The second Doorstep Sport Clubs factsheet - StreetGames

DOORSTEP SPORT CLUBS FACTSHEET – NUMBER TWO March 2012
MARCH 2012 – FACTSHEET TWO
1000 DOORSTEP SPORT CLUBS
This Factsheet Two develops the thinking and understanding of Doorstep Sport Clubs, and
clarifies the latest developments. In particular, this Factsheet responds to issues thrown up by
the consultation process over the last month.
Reprise: What are Doorstep Sport Clubs?
• The focus of the new Government and Sport England Sport Strategy is on young people. The
strategy, titled 'Creating A Sporting Habit for Life' (January 2012) commits £1 billion to youth
sport over the next five years. The priority is 14 to 25 year olds, tackling the huge problem of
young people dropping out of sport in this age group. One of the strategy's commitments is
for StreetGames to lead the creation of 1000 new Doorstep Sport Clubs.
StreetGames National Annual Conference in Warwick on 26/27 th March will provide detailed
insight into Doorstep Clubs. Other national partners will be at conference as well to shape
the discussion. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to get in depth information about
Doorstep Clubs and contribute to the shaping of their development. Book online at
www.streetgames.org
StreetGames anticipates that a local organisation will be able to run one club or a number of
clubs. We expect many varieties of organisations to run the clubs, and many varieties of
clubs.
The investment will be for ages of 14 and over only.
Appendix 1 shows the 8 underpinning principles of the doorstep sport clubs.
Clarifications
1. What do we mean by disadvantage?
The beneficiaries of this investment will live in the most deprived areas – generally the
bottom 20% as determined by the Government Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/indices2010
There will be exceptions to this – for instance where a disability club draws from a wider
catchment area (perhaps to ensure a critical mass) but still is designed to meet the needs of
disadvantaged communities. There are probably other exceptions – but each case will need
to be made.
The bottom line is that this investment is all about applying the lessons of doorstep sport to
reducing the inequality in access to sport that goes alongside low socio-economic status.
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DOORSTEP SPORT CLUBS FACTSHEET – NUMBER TWO March 2012
2. Are doorstep sport clubs more than coaching sessions?
A doorstep sport club does more than deliver sessions. The ethos of the club is critical. The
component parts of the ethos include:
a. A retention strategy that includes social activities and membership - a sense of
belonging and ownership for the young person – something local to belong to and feel
positive about. Every organisation involved will be able to use the title and logo ‘A
Doorstep Sport Club’.
b. Collaborative coaching that makes for freedom of movement between sports in the
multi-sport environment of the clubs. As well as offering fun doorstep multi –sport
sessions, clubs will typically offer coaching and competition in one or specific sports.
c. Clubs will be Youth led – the local young people will not just be consulted – they will
have a direct say in what the club does and in organising the local offer. Every young
participant will be encouraged to take a leadership role, no matter how big or small.
d. Youth Volunteering – each club will provide volunteering opportunities for local
youngsters who rise through the ranks of the club as participants. Our tried and tested
sports youth volunteering programme run in partnership with The Cooperative will be
available to doorstep sport clubs. This programme is designed to help a coach to
support a young person to make the transition from participant to volunteer.
3. The phrase sports citizenship or sports capital is being used. What does it mean?
Drop-out and returning to sport is an under theorised aspect to sports development.
Thinking about how to prepare people for lifelong participation – a habit for life – is
underway. The concepts used in this discourse are sports citizenship and sports capital. They
are more or less synonymous concepts: they mean being the type of person with the selfbelief,
confidence, skills, knowledge, aptitude and desire to be involved in sport and fitness
now and always.
Doorstep sport clubs will work with StreetGames to find ways to cultivate the appetite to
adopt the sporting habit. Club members will be taught, mainly by their coaches, about life
long participation – they will be invited to adopt the skills and confidence to join adult clubs,
book or plan their own sport, and get involved with leadership responsibilities. We are
working to understand how best to support a young person to develop a sporting habit for
life and in due course will share the material with the sector.
4. Which organisations know about the doorstep sport club proposal?
The StreetGames network has been invited to comment on the proposal. So too have the
CSPs and the national equity partners. We are in discussion with NGBs and at stage two
meetings with 26. Some local authorities have also been consulted. Other organisations
including Premier League, Clubs for Young People, Locality and Football League Trust are
sharing the discussions too. More discussions with national and strategic sub-regional
agencies are planned.
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DOORSTEP SPORT CLUBS FACTSHEET – NUMBER TWO March 2012
The Sport England Regional teams – especially the local Government leads are also involved
in the conversations.
5. What is a Doorstep Sport Adviser?
Because a Doorstep Sport Club is so much more than a sports session in an informal setting
with disadvantaged youth (hard enough though that might be to coach well) we expect clubs
will need support. This will be provided via Doorstep Sport Advisors - DSAs. Another way of
thinking of them is as casually employed, sessional Fieldworkers. We are planning teams of
DSAs in each region, each working a day or two a month. The team will have complimentary
expertise in all they key areas of Doorstep Clubs.
DSAs are experienced practitioners in doorstep sport who agree to share their knowledge
with another organisation. Typically a DSA might give an afternoon a fortnight to this work,
and their organisation is compensated financially rather than the individual. This keeps the
money in doorstep sport.
