Sports Development

Sports Development

"Using sport in order to develop and bring together a community."

This means using sport and physical activity in order to get everyone involved and working together in order produce a better community.

Sports development at Sport England focus on doing a variety of things:

-          They aim to build strong and friendly communities by tackling a dealing with tension throughout areas and to produce positive role models within them.

-          They aim to reduce barriers that may affect some one’s ability to partake in regularly in sports and physical activities. This can include increasing participation for women, elderly people, disabled, young people and ethnic minorities  by meeting their needs and requirements.

-          Another aim is to educate people about their health, and aid them to look after themselves better. This can help to reduce drug misuse and improve mental and emotional health within a community.

-          They aim to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour within a community by using physical activity as a release for aggravation and boredom. This helps to reduce the fear of crimes within a community and reduces the amount of people offending/reoffending

-          They also aim to develop and deliver skills to young people in order to aid and prepare them for the workplace and life. This encourages them to stay in education/training and is even linked to improving an individual’s behaviour and attitude towards education.

-          They also try to encourage people to get involved in sport and physical activity for life, and encourages those who may feel ‘too old’ to continue.

The initiatives in place for sports development vary depending on communities. For example if a community has a high number of inactive elderly residents they may focus on getting them involved in physical active. If the community has low crime rates they may not focus on this as it’s not a major issue there.


Barriers:

Barriers are what are prevent people from participating in an activity. There are 5 types of barriers when it comes to participating in physical activity:

Social: Social Barriers are what influence you in a social perspective. An example of a social barrier would be pier pressure- if your friends say its not cool and don't participate in physical activity you may not want to yourself.

Cultural: These are religious and ehtnic reasons for not participating. An example of this could be a Muslim woman not participating in swimming because she cannot do it if other men are present.

Economical: This barrier is about money and whether you can afford to partake or not. An example of this barrier would be not having the money avaliable to pay for transport to get to the local football pitch, or not being able to afford club membership.

Education: This is a barrier due to lack of education and understanding. Within schools Physical Education is a lower priority compared to other subjects such as maths and science. Another example of this barrier is if someone is not educated in physical activity from a young age they may not participate in it through-out their life.

Historical: These are historical events and influences that have created barriers. An example of this would be that historically women where not allowed to play sports such as football and nowadays its a sport more popular and successful amongst men.


Target Groups:

Sports development focus on 5 groups of people who are a disadvantage when it comes to partaking in physical activity:

-          Women

-          Elderly people

-          Young people

-          Disabled people

-          Race/religion

Elderly people

A lot of elderly people believe that they are too old to partake in physical activity, and therefore chose not to. For example a 78 year old woman may want to go swimming but fears that she puts her health at risk (pull a muscle, break something) by doing so. There are very few sports where elderly individuals can participate at excellence level (darts, crown green bowls) and there are very few performance clubs that offer places to the older individuals. However there are plenty of clubs (water aerobics, pilates etc.) that elderly people can attend for fun, social gain and health benifits and therefore they achieve the participation level. However like stated some elderly people feel they are too old and fragile for physical activity and do not participate at all.  Sports development groups offer ‘life time’ sports in order to encourage elderly people to get more active. Life time sports are sports that can be done by anyone at any stage in life. An example of a life time sport is crown green balls, as it is not physically demanding it is suitable for elderly members of a community as it keeps them active without putting them at risk of injury. This means that more elderly people will believe that they sport is avaliable for them and will continue it as they get even older as the lack of physical requirement allows their bodies to do so.
Another reason elderly people tend not to join in with sports and physical activity is because they are not suited to their body’s requirements and limits. A 67 year old male may chose not to play squash because he feels that his body would not be able to cope with the physical strain of the sport and therefore does not participate at all- he may have some basic skills from his younger years but will remain in the foundation stage as he does not do the activity in his spare time. In order to tackle this Sports development groups offer specialist classes that cater to an elderly person’s needs. This can include having a trained coach who is aware of an old persons abilities and therefore can keep them safe, as well as offering specially adapted sports that won’t push them too far and put them at risk of injury. This encourages more elderly people to participate as they know that they are safe and will recieve specially catered care.

As a lot of the elderly are on pensions they may not be able to afford to pay to attend classes and use equipment.  This means that they cannot afford to partake in physical activity even if they enjoy it and want to. A way to over come this is for leisure centres to offer ‘elderly specials’ where the prices are cheaper, so they can attend physical activity at an affordable price, and get to the particpation stage of the pyramid.

Young people

There are a variety of reasons why young people do not partake in physical activity and one of them is the cost. Young people tend not to have a lot of disposable income and therefore cannot afford to pay to attend sport groups and classes. This means that even if they wanted to partake in a sport of physical activity for enjoyment or even skills progression they cannot. This means that they cannot even reach the participation stage of the pyramid or even performance or excellence as they do not have the avility to train or develop in order to achieve the skill level to do so.A lot of communities offer a discount price for students in order to keep them participating without them not being able to afford it. As well as this schools offer free after school clubs so every young person has free access to physical activity. This means that they partake for enjoyment and therefore achieve the participation stage or if they wanted to train and develop in order to get to join a team and progress higher up the pyramid.

Another issue is pier-pressure. Some young People find physical activity ‘uncool’, and therefore chose not to participate. An example of this would be in School a young person may want to join an after school club but wont do so because their friends will take the 'mick'. This means they cannot participate for enjoyment or develop their skills and therefore stay at the high end of the foundation level, low end of the particpation one. In order to tackle this a lot of sports development groups offer fun and unique classes such as Zumba in order to keep physical activity interesting and appealing. This means that more young people get involved in physical activity and may go on to join other sporting clubs such as netball and football- meaning that they can develop their abilities and potentially make their way up the pyramid to even the excellence stage.

