Sport England Update

Five-time Olympic Gold medalist, Sir Steve Redgrave, has unveiled a new way for people to become sporting heroes in their local community.

Sir Steve, our greatest Olympian, has joined forces with Sport England to launch Sport Makers, a programme for everyone who’d like to make sport happen for their friends, neighbours or colleagues.

Sir Steve said: “You don’t need medals to become a sporting hero. By helping people you know to get involved in sport you’ll be doing something amazing for your friends and local community as well as having fun yourself.

“The thing I want to see more than anything is more people out enjoying what sport has to offer, but we need your help to make it happen.

“So why not take your first step to becoming a sporting hero and visit sportmakers.co.uk”

Sport Makers aims to inspire over 40,000 people to get involved, with each of them spending at least 10 hours organising or leading sporting activities. It is open to anyone aged 16 and over.

Backed by the British Olympic Association and £4 million of National Lottery funding, Sport Makers is part of the Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country.

Every Sport Maker will be invited to an informal and interactive workshop where they’ll gain the skills and opportunities to get involved in sport in their area. Sport Makers will be introduced to organisations that need their help, and join forces with others who want to make sport happen locally. There’ll also be opportunities to meet top athletes and plenty of incentives to stay involved.

By taking part in Sport Makers, and completing your 10 hours, you could secure tickets to the greatest show on earth: Sport Makers and London 2012 are working together to give people the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “This is a great chance to get involved in making sport happen, whether that’s planning the route, finding the pitch or encouraging others to take part.

“So if you think you could help, or have your own ideas for getting others involved in sport, please join in as a Sport Maker and become part of the legacy of the London 2012 Games.”

Today’s launch was welcomed by the Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP. He said: “The volunteers that help out at local sports clubs up and down the country are the foundations of community sport. The new Sport Makers initiative is a key part of the London 2012 sports legacy and will help community sports clubs across the country get more people playing sport.”

Over 50% of adults in England say they’d like to play more sport, but many people don’t feel they have the time, money or confidence to get involved in a formal setting.

BOA Chair, Lord Moynihan, said: “Sport Makers will help contribute to an active and vibrant grassroots sporting environment, through which opportunities for people of all ages to participate in sport will be expanded. It will reinforce the ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic movement, demonstrating how they are relevant to every level of sport.”

Visit sportmakers.co.uk to find out more and sign up.

Olympic gold medallists welcome sporting legacy investment boost

Successful sports governing bodies are to receive extra investment from Sport England to boost their grassroots programmes and deliver a lasting sporting legacy beyond the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A total of £3.5 million has been awarded to help drive up participation numbers in netball, cycling, running, canoeing and lacrosse.

Find out more?

£10 million for iconic sporting facilities

With just under 300 days to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sport England is making £10million of National Lottery funding available for the next round of Iconic Facilities.

Opening on the 10th October, Iconic Facilities will invest in large-scale, state of the art facilities, catering for many sports that will help increase participation and deliver a sustainable sporting legacy beyond 2012.

Find out more?

Sports working together to secure facilities' legacy

The national governing bodies of badminton, basketball, cricket, netball and volleyball have come together with Sport England to help improve sports hall provision across England.

New guidance will help tackle the frustration for people who find their local sports hall isn’t suitable for their particular sport, as well as ensuring that facilities of the right size are developed in the right places to meet local demand.

Find out more?

Active People Survey 5 results

Following the recent consultation on the frequency of Active People Survey reporting, the results release scheduled for the 15 September did not go ahead. The next set of Active People Survey results (APS5 - October 2010-October 2011) will be published on 8 December 2011.

Active People Diagnostic update

Active People Diagnostic has been updated to include Active People Survey 4 data. If you are an existing user the new data is now available to you. If you have not yet registered as a user you can do so via the Active People Diagnostic website.

Active People Survey 6 commencing

Sport England is pleased to confirm that fieldwork for the sixth wave of the Active People Survey will begin on 15 October 2011.

The sample size (500 respondents per district and single tier local authority) will be the same as Active People Survey 5. The new survey wave will also contain more detailed questions about the duration and type of cycling.

Market segmentation - coding service

Experian, the company that developed the sports market segments for Sport England, provides a coding up service in relation to the market segmentation tool.

They are offering users of the tool a free Sport England profile giving an overview of your current membership or customer database and allowing you to identify your target segments.

If you would like to take advantage of this free profile please contact James Chesterton by 4th November 2011.

Value of Sport Monitor

In September 2011, new entries were added to the Value of Sport Monitor site, including articles on the economic impact of sports events, and national identity and sport.

