Sports development

In the assignment I will be a local sport-development officer researching the barriers

to participation for target groups in my local community. I will describe the barriers to
participation for individuals.

Barriers

• Cultural
• funding
• Educational

Target groups

• Women
• Over 50’s
• Disabled people
Current schemes

• 50x60
• Sport council Wales
• Dragon sport

Barriers To Participation

In sport not everyone can take part in certain things, there are many different factors
concerning this, I will now explain a few certain barriers:

• Cultural
• Social
• Educational

I will begin to talk about the cultural barriers which some people may face which
will hold them back from getting involved in sport.
In the UK there are people from all over the world who will have different
cultures. Some cultures will have rules or traditions about the right for women to
participate in sport, or even the fact that women shouldn’t be allowed to play sport
alongside men. Different cultures will not be familiar with British sports and will
have different sports in their culture.
 Development sports continuum
-The Foundation stage
At this stage sport practisers are classed as novices, where the achievement and
learning of basic skills and techniques are achieved. A scheme run by the
government which helps to widen the amount of children participating in sport is
called the 5x60 scheme.

-The participation stage

This stage consists of anyone who participates in sport regularly, for reasons such
as socialising, health or fitness or enjoyment, to develop their skills in an activity.

-The performance stage

The Performance level consists of anyone involved in sport who aims to improve
their skills. A participant will show commitment to help perfect their skills and
they will be at a club or regional standard.

-The elite stage

Consists of skilled performers who aim to achieve set standards that are
measurable usually through competition. Activities at Excellence level usually
have rewards that motivate the individual, such as trophies or money.

At each stage of the sports development continuum there are different factors
which can sometimes prevent and hold back individuals from participating in
sport, these are known as ‘barriers to participation’.
funding

Women’s sport usually receives a lot less coverage than Men’s sport. So this
results in less money being put into sport for Women. If companies decide to
sponsor/fund an athlete they will usually expect something back. An example of
this is Vodafone. They sponsor a large amount of football teams and in return
there Logo and Name is printed on the team shirt, this is to publicize the company
as it will be seen by millions of people all over the world. At most levels,
“Women’s sport attracts less funding than men’s. In 2006/07 women made up
41% of all athletes funded through various sports council programmes and while
the five sports councils funded 832 men in 2005/06, they funded only 571 women.
At the community sport level, girls’ teams tend to attract less sponsorship from
local businesses because of old-fashioned ideas about sport not being suitable for
girls. These inequalities in funding result in poorer facilities, equipment and kit, as
well as less sponsorship for female athletes.”
(www.ytouring.org.uk)

There are many barriers for Over 50’s to restrict them in participating in sport,
one of these is funding. Many over 50’s have retired and are out of work and their
only income is their pension. This will only be a limited amount of money so they
will have to choose how they spend their money wisely. Leisure centres have
special schemes set up at discounted rates to help encourage over 50’s to
participate in sport. An example of this is LC2 .The LC2 offer I discounted
membership for over 50’s and run special classes situated to their needs. Over
50’s may also struggle with transport as the cost can be very expensive, to help
over 50’s to cope with this situation, the local bus company allocate free bus
passes. This is to ensure that the over 50’s stay active and get out and about but
without the cost of running a car etc.

Disabled people may struggle to get a lack of funding as many of them are
restricted to the work which they can do. There are schemes set up to help
disabled people participating in sport but without the cost. Schemes are set up
such as Dragon Sports. An example of this is Dragon Sports has schemes set up in
the LC2 where disabled people are given the chance to enjoy sport with no cost.
They are taken into a supervised swimming pool and taught many different skills.
“SportIslington, which is funded by Islington Council, has grants of up to £1,500
to help with activities for disabled people Money can be given for training, to help
develop a new programme for disabled people, or to make existing programmes
more inclusive”
(www.islington.gov.uk)
Cultural
“Some women/girls are turned off ‘sport’ altogether because they see it as a male
dominated activity. It is just not seen as feminine or ‘girly’ to be interested in
sport”
Sport is usually recognised as a ‘Male’ thing to do. This is due to many factors but
one of them is the influence off other people. When women mention they play
sport, this comes as a surprise to some people and therefore could undermine that
certain individual and could make them feel embarrassed. Women usually are
more open to ideas about health and well being, so many sports facilities try to
include these into the programmes set for Women so they will be more inclined to
take part in that sport.
Ethnic minorities also struggle to participate in sport. This is also due to a
number of different reasons. People who are part of an ethnic minority Eg.Asia,
have many different sports than in the UK and also role-models are pretty much
non-existent. When they are introduced to a new sport, whether it be in school or
elsewhere, it will all be new to them and they may not feel comfortable and they
may view themselves as an ‘outsider’. Some sports may require certain clothing to
be worn and due to religious reasons or self confidence issues, they may not want
to take part in that certain sport. People from ethnic minorities are sometimes
stereotyped into a certain sport Eg. “that Asian people don’t play football, that all
Asian girls aren’t allowed to wear swimsuits, that Afro-Caribbean people are good
at athletics and basketball” (www.wsf.com). This would restrict them choosing
the sport they may actually want to participate in as they have an expectation put
upon them to excel in the sport which they have been associated with.
Educational
Young people have many barriers in their way to stop them participating in sport.
This can start at a young age even from primary school. Pr5Young people have
many barriers in their way to stop them participating in sport. This can start at a
young age even from primary school. Primary schools have a limited amount of
male teachers, this could affect the sports given in primary schools if the female
teachers aren’t prepared to teach the ‘male dominant’ sports. This means that from
an early age young people aren’t getting the sport they require. This would have a
knock on effect as when they then attend secondary school, sport may be new to a
lot of them, and will come as quite a shock as they wont be confident in coming
into a bigger environment and trying out new sports. Also the school may not
have the facilities or money to help support certain sports or programmes which
will encourage young people to get involved in sport.
“Lack of money, health status and the unsuitability of local sports facilities for
young disabled people were cited as the main barriers to participation in sport.”
(www.york.co.uk)

Schemes
There are a number of different schemes that are put together to overcome barriers
such as these, an example of this would be the 5x60 scheme, who are an
organisation with the main aims of increasing mass participation with young
people, they help to get children involved in sport no matter what their
background to encourage them into participating in sports. By the 5x60 scheme
coming in and offering these opportunities, this ecological barrier is broken as no
money and funds are needed from the participants.
 Bibliography
• http://www.ytouring.org.uk/productions/fulltime/education/Articles/pdf/Ba
rriers.pdf

• http://www.islington.gov.uk/Council/CouncilNews/PressOffice/2010/12/P
R4296.asp
• http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/pubs/rworks/nov2001.pdf