, to encourage more women in the UK to pick up a netball. Most girls in England are not introduced to netball until their final year of primary school. Through the partnership, we engage girls at a younger age in the sport, with the aim of
Alex Danson Hockey Academy We launched the Alex Danson Hockey Academy in 2017 to address the lack of high-standard hockey provision available for children of primary school age. Since then, the programme has continued to grow, engaging more than 3,000 children and 85 primary schools across the South East. It was recognised at this year’s St Albans & District Community Sports Awards for the work it has done in local primary schools, and has also been shortlisted for a Hertfordshire Sports Award. Following a successful first year, we have now expanded the Academy to offer masterclasses, which give aspiring players the opportunity to refine their skills during a full day of coaching alongside the Olympic gold medallist herself. Our partnership with Alex again came about through our Sporting Champions scheme.
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helping them develop a love for the game that will keep them active into the future. A total of 3,055 children have taken part in the programme during the past 12 months. We have also delivered 44 incentre camps and hosted three netball festivals alongside Mavericks’ first-team players.
SLM COMMUNITY LEISURE CHARITABLE TRUST We are proud of the role our charitable arm - SLM Community Leisure Charitable Trust - plays to make activity accessible to everyone.
Through the hybrid set up of Everyone Active’s parent company, SLM Ltd, we are able to deliver commercially successful services while protecting certain community-focused activities from the pressures of profitability. This leaves them free to provide added value and subsides activities, such as free casual swimming for thousands of children on our Learn to Swim programme.
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136,000 EACH WEEK
27, 209
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N SWIMATHO RT I N PA
Local Authorities
Swimming is a fundamental facet of our charitable arm. We have a fantastic reputation in the industry for delivering high-quality lessons and are working closely with aquatic clubs to provide development opportunities for children as young as three-months old all the way through to champion swimmers. We are dedicated to helping people overcome factors that prevent them from being active in the water. Last year we commissioned a nationwide study that revealed one in two mothers in Britain had been put off taking their child swimming due to fear of being seen in a bathing suit. As a result, we reviewed our swimwear policy to include more modest items and encourage more parents to take the plunge. 9
WIMMERS IN 91 S S 0
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Greater London
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CHILDREN FROM 2,200 SCHOOLS
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111 sites
SWIMM L O O
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SWIM SAFE LESSONS DELIVERED FOR NATIONAL DROWNING PREVENTION WEEK
This year we are committed to tackling the nation-wide shortage of swim teachers. It is estimated that as many as 400,000 people are missing out on swim lessons due to a lack of qualified teachers. To combat this, we have partnered with the Institute of Swimming to become one of the first operators to trial its new Teachers’ Academy training scheme. It provides those looking to pursue a career in the profession with an affordable opportunity to receive topquality training, and we have already reported huge successes in regards to the quality and number of applicants. We are also continuing to engage more people in aquatic activity by teaming up with our partners to support national swimming campaigns. Over the past
12 months, we have joined forces with Becky Adlington Swim Stars in aid of the Big School Swim, and worked closely with Swim England to promote its #LoveSwimming campaign. Our charitable arm is also responsible for managing our sports hall, squash courts and outdoor pitches, as well as the relationships with the hundreds of clubs who use these spaces. Through the Trust, we also attain funding to deliver a range of community initiatives. This allows us to engage different groups in activities as varied as walking football to kids’ holiday camps, and wheelchair basketball to line-dancing.
EVERYONE ACTIVE SPORTING CHAMPIONS We are immensely proud of the work our Everyone Active Sporting Champions scheme does to support talented athletes up and down the country in achieving their full potential. The sports development programme has continued to go from strength to strength since launching in 2016, and over the past two years we have invested more than £500,000 in supporting 800 sports men and women at all stages of their careers. We work with our partners to offer gold, silver or bronze levels of support to athletes, all of which allow them free access to Everyone Active leisure facilities across the country, with the higher tiers also offering vital funding for training and competition costs. High-profile athletes on the scheme include gymnast Max Whitlock, wheelchair racer Jade Jones-Hall and diver Matthew Dixon, but we are also supporting hundreds of up-and-coming sports men and women to kick-start their journeys.
