Amanda Frolich aka Action Amanda is an award-winning children’s entertainer.Her impressive client list includes; Brad and Angelina, The Beckhams, Peter Jones, Amanda Holden, The Beautiful South’s lead singer – Alison Wheeler, Take That’s, Mark Owen, Declan Donnelly, Sarah Beeny, Catherine Tate, Olympian, Matthew Pincent… and many more. She is a huge supporter and entertainer at The Great Ormond Street Christmas Parties and the London Taxi Driver’s Children’s Charity Parties. Alongside her incredible parties and action clubs, Amanda is also a Health and Fitness Expert, Early Years Educator, Best-selling Author, Music Chart Topper and Government Advisor.
I am a children’s entertainer, health and fitness expert, government adviser, author and HUGE supporter of children’s charities.
I grew up in Middlesex and was brought up on a council estate where the main entertainment for us local kids was grassroots sport. All the kids in the estate found most of their joy through being active.
After completing a Sports Management course, I went on to train as a fitness instructor and sports coach in 14 sports, before then finding my love for music in 1991. I started Amanda’s Action Club then and it has since grown into a global brand, with some of my clients being Brad and Angelina, the Beckhams, Declan Donnelly, Amanda Holden and Mark Owen.
My main goal is to educate families, caregivers, teachers and policy makers that an active body equals an active mind and get people to recognise that physical activity must become a priority in a kid’s early years. And last year, I was invited to become a Children’s First Champion in parliament, encouraging policymakers to put children at the heart of all decision making.
I also released a song with the Beautiful South’s Alison Wheeler during the pandemic, Wash Your Hands, which knocked Baby Shark off the top of the iTunes chart, so I think I can now add ‘chart topper’ to my CV too!
My passion has always been sports and being active. I was always a self confessed ‘tom-boy’, and grew up playing every sport, especially football with the local boys.
I got a reputation within my family of always setting up a rounders match between all the cousins – come rain or shine!
So I always knew I wanted to be in the sports industry in some shape or form, but I never expected it to end up the way it has. And I never expected to be working alongside politicians and celebrities as part of it!
The other opportunities my career has brought, such as becoming a best selling author and chart topping singer, have all been an added bonus and beyond what I ever thought I would be doing.
I am celebrating my 30th year in business this year and as CEO of Amanda’s Action Club.
In 2011, I broke both of my legs in a car accident. The initial shock of the accident and knowing how severely I had injured myself was incredibly frightening. All I could think about was the impact this would have on my career – which is based entirely upon being active and my legs!
I was able to recover in 17 and a half weeks however, and I still made sure I went along to all my Action Amanda classes in a wheelchair, airboot and knee brace!
The pandemic, like so many, also hit my business hard but I navigated my way through it with online sessions and focusing on other ventures, like creating songs for young children, as a means of continuing to raise awareness and raise money for charity.
I think being able to support and inspire children as my job, is the thing I am most proud of. Ultimately I want to leave a legacy. I want to tackle childhood obesity in some shape or form, and create a global change so all children can access fun and physical development from early years.
Being able to do what I do as a day-job but also do it raise money for charities, through creating music singles and helping at charity events is also something I am incredibly proud of doing.
Earlier in 2021, I released my second song with Alison from the Beautiful South called ‘Time to Shine’. The objective was to raise money for mental health charities in the UK and being able to do that was incredibly special.
As I mentioned, I grew up on a council estate within a working class family. We didn’t have much to entertain us around the house so from a very early age, I saw the value in sport and physical activity, and that’s really where I felt most content. I think without having those humble beginnings, I wouldn’t have found so much pleasure in being outside and being active.
Becoming a mother and watching the impact of being physically active has on her is also a major factor in my ambition and drive. She has added to my belief that an active, healthy lifestyle enhances childhood.
I love nothing more than mentoring and helping businesses succeed through my mentoring. I have experience in developing my own app for Amanda’s Action Club so I am also helping another business develop their app too. I have been through it all myself and all the ups and downs of starting and running a business so if I can help someone with their own venture then I love being able to do that.
As an advocate for children’s development, I can recognise how mentoring or giving someone a helping hand can vastly improve that individual’s confidence so I really appreciate the value of a good mentor.
The easiest thing would be to recognise it more readily. There are so many people out there, not just men, who still don’t believe gender inequality exists and it’s worrying.
As a mother of a young girl, it is hard to fathom that she won’t be given the same opportunities as her male peers.
The sports and fitness industries are still heavily male dominated, and I felt like I was a bit of a trailblazer when I first started out – which isn’t something I am particularly fond of.
It was hard to break down stereotypes and I am still doing it even now. I think recognising the value that women bring to the industry, and to every industry, and how those different perspectives bring better ideas is key.
I would love to be the female Joe Wicks, because there are no female role models for young girls or preschoolers like there are for boys. Action Amanda needs to become that person!
When we do any dress up activities with children, the boys always have so many role models to choose from; for girls it only ever seems to be Wonder Woman.
It also goes the other way as well, I think it is time to see more males as nursery practitioners and in early age care and education.
It would be to take every opportunity in life. I would tell myself to go with my gut and stick to gut instincts. If your gut tells you to take a chance – do it. I am definitely not a ‘what if’ kind of person.
I would also say to go straight to the top – try and speak to directors and CEOs, and the people you really need to speak to in order to get to where you want to be.
Bold action really is needed to combat childhood obesity, especially after us adopting more sedentary lifestyles due to the pandemic. Children have suffered a lot throughout it, with their activities (not just sports activities) and after school clubs being canceled, and it has forced them to perhaps find their entertainment on their iPads, on YouTube or sitting in front of the TV. All that is fine in small doses, but the real challenge now is ensuring that parents, care givers, teachers and politicians really recognise the mental and physical benefits of an active childhood.
