Alliance Divisional Chairs respond to Sport England strategy - have your say

Following the release of Sport England's new strategy, Towards an Active Nation, we asked the Chairs of each of the Alliance's divisions for their reactions to it's content and potential impact on their division.

John Boyd, Chair, Sports & Games division

“The new Sport England strategy provides a new model of working, one that I would expect organisations big and small, funded and not currently funded, to welcome.

For those funded, there will be solace taken from the messages around continued funding for their organisations, for talent, facilities and those already playing. The main difference will be a new focus on outcomes and measurements, which is part of the regular honing of project delivery to which many funded organisations have grown accustomed.

For those who have not been funded, there will be a level of concern around the changes to the local funding grants available, how to communicate this to their clubs and how to maximise their use of available resource against new and challenging criteria. There will also be questions about whether this presents an opportunity to access new national funding streams for their organisations.

Most will welcome the re-focus on children under 14 years of age and the sector as a whole will, I’m sure, be keen to understand more about how best to reach inactive people using the behavioural change models.”

Gus Lewis, Chair, Water and Recreation division

“We welcome the proposed collaborative and customer-focussed approach articulated in the strategy, as well as the recognition of the importance of engaging 5-14 year-olds (nearly half of the current participants in sailing, for example, were first introduced to the sport before they were 16).

However, we believe that this strategy will be challenging for Sport England and NGBs to deliver and much more detail is needed as to the proposed delivery mechanisms for the seven investment programmes for 2017-21. It appears from first glance that Sport England may be looking for delivery partners, other than just NGBs, so more details on these mechanisms would be welcome.”

Robert Louden, MBE, Chair, Outdoor Pursuits division

“Delighted to see so many references to Physical Activity. Similarly it is great to see “Tackling Inactivity” as one of the seven investment programmes into which 25% of resources are going to be applied. Also importantly the Active People survey is to be replaced by Active Lives survey – an important change of emphasis.”

Tracy Levy, Chair, Dance and Movement division

"The Movement and Dance Division welcomes the increase in funding for physical activity and incentives to encourage the inactive to take up physical activity. 

With many organisations working outside the remit of Sport England it is encouraging to read that there will be more opportunities for funding and ‘Towards an Active Nation’ addresses physical activity across the whole population. The  broadening of Sports England’s remit to the over 5’s opens up a whole new audience with countless opportunities for professional dance, movement and exercise teachers to share their passion, skills and expertise. 

With hundreds and thousands of dance schools and clubs across the country offering a wide range of dance from street to contemporary and folk to hip-hop, dance teachers are well placed to help the Government deliver its promise to increase physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, individual development, social and community development, and economic development through physical activity.

However, caution is needed, as within dance, movement and exercise there is a growing sub sector of evidence based ‘dance exercise’ for fitness rather than more traditional forms of dance which encourage the lifelong enjoyment, and sharing of the joy of dance and movement. If parents have no experience of dance then the dance experience delivered at school may be this generations only opportunity to experience the physical benefits of dance as well as the freedom of expression, motivation, self discovery, performance and self expression that the different genres of dance offer.

Sport England has stated that it will not displace any existing funding or intervene where there is already a strong commercial offer, the M&D Division hopes that schools will be encouraged to offer professional, age appropriate dance and movement experience using money from sport streams as well as art. This is a good opportunity to build ‘dance’ links at grassroots level with local schools and groups in the same way the Government is looking to develop links with sports and community clubs. There are many local, professionally trained teachers who can work in schools introducing the delights of the many genres of dance, which will take the child into later life.

Having experienced dance in early years and had the opportunity to participate in a positive school dance experience, a child is more likely to return to dance in later life in the same way people return to competitive sports like netball, football and hockey and recreational activities like walking, cycling and swimming."

We'd love to hear what other Alliance members think about the new strategy, so why not leave your thoughts in the comments box below.

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