A lot of young people have limited access to transport (parents, buses), and therefore cannot travel far in order to gain access to areas that provide physical activity. This means that if someone wanted to join a football club across town they couldnt as they have no way of getting their. This means their skill levels are stunted as they do not have the coaching or facilities that allow them to better their performance and therefore can not progress to the performance or excellence stage.Sports development groups try to provide as many clubs and classes in as many areas as possible to make sure that everyone has nearby access to physical activity. This means that sport is more easy to access and therefore more young people can get involved and therefore can progress up the pyramid.

Disabled People

An issue that limits a lot of disabled people from participating in physical activity is a lack of access and specialist facilities. If a gym did not have a ramp then someone in a wheelchair could not use the facilities that it has inside and therefore may feel as if they cannot participate in physical activity. This means that will not get to the participation stage as their is no where for them to train/ partake and therefore any talent and skill cannot be developed or recognised meaning that they cannot progess to the performance or even excellence stage. Sports development groups try to make sure that all clubs and facilities have access such as ramps and railings in order to allow those with disabilities easy access, and therefore allowing them to partake in physical exercise. This means that they can participate in physical activity and even have the potential to develop their skills and progress to performance or even excellence.

Another issue for disabled people is that not allow sports and physical activities are appropriate for them to partake in. For example a person who is paralyzed from the waist down may have difficulty joining in an aqua aerobics class and can therefore not participate in this sport at all. This could then leave them feeling that they dont 'belong' in the sporting world and cease to participate at all. This means that they cannot develop their skills or even partake for enjoyment- meaning they will never progress higher than the foundation stage. This means any talent will go to waste and even the potential to compete in the paralympics goes down the drain. In order to tackle this barrier sports development groups try to offer specialist groups and classes that fulfil the needs of the participants who suffer from a disability. They put on clubs such as wheelchair basketball- which has specialised rules to meet the needs and requirements of the wheelchair user. This means that they can participate in physical activity and even have the potential to develop their skills and progress to performance or even excellence.

Race/religion

Some people may not feel comfortable or be allowed to participate in some sporting activities due to their race/religion. An example of this is that a Muslim women may not be able to play football as her religion does not approve of physical contact and interaction, or she may not be able to go swimming in case there are other men there. Sports development groups try to accommodate these needs by offering special clubs and classes such as a women’s only swim session. Due to religious reasons this person would not even reach the foundation level of the pyramid and may never learn the basics of swimming- this means that they cannot progress any higher or even realise a passion for the activity.
Another reason that some people may chose not to partake in physical activity is because the feel discriminated against. This can be by both other participants and even the session leaders. Sports development groups make sure that staff have correct training and both they and other participants understand the zero-tolerance policy towards racism.  This means that people will not get any higher than the foundation level as they may not want to participate in the activity due to discrimination despite enjoying it.  Some people of ethnic backgrounds may not get scouted due to their skin and therefore cannot progress from participation to performance or even potentially excellence- this means that they may never achieve their full potential due to racism.

In order to overcome this barrier it could be madatory for leisure centres to offer specific clubs and facilities in order to accomodate religious needs. They could do this by offering a special swim session specifically for women or individual private showering facilities. Another way to address these issues is to provide staff and scout members with training courses that promote anti-racism within the work place in order to provide people of ethnic backgrounds equal oppurtunities. By offering these alternatives it allows those who are religious or of an ethnic background the ability to better their skills through participation and gives them the oppurtunity and performance level to progress to the performance and potentially excellence stage.


Women

Within most communities there are more sporting activities and teams available for men and boys that women and children.  An example of this would be within the community of Dinnington. Their football has numerous football teams available for men and boys yet only one team for the girls, and one for the women. This means that not as many women can partake in some

 



Sports development aim to make the opportunity to partake in physical activity equal for both women and men. They do this by putting on more women’s teams within the community to encourage more of them to join in a wider variety of sports.

Another reason some women cannot attend and partake in physical activity is due to having no childcare available. Some gyms and clubs offer childcare in order to allow moms to partake in exercise and physical activity whilst their child/children are being looked after.

Funding

Without a souce of Funding sports development would not be able to happen as there is noone to pay for it. Sports development have various sources of funding:

Taxes ---> Goverment --->National Governing body -S port England (also recieve funding from National lottery and Sponsorships) ---->  Governing Bodies (also receive funding from Sponsors, Charities, Investors, Donations and the National Lottery) -----> Sports Development -----> Clubs and Communities (also receive funding from Charities, Sponsors and Donations)

The National Governing Body receives roughly 1 billion pounds per year from the goverment: this is then distributed amongst the governing bodies of certain sports and activities.
The Governing Bodies submitt a funding request to the National Governing body, for example: Sports England. Sports England then looks at the succes rate of the Governing body and decide how much money they believe they need in order to fund their Sports Development. Depending on Success of the Governing Body varies the amount of money they recieve: High success = More funding.

Sport England currently has 46 Governing Bodies, these include:

• The British Balloon and Airship Club
• The Angling Trust
• England Basketball
• The British Bobsleigh Association

Skills Active are a Sports development group that work alongside the NGB Sport England. They work together to:

• Deliver solutions to meet the training and workforce needs in direct support of NGB 09-13 Plans
• Provide technical expertise on qualifications, workforce development and employment pathways
• Design and deliver specific support and bespoke solutions to NGB developed interventions for increasing and sustaining participation through networks of volunteers and staff

http://www.skillsactive.com/our-sectors/sport/skillsactives-work-with-ngbs
Sport Development Groups in the Uk:

• IgniteSport UK
• EIS Sheffield
• North Yokshire Sport
• Darlington Borough Council
• Halton Borough Council