This approach is preferred to growing the StreetGames central staffing compliment because
we want to prioritise spending to the front line. We are also keen to strengthen the
doorstep sport network by promoting contact between projects through the DSA system.
And we do not want to weaken projects by inviting the best project managers to leave their
frontline roles and join our central staff. The DSA role also will give recognition to good
practitioners, and provide a career development opportunity in doorstep sport.
6. Training support
There will be a well developed training offer available to Doorstep Sport Clubs. The training
offer is under construction. The club coaches will get lots of training and support. They will
be supported to understand the teenage market, provide sport in a doorstep style, be
comfortable delivering in more than one sport, and committed to working alongside other
coaches rather than on their own. We want to work with CSPs and SCUK amongst others to
make good this training offer.
7. What’s all this talk about Activators?
This is a tricky one:
First –what it doesn’t mean.
a. The YMCA has an activator training course. We do not mean ‘activator’ in this branded
sense.
b. Some NGBs have recently developed a level ‘zero’ award, typically a 3 hour introductory
workshop to provide coaches of all abilities practical tips on how to introduce the sport in a
fun and adapted way to a youth market. These workshops are sometimes titled ‘Activator
award’ or ‘Leadership award’. From here on in, StreetGames will call them ‘Gateway’
courses. StreetGames has worked with a number of NGBs to create new Gateway courses,
including Athletics, Tennis, Basketball, Rugby, Rowing, Table Tennis, and Golf.
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c. In addition, some NGBs are using the title in new job posts. An NGB Activator is usually a
professional Development Worker whose remit is to reach an informal sports market (not
so much the traditional clubs and competitions). They can work at city/town level or even
more locally, and do lots of engagement work with young people to set up new kinds of
sports participation. StreetGames is hoping that many NGBs develop these Activator
Development Worker roles in deprived areas over the coming years.
StreetGames is advocating this type of part time Activator role within a Doorstep Sport Club
(probably about 5 to 10 hours a week). The person would be sport specific and very
passionate about that sport. They would probably hold a Level 2 coaching badge or higher.
However, within the club they are half-coach/half sports development worker. He or she is
networked in with the NGB and has skills in coaching, outreach work with young people, as
well as networking between local organisations. The Activator is crucial to the provision of
a single sport within a Doorstep Club, working with the young people to plan sessions,
leagues, competitions, and tournaments, as well as recruiting and mentoring a team of
coaches in that sport.
8. When will the Doorstep Sport Clubs kick off?
StreetGames hope to start work with trailblazers in June with a view to the first tranche
proper starting in the late summer.
The plan is to establish between 200 and 300 Doorstep Sport Clubs in the first year.
Keep up to date with Doorstep Clubs on our website www.streetgames.org
Appendix 1
The 8 core principles of a Doorstep Club
We expect organisations that sign up to creating doorstep sport clubs to be moving in the
direction of achieving these 8 core principles. We know that not all will achieve them.
1. Target disadvantaged young people from the age of 14. A key target for all Doorstep Clubs is
to tackle drop out from sport at the age of 16 years and build in plans to encourage lifelong
participation. We call the process of acquiring the habit of life-long participation ‘sporting
capital’. (Doorstep Clubs will be able to cater for under 14’s, but will not attract investment
for this age group from Sport England Lottery Fund).
2. Youth Leadership - Doorstep Club activity will be shaped by the participants. This will mean
that clubs will cater for a complete range of mixed ability from the casual fun participant to
the talented player. Participants will also gain leadership in :
a. Sporting capital (being able to take responsibility for organising your own sports
participation),
b. Volunteering
3. Collaboration with National Governing Bodies of Sport – Doorstep Clubs will work in
partnership with a large number of NGBs to develop:
a. membership/affiliation;
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b. new competitions and leagues;
c. coach recruitment and education;
d. new Activators – a dynamic coach that can engage really well with young people as
well as network with a host of local agencies.
4. Equity – all Doorstep Clubs will sign up to equity plans for girls, disability, and where
relevant, bme. Some clubs will be girls only or disability only. We will draw on the expertise
of Us Girls to shape our offer to young women. As a rule of thumb members of Doorstep
Clubs will reflect the demographics of the local area.
5. A well trained and skilled workforce for Doorstep Clubs – a commitment to continuous up
skilling of all the key roles that contribute to the effective planning and running of the clubs.
All coaches, leaders and organisers will be able to join a Doorstep Club Organisers Group,
and be encouraged to work in teams within and across sports to enhance the participants
experience and journey.
6. Evidence of impact and success – a consistent quality data capture system operated by all
Doorstep Clubs and evaluated by StreetGames. In addition, important new research will be
commissioned to capture the key shifts in policy, trends, and statistics.
7. Brand and marketing – Doorstep Clubs will benefit from a strong brand and innovative
marketing materials to enhance their local delivery.
8. Sustainability – financial sustainability of Doorstep Clubs will be built into the planning from
the very start and reviewed on a regular basis. We expect sustainability to be a product of
enhanced fundraising skills and effective engagement with mainstream sport via eg NGBs
and CSPs.
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