This month saw the launch of a Steve Redgrave Trust scheme designed to give access to healthy activity to more than 20,000 young people through out Birmingham.The scheme – developed in partnership with Birmingham City Council, West Bromwich Building Society and Concept 2 – has seen 20 schools each receive five indoor rowing machines together with activity programmes and nutrition information.Teachers from all the schools have attended a training day and received teachers' packs to ensure the safe and effective use of the equipment, and Sir Steve himself officially launched the project at Holyhead School in Handsworth in September.It is hoped that the pilot scheme will grow within the Birmingham area, and create opportunities to extend the project into other areas of the UK. It is intended to provide both competitive and non-competitive sporting activity to young people within the schools and their local communities.The health of the UK's young people is a major issue, with the British Medical Association reporting that the proportion of overweight 11-15 year olds rose by a fifth between 1994 and 1998, and that two out of five boys and three out of ten girls take too little exercise.The project gives children at the participating schools, or living in their local community, the chance to take part in exercise and sport which is not dependent on their level of skill, existing state of health, or even the weather.In addition, the rowing machines will provide the 20 schools with a further teaching method for information technology, PE and science subjects.Sir Steve explained: There is absolutely no barrier to taking part on an Indoor Rower, which is why we have chosen this piece of equipment for this project.There is no doubt that children right across the UK have been losing out on opportunities to get involved in sport and exercise over the past few years, and we hope that this model will be one which can be repeated in many areas around the country.Birmingham City Council has selected the 20 schools where the equipment will be most effectively used – based on current improvement plans, capacity for the development of the project, and the capacity to support families of schools and the local community. All the schools must also provide the council and the Steve Redgrave Trust with regular feedback on the success of the project.In addition to the obvious benefits in terms of health education and exercise, teachers will be able to use the machines' monitors to provide information for high quality Information and Communications Technology (ICT) lessons. All schools will link to the Birmingham Grid For Learning, an online web portal provided by Birmingham City Council where pupils will also be able to enter their scores into an online ranking.Funding and support for the initiative has come from West Bromwich Building Society, which has a proud track record of supporting such community projects. As Stephen Karle, Director of Operations at the West Bromwich Building Society said: The West Brom has always had a strong commitment to the community, especially in supporting initiatives that enhance the development of young people's potential. This project fits in perfectly with that principle and we are delighted to be involved with a project which, like Sir Steve Redgrave himself, is certain to be a winner.