All Sporting Champions benefit from the unique opportunity to learn from some of the nation’s most highly-respected athletes and industry specialists. We run exclusive mentoring sessions throughout the year covering topics such as nutrition, mental health and media training, where athletes are given face-to-face advice on the issues that impact them. Those on the scheme are also given access to exclusive content via the Sporting Champions website. Through the ‘athlete area’, they can book to speak directly with scheme ambassador and athletics stalwart, Colin Jackson. We believe that Everyone Active Sporting Champions has a hugely positive impact on the athletes it supports, helping them to overcome barriers that threaten to prevent their continued participation or progression. But don’t just take our word for it, read on to hear what those involved have to say.
“Over the past two years we have invested more than £500,000 in supporting 800 sports men and women at all stages of their careers.” Colin Jackson Former Olympic hurdler and current Everyone Active Sporting Champions Ambassador “I’m really proud to be involved with a scheme that is so dedicated to supporting talent from grass roots up.” “It’s important that we drive sporting excellence in our country, and Everyone Active Sporting Champions provides all the resources needed to help talented athletes achieve their sporting dreams.”
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Emily Linscott Ginetta Junior Championship racing car driver “The scheme has benefitted me massively this year as it has allowed me to train more regularly and build my physical and mental strength up for the tough and rigorous time I endure when I’m in the racing car. “The mentoring day helped me understand that good, efficient time management is essential to aid my performance. It also taught me valuable skills to use in interviews, which I’ve put into practise already. As a younger athlete it’s really beneficial to hear from older athletes and learn from their experience.”
Will Alloway Sailing rising-star “I travel around a lot, so having access to Everyone Active centres across the country means I never have to miss a training session. The financial support helps me to attend events around the world, and they’ve helped me to raise my profile through social media training and promotional opportunities.”
Matthew Dixon
Jade Jones-Hall
European silver medallist – 10-metre synchro
Commonwealth Games gold medallist – Paratriathlon
“Being part of the scheme means I can go to any Everyone Active facility in the UK to train. The facilities are amazing and the easy access helps me to continue improving and building my strength.”
“The mentoring sessions offered through the scheme are great. I recently attended one which talked a lot about athlete welfare, which was very interesting. I would have really liked to have access to talks like that when I was younger.”
Nekoda Smythe-Davis World silver medallist – Judo (under 57Kg) “I think Sporting Champions is a really great scheme. It allows budding athletes to stand out and be rewarded for their sporting excellence. “I often have to move around for work and not being able to train was becoming a big issue, so having access to multiple facilities is a huge help. “I would recommend the scheme to other athletes because it is a great opportunity to have your talent recognised, and you can feel proud to be part of something great.”
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: E T I S E E R R T U N E C FEAT E R U S I E L S A M M LA Name: Lammas Leisure Centre Location: Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire Local Authority Partner: Ashfield District Council Opened: November 2008 by Dame Kelly Holmes Members: 3,000 Facilities: • • • • • • • • •
Ice rink with seating for up to 150 spectators 90-station gym 25-metre, six-lane main pool 21-metre teaching pool Four-court sports hall Two group exercise studios A dedicated group cycling studio Two squash courts Indoor bowls hall
FIRST-CLASS FACILITIES AND SERVICES
COMMUNITY-CONSCIOUS
Lammas has established itself as a hub of activity for the local community. It has received over 6.5million visits since opening in 2008 – a testament to the quality and diversity of the services and facilities provided there.
Every day, communities across the country are being inspired to become more active thanks to the work of thousands of our colleagues. Nowhere is this more evident than at Lammas Leisure Centre.
In partnership with Ashfield District Council, we run a comprehensive activity programme to cater for a diverse range of sports. More than 2,300 children are taught lifesaving swimming skills every week at the centre, and the high-quality gym has helped to attract in excess of 3,000 fitness members.
