Pat O'Flynn

Pat O'Flynn, is one of our Physical Activity Leaders (PALs) and we asked her to tell us about about her experiences.

Tell us Pat, how did you become a PAL?

Some years ago, Go For Life's Patricia Dawson came to an Older Women's Network conference in Tullamore, where she gave an exhibition of Go for Life. I was President of the Ballymun Ladies Club at the time and I thought "This would be great for our club" so I asked Patricia if one of the trainers would come to a club meeting. Subsequent to that, we got notification from Age & Opportunity that you were running PALs workshops so I was gone like a shot and two of the other ladies did it with me. I now run a regular Thursday morning session.

What kind of effect has Go for Life had on your group?

One of the main ideas (as I learned in my PALs workshops) is to keep muscles and joints working well. Some of our members have said that they now feel that things like getting out of chairs are much easier. One woman said she found she was terrible for forgetting things but she feels that, since being involved with Go for Life, her memory has improved. She feels that the whole thing, the physical and the mental, is helping her.

Does your group just do physical activities?

For us, it’s not just physical activity; it’s also mental activity. I have introduced some mental games, from time to time. One morning, we were talking about Sudoku and someone said "I can't do that. I wouldn't touch it!" so I got the idea of drawing it out on a flip chart and actually doing it with the group. Since then a number of members have started doing it regularly. Another big part of Go for Life, apart from doing the activity, is that it's a good social get-together. It's always a bit of fun. We have a good chat (and sometimes a serious chat about various problems) as we have our cup of tea.

What makes a good PAL?

You have to be confident in yourself, no matter what others think. As a PAL, you have to be prepared to say "C'mon, let's try this" and, if I'm a confident PAL, it's because I really believe in Go for Life. I feel it's something that is good for us, even on the Thursday mornings when I don't feel like getting up and going down to it. Some of the things I’ve organised, game-wise, some members say &"What on earth are you up to now?" and you have to say "Try it" and they do it and usually enjoy it. And if they don't enjoy it, you find out and you don’t do that again. Good PALs should always review what they do.

Different PALs have different styles. How do you motivate your group?

If you ask some people to do something, they might say "I can't do that. I'm hopeless at that". But then with encouragement, suddenly, people start to get into an activity and they realise “I can do this”. I've noticed, too, that dividing people up into a couple of teams with a little bit of competition is great. You’re not pitching people against each other but it adds a little spice. Some women like a bit of competition. There’ve been a few times I’ve heard “That was on the line!”, “It was not on the line!” during a session but it’s all in good fun.