The Sport and Recreation Alliance launches its Fit for the Future programme

The Sport and Recreation Alliance today introduces a major new programme of work to prepare their members for what many acknowledge will be a highly challenging period for the sector.

The Fit for the Future programme will be launched at the Alliance’s Sports Summit, where new Sports Minister Tracey Crouch will be making her first public speech on sport since her appointment and Sport England CEO, Jennie Price, will also be speaking.

A scene-setting report, unveiled in front of an audience of over 150 sports leaders at the Kia Oval, considers the changing external environment and what challenges and opportunities this might bring for the sport and recreation sector. It examines:

• How changes to public finances may effect sport and recreation policy
• Legal and regulatory challenges, such as changes in broadcasting, integrity, tax, intellectual property and European law
• How equality within leadership and governance needs to be actively addressed, as well as some serious workforce and volunteering issues
• The health agenda and the place of sport and recreation in relation to it
• The role which the natural environment can play in getting the nation more active
• How and why we measure participation and how that may change in the future.

As well as covering these themes there are also discussions on the growing role of technology across sport and recreation.

The Alliance is using the Fit for the Future report to identify issues that are prevalent on the sporting landscape and will be looking to work collaboratively with its membership and wider stakeholders to help the sector overcome the challenges and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.

Emma Boggis said: “This report is intended to provoke discussion and debate around the future of our sector as part of the Alliance’s role as a thought leader. We know that many organisations within our membership and the wider sport and recreation sector are already developing new ways of working so that they can thrive in the coming years. But some parts of the sector are not as ready as they would like and the aim of this work is to support them in getting their heads up and looking forwards at a time when there are a number of serious challenges ahead.”

The Fit for the Future programme will underpin the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s work over the coming two years.

Download the report here.