Sports Development

 

Sports development

 

http://www.sported.org.uk/what-we-do/what-is-sport-for-development 

Definition:

Sports development is where sport is intended to be used as a tool to engage disadvantaged young people and communities to help improve their lives in a sustainable way. It uses sports as a positive for troubled youths in troubled areas to direct their attention somewhere else instead of on the streets where they may turn to crime. It also helps disabled young people increase the amount of time they play sports.

Aims and objectives:

Building strong communities:

This is improving community organisation by tackling pressures within and across communities. For example some communities may have a high rate of gang crime or violence. Sport development can also help create positive role models in a troubled community. If a positive role model is created within the community it could also help other young people want to become one also.

Reducing crime and antisocial behaviour:

They can help reduce the fear of crime in a community and reduce the amount of youths offending down and also the re-offending rates or troubled youths. This is because the youths and communities will be doing sports instead of turning to crime.

Reducing barriers to regular participation for marginalised groups:

Sports development help increase the participation in sport for troubled young people and also young disabled young people. This is good as it gives some disabled young people the chance to play sports such as wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby that they may not have done without sports development. It is the same with youths in troubled areas as if some of them didn't have sports development they may turn to crime.

Developing young people by providing them skills for the workplace and life:

Sports development also help increase the number of young people who stay in education or training. They also help improve the attendance and behaviour of young people in troubled communities within their education.

Education in health and well being:

Sports development also help reduce the misuse of drugs and alcohol by young people as they also teach troubled youths what they can do both physically and mentally. They also improve health and emotional well-being amongst young people through playing sports.

 

Who funds sport development?

The money comes from the government and the national lottery who then give it to UK sport who then distribute the money to the national governing bodies and finally they give it to their sports development programmes. there is £518,000,000 to be distributed for three years.

http://sportengland.org/funding/about-our-funding/the-way-we-fund/ 

 

What priority groups does sport development fund?

The target groups sports development fund are:

• Women
• Young people
• 50+
• Disabled people
• Black and minority ethnic groups

These are the target groups as these are the groups with the most barriers to participation in sport and they are the groups that would benefit the most.

Sports Continuum:

Foundation:
This is the first level of the sports continuum and is the majority of participants. It includes young people taught in physical education lessons. It provides basic sporting skills and provides an acquisition of good exercise and skill habits. The basic skills are taught to be transferred. A sporting example of someone at this level could be a child starting a sport for their first time.

Participation:
The participation section of the pyramid is when participants participate in an activity on a regular basis for enjoyment, they also compete against other people in this section at a low level. Sports development contribute significantly to this stage through things such as the community TOPS programme, these are after school coaching, and multi-skills clubs etc. Sports clubs are important at this stage in the continuum as they make the link to the next stage of development. a sporting example of someone from this stage would be someone who has been playing a sport for a couple of months and has developed some sporting skills and techniques and wants to start playing for a local team.

Performance:
This stage is for when performers are interested in developing their ability  and skills further. This stage will have participants who have been playing a sport for several years and have demonstrated enough talent in their sport to move up to the performance stage. In this stage there will also be better coaching, this is essential as participants will want/need to develop into the excellence stage. A sporting example of someone from this stage is someone who has been playing a sport and competing in it for several years and regularly compete and take part in competitions  and need more time spending on them as they have the potential to develop further.

Excellence:
This is the final stage of the sports continuum and is for professional performers who will be on a wage in the sport they compete in. This stage is at the top and has the smallest box as there isn't as many people in the excellence stage than there are in the foundation stage for example. To get to this stage the participants will have of had to compete since a young age and work their way up through the continuum by developing their skills and ability and competing regularly. In this stage it will be elite athletes and coaches. A sporting example of someone from this stage would be Lionel Messi, this is because he has been playing football all his life and has worked his way through each stage by developing his skills and competing regularly from county to regional to national.

Three sporting examples:
World class performance programme:
This programme was created by UK sport and gives UK athletes the chance of reaching their full potential and their goals. The programme covers all paralympic and summer Olympic sports and also the high performing winter sports which work at two levels. The two levels are firstly
podium this level supports athletes who have a realistic goal of winning a medal at the next Olympic/paralympic games. E.g. a maximum of four years away from winning a medal. The next level is podium/potential this is for athletes who have shown talent which suggests they have a chance of winning a medal in 2020 and have a chance in newly funded sports that may be a competitive sport by 2020.

There is an annual investment of £100 million that is beneficial to around 1,300 of the UK's leading athletes at both podium and podium/potential level. There is also many other athletes involved at talent level who can then try and work towards podium or podium/potential level. The programme makes sure all the athletes get the support and help they need delivered through the sports national governing body.