Our expert team possesses unrivalled knowledge of the local area, which they have used to implement a number of community-led initiatives under the direction of dedicated Active Communities Manager, Rebecca Phillips.
It is the ice rink, however, that adds an unexpected dimension to Lammas and means its facilities far surpasses anything you would expect to find at a local authority leisure centre. Our Learn to Skate programme and one-to-one sessions have supported a number of local skaters to shine, including World Figure and Fancy Skating champion, Meg McFarlane, and British Inclusive Championship gold medallist, Callum Mills.
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These programmes target inactive members of the community or those with additional needs. They include Dementia Friends, the Reactiv8 programme for those with newly-acquired disabilities and a new Active Autism group, all of which provide a hybrid of physical activity opportunities and social support. Free swimming and skate sessions for young people also help to remove barriers to youth participation. These projects, among others, have resulted in Lammas helping to reduce inactivity in the community by 14% over the past four years.
Louisa Chatwin receiving her award
EXAMPLE OF EXCELLENCE The quality of the centre was formally recognised in 2016 when Lammas was awarded the highest possible assessment score by Quest, the UK’s quality benchmarking scheme for sports and leisure. Professional Ice Coach, Louisa Chatwin, was given the prestigious Physical Activity Champion of the Year accolade at the 2018 Active Uprising Awards, having helped to build the skills and confidence of thousands of skaters during her 27-year career. She was also selected as Team GB’s Head Coach at the 2017 Special Winter Olympics.
PERFECT PARTNERSHIP We have worked with Ashfield District Council since 2002. Lammas Leisure Centre is the result of the our most ambitious joint project and is a shining example of what can be achieved through a successful partnership.
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We recently joined the Council to host a 10th birthday celebration at Lammas. It was attended by thousands of visitors, including local sports stars and well-known celebrity faces. Joy Elmer, Leisure Performance Officer for Ashfield District Council, said: “The 10 year celebration was a fantastic showcase of the work undertaken at Lammas and the strong commitment to the future health and wellbeing of our communities. “It highlighted the strength of our working partnerships and celebrated this flagship site, where visits are now twice as high as they were in the two sites it was built to replace.” Lammas’ recipe to success lies in its mix of fantastic facilities, locally-tailored services and the personal passion of its colleagues. All of which are underpinned by a strong partnership and mutual commitment to invest in improving community wellbeing.
SWEET SUCCESS A FLYING START FOR NATIONAL FITNESS DAY
GETTING ACTIVE FOR GRENFELL
National Fitness Day, dubbed the UK’s most active day of the year, took place on Wednesday 26 September.
Leisure centres across our South East region have been taking part in 24-hour challenges to raise funds for children and families affected by the Grenfell Tower disaster.
We teamed up with ukactive to host the kick-off event at The City of London Guild Hall, which included an earlymorning dance class hosted by Dame Darcey Bussell, massparticipation yoga sessions and school sports led by our Sporting Champions partners.
HORFIELD HELD UP AS ONE OF THE INDUSTRY’S BEST
Thousands of customers and colleagues joined in the efforts to raise a total of £12,000 for this fantastic cause.
Horfield Leisure Centre in Bristol has been held up as a beacon of best practice in the 2017/18 Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Parliamentary Review. With almost one million users flowing through its doors every year, Horfield was specially selected as an example of excellence. Its strong community links, emphasis on colleague progression and ongoing investment in facilities are cited as just some of the reasons why the centre maintains a stronghold at the heart of Bristol’s leisure industry.
The Grenfell Tower is situated just opposite Everyone Active’s Westway Sports & Fitness Centre. The facility acted as one of the main support centres for families during the disaster and many Everyone Active colleagues offered valuable support. It’s a cause very close to our hearts.
AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH!
Ski coaches John Greenwood and Andrew Turns were awarded Coach of the Year and Children’s Coach of the Year accolades respectively at the recent Snow Sport England Coaching Conference.
