ROUNDERS: The primary school game 10,000 adults across south west Wales are playing again

The game most people last played in a primary school yard is staging an adult comeback, with nearly 10,000 players now signed up to one social rounders league across south west Wales.

The My Rounders league runs 360 teams across the region in women’s and mixed competitions, according to figures highlighted by Swansea Bay University Health Board, which is using the revival to front its Active August campaign.

Katy Goss, 46, who works for the health board, is one of the thousands who have picked up a bat again.

She said: “You may have seen a bit of a revival across Swansea Bay with many people reintroducing themselves to the game of rounders, which many of us probably haven’t played since we were in primary school.”

Ms Goss said staying active matters more with age. “It’s so important to keep fit, especially as we get older because we know that for our bone health, the more active we are, the stronger our bones are, the more muscle mass that we have, the better able we’re able to deal with falls and trips and slips as we get older,” she said.

“It’s good for our heart health. It’s good for all aspects of our physical health. And most important of all, it’s good for our mental health as well.”

The league takes players aged 16 and over, she said, whatever their background or fitness level. “Rounders is very much a social movement. There is room here for everybody. We make sure that no person is left behind when they are playing rounders.”

The health board’s Active August campaign encourages people to build exercise into everyday life rather than treating fitness as an event.

Professor Hugo Van Woerden, the health board’s interim director of public health, said recent national guidance emphasised that every movement counts, and that even small increases in activity make a difference.

He said: “Active August is not about running marathons. It is about finding simple ways to move more and sit less.”

Ms Goss has fronted a short video promoting rounders as a way of keeping fit, one of four on the health board’s Facebook page alongside touch rugby, walking and parkruns.

The health board hopes the videos will prompt people across the area to share their own ways of staying active.