This programme has been run since 1997 and with the help of Sydney and Athens Olympiads, UK sport developed a 'No Compromise' approach which basically means they do not take shortcuts when providing athletes with the best training, coaching and support in competitions. The funding in this programme is for athletes via their sports governing bodies. Podium and podium potential athletes are in a performance programme that gives them coaching, training and competition support. They also get medical and scientific help and access to the best sporting facilities in the UK and the world.

The athletes however realise it is a full commitment, therefore UK sport contribute to the athletes living and sporting costs through a means tested athlete performance award.

The podium athletes in this programme are in the excellence category as all the athletes have worked their way to national level and have chances of winning medals. The podium potential athletes are in the participation and performance category's as they are not yet on the national level but they have the potential to work there way up to there. The strengths of this programme is that it fits into the continuum well with the people that train using this programme (excellence/performance) e.g. everyone in this part of the continuum deserves to be there. Another strength is that it provides elite UK athletes with many opportunities and perks with things such as nutrition advice and the best facilities which all helps the goal of winning a medal in their sport more realistic and achievable. Another strength is that this programme notices athletes at participation level and it can help bring them through up to podium or podium/potential level meaning this programme can help develop more potential elite athletes for the UK. The weakness to this programme is that they have to work with athletes for a long period of time, as the Olympics are four years apart it means in this four years this programme will spend a lot of time and money on all the athletes. There is also the fact that a medal is not guaranteed for the athletes meaning the four years training may be a waste of time. In the four years there is also the chance that an athlete can get seriously injured meaning they cannot compete at the Olympics and again time and money will be wasted.
http://www.uksport.gov.uk/pages/wc-performance-programme/

Sainsbury's school games:
Sainsbury's school games is an event which is made to make more children of all abilities and backgrounds participate in sports to take part in competitive school sport throughout their academic year. There are four different levels to these school games. Level 1 is intra-school competition, this would be in the foundation category as it is young peoples first experience of competitive sports through P.E within their schools.

Level 2 is district level, inter school competition, this is the foundation stage as the young people represent their school and compete against other school's in their area.

Level 3 is sansburys school games - South Yorkshire championships, regional finals, this is where the winners of an event or league represent their district at an annual festival. This would be in the performance category as all the participants are competing at regional level.

Level 4 is sainsburys school games - National championships, this is where the most talented young people compete at national level. This would be in the excellence category as all the participants have worked through each category and are competing at a national level. The strengths to Sainsbury's school games is that it gives children of all abilities and all backgrounds the chance to firstly participate in a sport and then give them the chance to work through the different stages up to the excellence level and give them further opportunities to achieve in their sport. Another strength is that because there are different levels and different stages it means that everyone can participate in a P.E lesson/sport no matter how good they are or how old they are because their will always be people of their ability/age to compete with. A weakness to this programme is that as it is held for people in school there is a chance that the kids competing particularly at level 3 and 4 could have their school work/exam preparation interfered with as they will be travelling to take part in a competition or training.   
http://www.sysport.co.uk/programmes/school-games/

London Irish academy:
The London Irish academy recruit the most talented young players from mainly the Hampshire and Berkshire player developing programmes and each counties age group representative squads. Other players can also be put forward by their schools, clubs, county coaches or scouted by academy staff. The academy provides its participants with coaching, strength and conditioning and an education programme. They also offer nutritional advice, psychological support and a playing programme. They offer an education programme as they believe an education is as important as developing on the rugby field. This academy is in the performance and excellence stage as they scout players from the performance stage and then develop them in their academy until they get to the excellence stage. The strengths to this programme is that firstly the opportunities and facilities that the people who go there get and to say they are only in the performance stage. For example they get strength and conditioning, nutritional advice and psychological support etc. The only other people who get these opportunities are only usually elite athletes at the world class pathway programme for example. Another strength to this programme is that they also offer the people who go there an education programme combined with all there training facilities/programmes. This means that if the people who go there fail to make it to the first team they will should have good enough grades to either go to collage or university. A weakness to this programme is that people at comprehensive schools or public collages usually don't get nominated by their school's. It is only usually people at clubs who are well known or private collages that nominate people to get put forward to have a chance to get into the London Irish academy.
http://www.london-irish.com/Academy

Compare and Contrast
All three of the sporting examples have the similarity that they want to help Sports Development, this is because they all help a certain age, gender and/or target/groups within the sports development continuum. They also help all the people they provide for the best they can. For example the world class pathway programme offer the people who train with them things such as nutritional advice and strength and conditioning coaching. The Sainsbury's school games help train children of all abilities and backgrounds to progress through the different stages from participation stage right through to excellence stage. Finally the London Irish academy offer the people that go there strength and conditioning training, psychological support and an education programme. By doing all this all the programmes are developing and helping everyone with what they offer.
The differences between these clubs is firstly who they provide for. For example the world class pathway programme helps elite athletes who they think can win a medal or could win a medal in four years time. They also occasionally help athletes in the performance stage who they think could be brought up to the excellence stage and win a medal also. Sainsbury's school games help all young children of all backgrounds and abilities at school and help them progress through the stages from foundation to excellence as they get better at their sport. Finally the London Irish academy help young adults in the performance stage and then through training at their academy they bring them through to the excellence stage.

