GAP Case Study
Sam Webster is the Centre Manager at Risdon Vale Neighbourhood Centre (the centre). Sam has held this position for ten months.
Sam has a wide range of skills gained working in surprisingly varied jobs within Australia. Sam’s resume includes using his UTAS degree in Environmental Science to work in native revegetation in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart; being a racecourse manager at Elwick, Glenorchy; and a Youth Employment Trainer in the not-for-profit sector. Sam in his free time loves to garden and bushwalk.
Sam was fast tracked to facilitate a GAP and attended a one-on-one training session in mid-February 2025. Sam was keen to get a program up and running and had already recruited new participants with the assistance of Dani from Embrace Yoga who had been regularly offering Yoga sessions at the centre. Their GAP proffered Pilates as the physical activity. Dani is a regular and popular Yoga instructor at the centre.
Risdon Vale is an outer suburb of Hobart, on the eastern shore of the River Derwent, and adjacent to Risdon Cove. It is the location of Tasmania's only maximum-security prison, Risdon Prison and Risdon Women's Prison. Risdon Vale also is close to Risdon Brook Park and Dam which offers a pleasant walking track round the dam of 4 km, taking in views of Kunanyi and its surrounds. Risdon Vale has a small population of around 3,563 (2021 census). Most of the residential housing in the area was founded in 1960. Risdon Vale has a SEIFA state decile of 1 (Source ABS 2016).
The Risdon Vale Pilates Get Active Program began the week after Sam completed training and ran for seven weeks.
The GAP attracted 10 participants.
Evaluation forms captured participants most enjoyable activities:
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Pilates – new skill
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meet new people in the community
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learning about nutrition in a fun way
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roll-up
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breathwork
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relaxing time
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Pilates.
What are 3 things your participants noted they learnt?
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more focus
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concentration
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range of motions
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body movement – safe practice for own body
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fun ways to exercise
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breathing techniques
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your body needs rest to heal
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a healthy relationship with food.
Other positive outcomes include:
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noticing improvements in physical activity health and wellbeing, more muscle growth; basic strengthening & movement; strength, stability, motivation
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greater social and community connections, more social now; connecting with community
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enjoyment of activities, very good instructor – clear & informative; enjoyable group class
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learning ways to continue with being active after the program completes, walking program at the centre; walking club; continue to join groups in the community
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and, further support offered through the centre, services support.
Sam has run one GAP and is looking to run another with a different focus in the next 6-month period (1-Jul to 31-Dec 2025). “We are looking towards incorporating a more classic GAP into our walking group.”
The ‘classic’ GAP will include tasters of a few different activities and aims to attract new participant to the centre.
Sam with the assistance of the centre’s Project Officer Laura Bennet is to apply to the Get Active Small Grant Program for financial assistance.
Sam's biggest challenge running the GAP was the recruitment of participants. Sam recruited for his GAP using a flyer, word-of-mouth and social media. He received support from a co-facilitator or volunteers. He was happy with the attendance. Family issues and work commitments prevented four of the seven participants from good attendance or completion of the GAP.
Sam’s three favourite information sessions were: "nutrition; motivation; and, body changes with ageing". His favourite activity (of course!) was, "Pilates".
Sam covered the ten information topics provided in the GAP resources, accessed the resources from the WSRT website and made a few changes to suit his group. He found the resources useful, and easy to navigate.
Sam got as much support as he needed from the GAP Manager.
When asked what effect did running a GAP have on you personally Sam answered, "Good introduction to NFP (not-for-profit) facilitation."
GAP delivery took and estimated 16 hrs with the hour being split into 2 hrs on program administration, 4 hrs on program planning, and 10 hrs on program delivery.
Sam introduced his participants to local businesses that will help them continue their health and wellbeing journey post GAP. These included local council fitness and the centre’s walking group.
Sam was asked how did doing the GAP make a difference to the participants? "Proved a local option for affordable group fitness."
Sam thinks it is very likely that the participants will be able to continue with the activities they experienced.
Reference:
1. https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats PDF Produced: July-2025
