Spotlight on CSP in Rowing and Regatta Magazine - Issue 22 Feb 2008

County Sport Partnerships have been established across the country by Sport England. But what do they do, and how are they related to rowing in your local area? Rowing and Regatta found out…

What are County Sports Partnerships?

County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) have been established by Sport England to help drive up the number of adults and young people regularly taking part in sport and active recreation. They are essentially what links national policy on sport and those who deliver sport in the local area – in the case of rowing, ARA-affiliated clubs, coaches and volunteers i.e. ‘The People behind the People’ (see diagram below). Sport England’s regional teams, in partnership with other regional agencies, work closely with CSPs and the Governing Bodies of Sport to ensure there is a cohesive strategy to deliver both national and regional objectives.

In the West Midlands, the CSPs and the Community Sports Networks (CSNs) have been consulted on the priorities for investment in sport at the sub regional level. As a result, approximately two thirds of Sport England’s National Lottery funding, which is delivered through the Community Investment Fund, will be invested through - or by - CSPs.

Delivery System for Sport

The Delivery System for Sport clarifies the position and role that different agencies and organisations play in delivering opportunities for sport and active recreation.

Overall aim – to get more people participating in sport and active recreation.

Delivery System

Wendy Anderson, Active Recreation Manager, Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke–on–Trent explains the role of a CSP:

Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent (SASSOT) is one of 49 'county' level partnerships set up in England. The Partnership consists of: our ten local authorities, Staffordshire University, schools, health agencies, the Youth Offending Service, the voluntary and private sectors - and importantly, regional officers from the National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs), including the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA). SASSOT then works in conjunction with Sport England in the West Midlands to deliver national and regional policies to develop sport and active recreation through its partnership working at a sub-regional and local level.

Mark Thornewill, Partnership Director, SASSOT, has past experience working with the ARA, as he worked with the local organisers for the Burton Regatta. Mark explains the role of the CSP:

We Advocate: As the ‘one voice for sport’ in Staffordshire. We lead and communicate the sport ‘product’ and try to influence public, political and organisational opinion at a sub - regional and local level.
We Enable: By supporting medium and long-term planning through our sub regional level strategy linked to NGBs, local authorities, primary care trusts and schools.
We Deliver outcomes: By co-ordinating delivery and investment to try and avoid duplication.

There are five key areas of work that we, and the other 48 partnerships, concentrate on:

1. Adult Participation
A significant part of our work is to find new and innovative ways of getting more over 16s involved in sport and active recreation, resulting in widening access to opportunities for all sections of our community. It is well known that the majority of people will not take enough exercise when they leave school and this can lead to health issues in later life.

We are working with public and private sports providers and the NGBs to find innovative ways to encourage adults to try new activities, or to go back to a sport they enjoyed as a youngster. In Staffordshire the rowing clubs at Burton, Rudyard and Stoke-on-Trent all offer some form of 'Adult Learn to Row'. Staffordshire University also teaches ‘freshers’ to row, indeed this is where top GB rower Andy Hodge began his career. Anna Bebington’s mum has also taken up the sport at Rudyard.

2. Pathways for young people
Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent also works very closely with all the school sport partnerships in the sub-region. These are groups of primary and secondary schools that work together in a very local area. They are delivering the Government’s aspiration of getting children to do five hours of sport in school, after school and in local clubs. The clubs in Burton and Stoke-on-Trent work very closely with the schools and are part of ‘Project Oarsome’, the ARA’s scheme to link secondary schools with rowing clubs. The initiatives at both clubs have been heavily supported by East Staffordshire Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council respectively. We have also provided funding to these clubs to support their youth work through the Community Sports Coach programme.

3. Clubs, coaches and volunteers
This is a very important part of our work, we want to see clubs grow and flourish with increased membership. We are realistic, sports clubs are run by volunteers and most coaching is unpaid. We are encouraging local authorities and schools to work with ‘Clubmark’ accredited clubs. We also try and access funding to help coaches take the United Kingdom Coaching Certificate (UKCC)

At the same time we want to help clubs link into their local community and breakdown barriers. This has been successfully achieved in Stoke and Burton with the clubs working in deprived communities.

4. Community Sports Networks (CSNs)
CSNs, sometimes known as Sport and Physical Activity Alliances (SPAAs) or local sports networks, are in the process of being established in most local authority areas in England. They will bring together local agencies and groups and agree the best way of developing sport and active recreation in their area.

As a CSP we will support and guide the CSNs and where possible invest in schemes where a need has been identified. We have had great success recently in coordinating a portfolio of bids from our CSNs to Sport England West Midlands’ Community Investment Fund (National Lottery funding). The ARA’s 'Rowing and Health' scheme is ideally placed to benefit from CSNs.

5. Supporting the wider agenda
This is important work for CSPs, as we need to ensure sport remains a high priority for traditional partners, also that sport’s positive impact is recognised in the areas of: health, education, crime reduction and community regeneration. We are working to help ensure that 'sport' is an important part of Local Area Agreements. LAAs are the way that central government will be funding local authorities, our job is to help ensure that sport gets the funding that it requires to deliver local priorities.

The Government is also working to rebuild or modernise every single secondary school in England through a programme called ‘Building Schools for the Future’. We are an important part of the local consultation process, again making sure that sports facilities are an important part of development plans for new and refurbished secondary schools. The ARA has already provided advice on appropriate equipment for rowing.

How we work

Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is based at Stafford Borough Council’s offices. We have an Executive Board, which is made up of a wide range of partners from:

Local authorities
Education - including HE
NGBs
Health agencies
The voluntary and private sectors
Youth Offending Service

Advisory support is given by Sport England in the West Midlands.

The Executive Board’s role is to provide inspiration, vision and leadership to the Partnership and to champion the benefits of sport. The Board’s Chair is Laurence O’Neill, who represents the voluntary sector and who also has experience of coaching with local sports clubs.

We have a small core team led by Director, Mark Thornewill. We also have personnel responsible for partnership working with NGBs, School Sport Partnerships, Club Development, Coaches, Volunteers, Equity, Training and Education and Research and Marketing.

Mark offers one final piece of advice…

“We would recommend to all rowing clubs that they make contact with their local CSNs, where they are already established. We can help you find out about the CSNs in your area and provide you with contacts. This link is important to both clubs and CSNs, as the potential within clubs to meet the locally identified priority needs of community sport requires highlighting, as the major route for investment in community sport is now channelled through the CSNs, with the aim of increasing participation in sport and active recreation.”

For further information on Rowing in Staffordshire, please contact:

Daniel Hetherington – ARA Team Leader – 0797 1159596 (covers North of county, inc Stoke and Rudyard areas) – daniel.hetherington@ara-rowing.org

Simon Dowdy – ARA Team Leader – 07733346796 (covers South of county, inc Burton) – simon.dowdy@ara-rowing.org

Further information on CSPs and links to each county can be found at:
http://www.sportengland.org/csp

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