Emily Webb • AUG 1, 2016

Glow Sports: The new way to play sport, that’s got the UK glowing crazy.

Combining the fun of a night out, the nostalgia of ‘glow in the dark’, pumped full of feel good endorphins, Glow Sports is the latest craze in sport that is here to stay. We caught up with Founder and Director Mike Squire to find out what makes the UK Glow crazy…

Tell us about Glow Sports… ‘Glow Sports is a brand of Active Connections, a social enterprise operating in Gloucestershire, working nationwide. We deliver projects that use sport for social good in local communities. Glow Sports makes the delivery of glow in the dark sport easy and accessible for everyone. Anyone can come along to sessions that are delivered around the country and have fun! We offer a huge range of glow in the dark sports, including dodgeball, netball, tennis, table tennis and basketball to name a few.’

So, how did the party get started? ‘I had a sign! Three things happened in succession, my wife took part in Glow Run, which I happened to mention in passing my team who jumped on the idea briefly, and then over the weekend I saw a BBC News feature with Mike Bushell presenting a glow in the dark squash session at Warwick University. By Monday morning, I had bought all the relevant domain names, and we had a team meeting to get the ball rolling!
In the early days we were using our own equipment, using glow in the dark paint, making things work just so we could test the idea. We knew that if it didn’t work we would be able to use the equipment in our other social projects so it wouldn’t be a waste. After a few months we had our first commercial enquiry, and since then we have been focusing on sourcing suppliers so we don’t need to paint anything!’


How does Glow Sports cater for people with different abilities? ‘Glow Sports works really well for people with a range of physical and mental abilities; we are currently working with wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby clubs to deliver Glow Sports sessions (and this list is growing!).

Newham mobility are one of our licensees and they’ve helped us identify some unexpected benefits of Glow Sport; especially with people with autism and other similar conditions where they may not be ready to take part, but really enjoy the sensory experience of watching the glowing shapes and find it comforting. To be honest, this was something that was initially considered, now we really confident that it’s a good option and will be developed.’

Aside from world domination, what are your ambitions for Glow Sports? ‘Two fold, firstly for our Glow Sports brand to be renowned for being innovative and forward thinking in sports engagement activities, and secondly, we want to make enough of a commercial business to sustain and create more social action projects using sport for social good in communities.’

Glow Sports is proving to have great real success and potential with engaging people with disabilities in sport. By its very nature, the sessions help take away some of the initial nerves and self consciousness that people sometimes feel.... the focus is on the glowing equipment and having fun!

Want to get involved?

To find out where you can go and glow, check out our website here

Glow Sports are constantly growing, developing and new sessions are being added all the time.

If we are not yet in your area, tell your leisure centre about us!

If you work in sport delivery, get in touch, we have lots of delivery options available and we provide full training and kit.’