In April, colleagues from our East region scaled Snowdon in a bid to raise money and awareness for mental health charity, Mind. More than 50 members of the team pulled on their walking boots to complete the 1,085-metre climb. Colleagues also took part in a 26-mile walk around Rutland Water, with both challenges resulting in £15,000 being raised.
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The centres chose a variety of activities to host as part of the challenge, including climbing, cycling, golf and badminton. The only rule was that the sports ran continuously for an entire day and night.
SKI COACHES SCOOP DOUBLE VICTORY Silksworth Sports Complex & Ski Slope is celebrating after two of its instructors were recognised on the national state.
Both are long-standing colleagues at Everyone Active and have helped to hundreds of people to refine their skills on the slope at Silksworth.
CHANGING LIVES THROUGH CHARITY Understanding the issues that are important to our customers helps to secure our position at the heart of local communities. As part of this, we encourage each of our centres to support charitable causes in their areas. We also select a chosen charity to support from a company-wide position. Our current partner is mental health charity, Mind, which works to ensure that no one has to face a mental health problem alone. One in four people will experience a mental health problem in any given year, which equates to an estimated 250,000 Everyone Active customers
and colleagues. Physical activity is proven to benefit mental wellbeing in a number of ways, including easing feelings of stress and reducing the risk of depression. Through our partnership we are encouraging more people to engage with physical activity and feel these benefits. As well as heightening awareness of Mind and the work it does, we have also pledged to raise at least £100,000 for the charity. This is being done through a series of events in our centres, including synchronize swimming galas, fitness festivals, community fun days and massparticipation walks.
Rebecca Hastings, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Mind, said: “We are delighted Mind is the charity partner of Everyone Active. We know the positive impact physical activity can have on mental wellbeing so this partnership is a natural fit. “This partnership will help us to reach a point where anyone with a mental health problem feels able to ask for, and access, the help they need. “Money raised will fund our vital work including our Mind Infoline, information and advice services, and our campaigning to secure a better deal for the one in four of us who experience a mental health problem every year.”
MEET THE TEAM – PAYROLL What does a regular day look like? Our role is hugely varied and we deal with hundreds of different requests every week.
Our central teams work exceptionally hard behind the scenes to support the brilliant work of our on-site colleagues. From our head office in Leicestershire, they provide vital assistance in areas such as IT, membership enquiries, marketing and finance. We spoke to payroll manager, Claire Lindsey-Taylor, about the role of her team in supporting the wider business. Tell us a bit about the team The payroll team is made up of 17 colleagues. Some have been with us for over 20 years, with others starting new in 2018. We have taken on a business administration apprentice this year, and all members of the team have either completed or are undertaking a Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals qualification.
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A proportion of the team is dedicated to managing new starters and leavers, statutory payments such as maternity and sickness, and queries from HMRC. They are also responsible for securing smooth TUPE transitions with every new contract, and paying up to 10,000 employees each month. Three colleagues focus on expenses, company cars and colleague training admin, while another team of three are dedicated to managing our pension schemes. What are your biggest challenges? The volume and variety of work we handle can be challenging. For example, we operate 51 pension schemes, each of which requires indepth knowledge from the team. It is also essential that we keep up to date with continuously changing legislation, such as the national
minimum wage and apprenticeship levy. The expertise of our colleagues ensures we do this effectively. What has been your biggest achievement of 2018? We have been working hard to streamline our processes, with a particular focus on the development of our online portal, iTrent. Through this digitalisation, we have made significant savings of both time and money. What’s next for the payroll team? We are always looking to make our processes more efficient, with the aim of allowing us to spend more time offering on-site support to colleagues. As we continue to begin new partnerships, we are constantly developing our TUPE process to make each mobilisation more seamless. By practicing the mantra of ‘prepare, complete, review’ we have been able to refine the process and focus on engaging new colleagues during those vital first months – a trend we are intent on continuing.
If you have any questions about this newsletter of would like to offer any ideas about how we can improve it, please email: newsletter@everyoneactive.com