Introduction
In this assignment, I will produce a written report that describes three government or
commercial strategies or initiatives which relate to sports participation. I will choose three
out of the following national and local strategies: Game Plan, Every Child Matters, Sporting
Equals, TASS, Plan for Sport 2001, Coaching Task Force 2002, This Girl Can, TOPS, Active
Sports, Sportsmark. I will then explain these strategies in detail and how they affect sports
participation. After this, I will provide a justification of each initiative, including a reference
to current research on participation rates and the wider impact of physical inactivity. I will
then evaluate these three strategies or initiatives and in will provide a balanced critique of
each, focusing on the effectiveness of their implementation.
SPORTING EQUALS
Image taken from: http://www.sportingequals.org.uk/news-
and-blogs/latest-active-people-results-show-a-decrease-in-
bme-participation.html
“Our research highlights that some ethnic groups encounter significant disparities across
sport and physical activity” (sporting equals.2019)
Sporting Equals is a self-governing body that actively works to promote ethnic diversity
throughout the sporting community. It was originally created by Sport England in 1988. In
partnership with the Commission for Racial Equality, sporting equals have worked to
encourage and promote inclusivity through policy change and community-based
engagement.
Sporting Equals exists in order to target and from this empower individuals, organisations as
well as communities to become an active part of this change, in order to achieve their full
potential and as a result promote a more active and healthier lifestyle. Sporting equals have
been incremental in implementing change within sport already but are constantly striving to
improve and enhance the sporting opportunities that are available to the Black, Asian and
Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
Sporting equals has three main aims that they have created their initiative with the hope of
achieving. The first aim is to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of black, Asian
and minority ethnic communities within the sports and health sector, with the goal of
changing attitudes and increasing participation in both sport and physical activity. The
, second aim of sporting equals is to empower individuals and communities to play a part in
this change, and to work to achieve their full potential through both playing sport and being
active. The third aim of this initiative is to advise and support policy-makers and delivery
bodies to be inclusive of all under-represented groups, they do this by drawing on their
experience with black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.
This initiative works to achieve these aims through their use of ‘programmes’. According to
(sportingequals.2019) these “programmes play a pivotal role in achieving sector change”
and can include the following: educating communities so that they can “become leaders of
the future” through their Leader Board programme; Or by showcasing elite-level talent
through their “British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards (BEDSA)”; also through the delivery of
community sporting projects which have a wider social and cohesion impact, such as “Spirit
of 2012.” The use of these programmes are paramount to helping this initiative achieve its
aims as they help to encourage key values the help bring communities together, combat
barriers and produce more tolerant, inclusive and cohesive societies that value diversity.
Programmes ultimately enable this initiative to achieve their aims as according to
(sportingequals.2019) “The amalgamation of knowledge and project engagement allows us
to address issues such as disadvantage and promote greater inclusion and equality in an
effective and impactful manner.”
This initiative is needed within sport as according to (sportengland.2019) “For ethnic
minority groups overall the participation rate in sport is 40% compared with a national
average of 46%. The overall participation rate for male ethnic minorities is 49% compared
with a national average for men of 54% and for female ethnic minorities it is 32% compared
with a national average for all women of 39%.” This shows that this initiative is needed
because as shown by the above statistics, race can present a clear barrier to participation in
both sport and exercise for both men and women. Therefore, this initiative is needed as it
recognises this barrier and works to combat it. According to (sportingequals.2019) some
goals of this initiative are to “increase participation, improve the long-term opportunities
and health outcomes of those communities as well as to grow elite level talent.”
Consequently, if this initiative is effective in achieving these goals, they will be able
eliminate the significant disparities that some ethnic groups encounter across sport and
physical activity and potentially reduce the participation gap between non-ethnic minorities
and ethnic minorities.
This initiative is ultimately trying to achieve the following outcomes by the goals they put in
place according to (sportingequals.2019) “1. Increasing Participation 2. Identifying and
Showcasing Talent 3. Diversifying Sport Sector 4. Improving Health and Lifestyles 5. Building
Cohesive Communities”. This initiative also hasn’t set any numerical targets in terms of
participation or engagement, instead focusing on making long term changes that effect the
majority rather than a specific amount. I found the following research also given by
(sportingequals.2019) that suggests that to some extent this initiative has achieved some of
its aims “There has been an increase of 691,000 people from black and minority ethnic
groups playing sport compared with APS1. During this period, 3.00 million people from black