The Value of Sport Monitor is an online monitoring service of the most up-to-date reference sources and critical reviews of published research evidence on the contribution of sport to a range of broader social issues, including health, social capacity and education. Alongside the new entries updated summaries have been published, which highlight the current state of the evidence within each broad category.

Coming soon: small area estimates and Sport Unlimited impact study report

Sport England will shortly be publishing small area estimates of participation for every local authority in England, at Middle Super Output Area (MSOA) level. The estimates are based on modelled or 'synthetic' estimates that combine APS data (2008-2010) with other data at the area level e.g. health indicators, socioeconomic status, in a three stage statistical modelling process. They provide an interesting picture of variations in sports participation within a local area, and will be published in map and tabular format on Sport England's website.

The final impact study report on the 3-year Sport Unlimited programme will also be published this autumn. The initiative delivered taster sessions designed to inspire longer term participation among children and young people who may have had some interest in sport but were not particularly engaged in community or club sport.

48 Playing Fields Protected and Improved by 2012 Legacy Fund

48 sports playing fields across England are to be protected and improved in the first wave of National Lottery investment by Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields legacy fund.

The announcement comes as communities across the country are invited to bring the 2012 legacy to life in their area by bidding for support for a local playing field through the second £2 million round of Protecting Playing Fields.

Applications for the second round can be made between 24 October 2011 and 12 December 2011, with community and voluntary sector groups able to apply without partnership funding.

More than £2 million of National Lottery funding has been offered to sports clubs and local groups in the first round to bring disused playing fields back into use, improve existing sites or create new sports pitches. A further £8 million will be awarded to hundreds more projects through the four remaining funding rounds.

“These investments will transform the local pitches where many young people have their first experience of sport,” said Richard Lewis, Sport England’s Chair. “With all of the playing fields safe from development for at least a generation, communities across England can look forward to years of sporting enjoyment.”

Protecting Playing Fields is part of the Places People Play legacy programme to bring the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities all over the country.

“When we speak about leaving a lasting legacy from hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games it’s about offering people more opportunities and better facilities to play sport, and protecting playing fields is central to this ambition,” said Hugh Robertson MP, Minister for Sport and the Olympics. “Thousands of sportsmen and women will now benefit from Sport England’s Protecting Playing Fields legacy fund seeing improvements to existing sites and bringing disused community playing fields back into use.”

Among the funding offers of between £20,000 and £50,000 are:

£50,000 to drain and level Tufnell Park Playing Fields in Islington, the London borough with the fewest playing fields. In partnership with Islington Council, which is contributing £85,600, this project will allow the pitches to be used twice as often, benefiting mainly junior and women’s football teams.

£50,000 for Cobham Sports Association in Surrey, where work will begin next week to turn a derelict golf driving range into three new multi-sport grass pitches, doubling the playing field provision at the club. That means more football, more lacrosse and more rugby union for local residents. The club is putting in £70,000 to the project.

£49,000 for the OSCA Foundation, a charity in a deprived area of Halifax, West Yorkshire, which will take over ownership from the local council of a playing field where 90% of matches currently get cancelled because of water-logging and other issues. Following improvements, including enlarging the pitches, they will be used for rugby league in the summer and football in the winter.

All 48 playing fields will also be protected from developers for at least 25 years ^[1], creating an enduring benefit for sport. And 27 will become Queen Elizabeth II Fields after agreeing to dedicate their playing field in “perpetuity”. This is thanks to a partnership with Fields in Trust (FIT) which is running the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge as part of the programme to mark the Diamond Jubilee and the London 2012 Olympics.

“This fantastic investment into grassroots facilities in England will help to ensure that neighbourhoods can participate in sporting activities at all levels for years to come,” said Alison Moore-Gwyn, Chief Executive of Fields in Trust. “We are delighted to see that over half of these playing fields will also be protected in perpetuity as part of the permanent legacy that the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge will create in tribute to the Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Olympics.”

More than half of the groups benefiting from Protecting Playing Fields are community sports clubs while six are playing field associations, five are parish councils and three are schools or colleges. The awards also include the purchase of five playing field sites totalling 25 acres and 13 pitches.

By simplifying the application process and reducing the technical expertise required to bid, the funding has been opened up to groups that haven’t previously received public money. Almost half the successful bidders (23) in the first round are first-time applicants.

Protecting Playing Fields builds on the work Sport England already does to safeguard playing fields as a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting a sports playing field.

To find out more about the Protecting Playing Fields fund or to submit an application for round two, visit sportengland.org /funding

To find out more about Sport England's strategy click here

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