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Community
Sport
The Community Sport Team has been established within the Sports Development Unit
in response to the growing recognition that sport and recreation play an
important part in tackling a range of social problems. Sport can present an
opportunity to engage young people in a positive alternative not just in terms
of participation in activities, but across a range of social exclusion issues
including education, employment and training, community leadership and healthy
lifestyles.
The Sports Council for Northern Ireland remains committed to fulfil three main
policy objectives:
- to increase committed participation in sport, especially among young
people;
- to improve sporting performance and,
- to improve the management of sport and the image of Northern Ireland
using sport.
Traditionally the Sports Council has worked along with governing bodies of
sport, sports clubs, formal education and local authorities in a sustained
effort to encourage participation and to improve standards of performance in
sport.
Recognising the need to address inequalities in participation levels, the Sports
Council and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure aim to initiate a
radical programme of sports development aimed at those in society whose health
and well-being is most at risk from low levels of participation in sport.
The Sports Council has discovered that participation is relatively easy to
secure among people with established and strong sporting networks. While the
sporting middle classes in Northern Ireland retain high levels of belief and
confidence and a strong capacity to deliver sporting opportunities, the
challenge is to secure benefits for people who often lack self confidence and
capacity and simultaneously, the levels of resources that are evident in well
established sporting networks.
The Sports Council have identified four objectives that form the foundation of
the implementation of a Community Sport Programme:
1. To secure the establishment of new structures which will target social
need and social exclusion and build community
participation amongst
people living in disadvantaged areas and people with
disabilities,
through out reach work to make contact at street level.
2. Through increasing participation in sport and physical activity to
improve the health and well being of people living in
disadvantaged communities. This includes coaching
and competition.
3. Through providing a comprehensive programme of education and
training, to increase the knowledge and skills of
people, therefore
enabling them to contribute more fully to their local
communities.
These programmes will develop mentoring and leadership roles,
helping
others and encouraging long term involvement in sport.
4. Through the community sport programme, to provide examples of good
practice which clearly demonstrate sports contribution to
addressing wider
social issues.
The intended outcomes are to establish:
- a reduction in youth offending;
- a reduction in drug use;
- an increase in regular participation in sport and physical activity and
encouraging a healthy lifestyle;
- an increase in personal and social capital and an increase in the capacity of
individuals and groups to contribute to the development of their
communities.
The team members are:-
John News - Community Sport Manager ([email protected])
Paul Whitten - Health, School Sports Coordinators, Youth Sport Trust ([email protected])
Paul Donnelly - Neighbourhood Development, Sport Development Planning and
Local Authority based Liaison ([email protected])
John Beggs - Business Planning (NOF), Sports Development and Sports
Lottery Fund Project Liaison Officer ([email protected])
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