Sportivate report highlights youth participation in sport

Sport England today released an updated report on the Sportivate programme and the Year 4 Evaluation, from April – October 2014.

Sportivate is a £56 million Lottery-funded London 2012 legacy project that gives young people opportunities to try a new sport with an overall aim that this will lead to sustained participation. Following the early success of the programme, there has been an additional £10 million of funding which will carry the programme through until March 2017.
Overall, 45.3% of the annual 100,975 target of retained participants has been achieved in the first six months. The overall four-year target has been exceeded by over 22%.

Since its launch 416,500 people have completed a Sportivate project but the gender split of participants highlights differences which occur across the sector. The report found that 57.1% of the retained participants in the project are male and 42.9% are female. The statistics for initial engagement show a similar disparity, suggesting that the focus should be on driving girls and women to the projects in the first place.

This latest report highlights the need for campaigns such as Sport England’s This Girl Can, which is working to encourage more women to get active.

Sportivate was able to demonstrate a behaviour change amongst participants, with many young people in a self-reporting survey identifying themselves as semi-sporty (+9.6%), a shift away from non-sporty (-7.8%).

To get involved in Sportivate or to see about getting funding for a Sportivate Project please visit here.

Read more from the Sport and Recreation Alliance

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