New research released on young people and sport
The search for the next generation of football referees, cricket umpires and other key sporting officials took place at one of the UK’s largest youth volunteering and leadership camps, at Loughborough University.
Held from the 2nd to 5th April, budding Graham Polls and future Dickie Birds joined double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes and Hope Powell, the coach of the England women’s football team, for the four-day residential “Step into Sport Community Volunteering Camp”.
The annual Step into Sport camp is organised by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Sport England and Sports Leaders UK. It gave 400 16-19 year olds, who are already volunteering in sport as coaches, officials and organisers, the skills and experience to sustain a lifelong involvement in leadership and volunteering in sport.
New research released published on 2nd April found that nearly seven out of ten young people have already volunteered, with six in ten having helped organise a sports activity. Eight out of ten think that volunteering is a rewarding and fun experience, which means you can get involved in something you enjoy regardless of whether you are good at it or not.
Most young people think being a coach would be as fun and rewarding as playing the sport itself, followed closely by being a manager, like Steve McClaren, referee, like Pierluigi Collina, or organiser. More than six out of ten think that being a leader in sport, for example being captain of a team, means you will be more popular at school, with more than half thinking that it will also make you more successful in later life.
Over 6 million people volunteer one billion hours to sport every year. These coaches, officials, mini-bus drivers, match secretaries, umpires, treasurers, stewards and countless others help keep sport going in the UK. Thousands of local sports clubs and associations are dependent on a new generation of volunteers in sport coming through. Step in to Sport is helping find the next generation of sports volunteers from coaches and officials to club treasurers and grounds men.
This year the camp focused on developing the young people as event volunteers and technical officials. National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs) offered participants at the camp the chance to complete coaching awards and entry level qualifications for them to get onto the officiating ladder.
Some of these young people will then have the opportunity to attend major events such as the UK School Games, which this year are being held in Coventry in August, to put these skills into action. Through the network of school sport partnerships which include all schools in England, the young people chosen will use the skills they have gained to further their work as young volunteers and leaders in their own communities.
Double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes and Hope Powell, the England women's football coach, who’ll lead her country into this September’s FIFA Wold Cup, opened and closed the event.
Hope Powell said: “The contribution that volunteers and technical officials, including referees, make to the staging of sporting events from the grassroots up to international level such as the World Cup is crucial. We need to keep finding the next generation of football referees and the Step into Sport Community Volunteering Camp will help to achieve this. Who knows it may well uncover a top class referee of the future, male or female, who goes on to officiate in an FA Cup Final or other major football tournament.”
Dame Kelly Holmes, attending in her role as National School Sport Champion, said: “The Step into Sport Community Volunteering Camp provides the opportunity to further enhance the leadership skills of these young people which will have a long-term impact on the development of athletes and the future of British sport. Sport helps young people learn and grow in so many ways, not just in terms of their confidence and self esteem, it can also prepare them for the challenges which they will face in later life.”
Ron Tulley of Sports Leaders UK said: "At the first few camps maybe only 50% of the leaders had completed a sports leadership qualification. It is very gratifying that now nearly all students selected for this terrific event are trained sports leaders. The four days they spend at Loughborough will help them
as individuals and also encourage them to continue as sports volunteers when they return to their schools".
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