Target groups and barriers to participation:
Target groups:
Target groups are the groups that have the most barriers to participation, the groups are women, young people, 50+,  disabled people and black and minority ethnic groups. They are also the groups that benefit the most from playing sports. These groups may also have other barriers such as a low income.
Barriers to participation:
Barriers to participation are factors that can stop people from taking part in a sport. There are many barriers that can stop this, for example disabled people not having the facilities to play a sport. The barriers to participation could be cultural, social, historical, economical and educational.
Cultural - As there are many different nationalities and cultures, it means that cultures don't allow women for example to play sport in the same place as men. There is also some cultures who have heir own sports but not any coaches or other players to play with.
Social - This can some people considering a sport not 'cool' or some people may feel embarrassed to try a sport out. It could also be age differences, family influence/pressure that stop people.
Economic - This is an inability to met a need, for example not been able to cover the costs of training at a sports club or travel money to get to one. This could also include a whole community if it is a poor run down area with no funds into a sport or sporting facility.
Historical - Historically most sports were male dominated and women have been limited to just playing hockey, tennis, and netball. These historic traditions have limited certain groups involvement, for example Asian women's football.
Educational - Through sport in education, young people can become less confident and self conscious about their body shape and weight. This can lead to poor attitudes towards P.E and academic ability.

Black and minority ethnic groups at foundation level:
Minority ethnic groups may struggle to get to foundation level as some ethnic groups and cultures may not know much about UK sports. There is also the chance that some cultures do not allow women to play sports with men, this is preventing them as at foundation level it is usually young girls and boys playing a sport together. There is also the fact that there is 11 million people black and minority ethnic groups and fewer than 1 in 5 members participate in physical activity. At this rate and if it didn't increase in future it would mean there is a very small number of black and minority ethnic groups at foundation level.

A solution to this problem could firstly be that primary school's could introduce and include many different sports into physical education lessons that have children who are in the black and minority group at the foundation level. Doing this will obviously make them aware of the different sports and there is a chance that they will enjoy the sport and maybe progress from the foundation stage to the particpation stage. Another solution is as some ethnic groups do not allow girls and boys together, schools could split up physical education lessons into boys and girls. Doing this will allow all girls and boys in all cultures to take part in many sports as they will be allowed to play. If introducing lots of new sports and splitting girls and boys up into different groups did work in physical education lessons it could also be carried through to things such as after school clubs and clubs in the local area. This would help further increase the levels of black and minority ethnic groups participating at foundation level.

Disabled people at participation level:
Disabled people may struggle to get to participation level on the continuum as firstly they may not have the coaching for them at this stage, for example if a disabled person wants to carry on the sport and there isn't the coaching available they won't be able to. There is also the the chance that there may not be the facilities available for disabled people to take part in the participation stage. For example at participation stage there will need to better facilities available to develop their skills. Funding is a large factor as to why disabled people may struggle, this is because disabled people at participation stage may need money for new/better facilities or money for new equipment to use.

To help solve this problem it could firstly start with schools and they could firstly build facilities for disabled people such as wheelchair ramps into all buildings and also do sports for people who are disabled, for example wheelchair basketball/rugby. If school did this it would increase participation for disabled people and make disabled people feel more confident about playing a sport. If this did work in schools then local areas could ask their council or try and get government funding for facilities in their area which disabled people can use in their leisure, therefore increasing the numbers of disabled people playing a sport at participation level. Another solution could be that schools or local areas could hire individuals who have been on courses which specifically develop their skills of working with disabled people. Doing this will help disabled people compete at the participation stage  as they will have the help of a qualified coach and they may feel more comfortable taking part with them there.

Women at performance level:
Women may struggle to get to performance level because firstly there isn't many women's teams outside of school in sports such as football, netball, rounder's and cricket etc. This means they will struggle to get to performance level as they may not have a sports club near to join in order to get to performance level. More reasons include even if they are at participation level, female scouting isn't as in demand as it is for males. This means women may not be able to get to performance level if they do not have the chance to be scouted to get there.
(Level 3 B-TEC sport text book)

A way to help this situation could be that school's could help any woman that attends there who is participating in a sport at participation level get scouted or noticed by someone who works at a professional club and give them the chance to progress to that stage. Local areas could also help women progress to the performance stage by helping the women get noticed by a club in the excellence stage. Another solution is the government can fund money into female clubs at participation, performance and the excellence stage. The money would also help scouting programmes which would help women participate at the performance stage as there would be more female scouts at female clubs in most sports. Local areas could also start more clubs for females in all sports so that women have the chance to take part in that sport and have a greater chance of been scouted through to the performance stage.