Barriers to Participation

In sport young people are a main target group to be encouraging more to

become involved. If young people can be introduced to sport, in a
positive manner then they can carry on with these in sport throughout
their life time. By continuing with sport, it will increase healthy lifestyles,
social skills and create better relationships with people and sport. It will
also increase the chance of our country having more performers in the
elite part of the pyramid.
Young children can often find it difficult to get into many sports due to
many reasons.
This could be because of social barriers, economical barriers and
educational barriers. Children tend to follow what their friends do and if
their friends are not participating in sport the child may not want to
participate either. This is because children may feel intimidated or
embarrassed to try new sports in front of others. For example a young
boy maybe embarrassed of trying to get involved in the school football
team as he may feel other peers who are not his friends may make fun of
him.
Economical barriers are always a huge problem in sport especially with
young children. This is because some sports can cost a lot to fund, such
as golf or surfing so not many youngsters will get involved when
activities cost a lot of money to participate in. Other costs such as
membership and fees can be a problem as in netball, you need facilities to
play in and these cost money. In economically deprived areas some
parents have low income jobs so are unable support in sports. This will
mean fewer children will participate in certain sports and a possibility
they will become lazy. When children do not have a natural ability in
traditional sports such as football, or netball, it is harder for the child if
they come from an economically deprived area to get involved with
different sports, such as squash or wind surfing.
Educational factors can make a huge effect on whether a child will
participate in sport or not. Most children have there first encounter with
sport in school, so it is up to teachers to make it entertaining, engaging
and enjoyable, so they will want to carry on participating. Children need
confidence to want to carry on with sport and self consciousness is a big
factor as to why children do not want to take part in physical education in
school. Children could be embarrassed of body shape and size when
comparing to other children in their class. Also if other children have
better skills and abilities some children may think their not good enough
so will not want to try. Poor attitude to sport and P.E will mean poor
skills mentally and physically. This means it is the P.E teacher’s job to
have the challenge of rebuilding confidence and channelling pupils into
sports which pupils may take pleasure in participating in. For example a
P.E teacher could see potential in a young girl if she had a good hit on her
in hockey. So would encourage her to join the school hockey team.
There has been a new scheme brought into schools called 5x60, which is
about getting active for at least 60 minutes, 5 times a week. This could be
a 10 minute walk to school or a 20 minute kick about. “5x60 is set to
change the face of provision of sport in schools and transform playing
fields and sports halls into hubs of bustling activity from daybreak to
nightfall”.( wales.gov.uk/ /5x60prog) It encourages children to try new
sports and become more active. The activities are mainly targeted at
individuals that currently do not participate or who are in danger of losing
interest. It is all about having fun and enjoying themselves, but getting
something out of it at the same time.
“Sport Unlimited is another youth sports programme which gives funding
to local communities via the County Sports Partnerships network”.
(www.sportengland.org) It is targeted at youngsters who may have some
interest in sport, but aren’t particularly engaged with community or club
sport. The first step in the programme is to find out what sports young
people actually want to do.
The foundation stage of the sports continuum links in here as the
foundation stage is where there is a lot of emphasis on fun, so the
youngsters will enjoy sport and will want to carry it on. Basic skills are
mainly learned such as throwing or catching. The 5x60 and sports
unlimited, then encourage youngsters to get involved in teams or clubs.
This is the participation stage and tends to focus on community
participation by getting people to participate regularly. Once they get to
this stage and become good at their sport they could enter the
Performance stage. This is where you have regular practise, competition
and can be representing your county. This offers a lot of opportunities for
youngest and certain people are targeted here to be able to move onto the
excellence stage. This is where they can become elite - National or
International level.

Women are another main target group for getting them involved in sports.
“40% of young women have dropped out of physical activity by the age of
18.” (sportessex) There are many reasons why girls drop out of sport
these effects can be to do with social and historical issues.
Many women will stop participating in sport because of what their peers
think and do. Women like to participate with friends and if their friends
do not want to join in they will not tend to want to participate either. If
women are not encouraged from an early age, or not brought up with
sport, they will not always want to participate especially if there is lack of
support from families. For example if a young girl is bought up with
sport, which she loves and enjoys such as netball the likely hood she will
carry that on to an older age is very strong.
In sport women have very few role models who they are able to look up
to and who are also in the lime light and also poor media coverage. This
is bad because when reading magazines or newspapers women athletes
are often never publicised. This gives nothing to make women readers to
want to get involved with sport.
“On average only 5% of sports coverage in national and local print
media is dedicated to women's sport.” (sportessex). This means that
not a lot of money goes into sports for women and women have very little
‘air’ time on TV or radio because of the main focus on men. This has
been affected by sports been stereotyped, for example sports such as
rugby may be viewed as a ‘male sport’ because of its historical rules in
boys public schools and its violent nature. Therefore it is seen as
unsuitable for women. This leads back to historical influences and how
traditionally sports have been made male dominated and women have
been limited to hockey, tennis and netball. If schools were to have
introduced ‘male sports’ such as football to girls at an earlier age it would
have given them the opportunity to get involved in different sports not
just the traditional girls sports. This could have meant more women in the
21st century would enjoy and been involved in a variety of sports.
This leads to a “gender imbalance”, because more men take part than
women, as there is more opportunity for men.
Women can also be embarrassed or self conscious to participate in sport
with men around this is too due with the image of what women should
look like. Many women do not want to even go to the gym as they are
afraid of what men may think or say and the image brought across. These
barriers are able to be over come by certain ideas. For example in
communities more women only sessions or clubs can be arranged to
encourage more women to take part in sport. This has been done by an
exercise class called “Zumba”. It encourages women of all shapes and
sizes to get involved with dance and just have fun. This has helped to
advertise sessions as being exciting, sociable and great new experiences
rather than emphasising competitiveness, which a lot of women do not
like.
Women’s sport and fitness foundation aims to change people views on
sport. To do this they want to “Create a nation of active women; from
dancing in the living room to celebrating gold, we want to make sport
and fitness an everyday part of life for women and girls.”
(wsff.org.uk/what-we-do)
They are working to deal with what currently puts women off sports.
By having a sport sector which puts men way out in front in terms of
profile, investment and leadership, means some women think there is no
point to participate in sport. They feel they are not going to get anywhere
due to the dominance of males. The foundation is also trying to make
aware that Instead of having a culture which prizes being thin (image)
over health, they want to make aware to women that it is all about having
a healthy balanced lifestyle.

Ethnic minority groups do not always do well in sport compared to other

people. This can be due to factors such as cultural, poverty, lack of
facilities or knowledge about UK sports,
Today most sports agencies agree that Britain is now a multicultural
society. But stereotyping is a problem in ethnic groups, as some people
think they are unable to participate in sport due to where they are from.
Addressing stereotypes, reducing what many communities perceive to be
the barriers to participation and working with local clubs and
organisations are fundamental actions in promoting sport amongst ethnic
minority communities.

Black sportspeople are encouraged into competitive and professional

sport to make a living. If black athletes become successful they are to
become positive role models.
Ethnic groups are still under represented in coaching, managerial and
organizational roles.
Socio-cultural barriers refer to specific social and cultural practices,
beliefs and traditions within a community or society.
A lack of positive and possible role models is a related issue for most
groups. This is because ethnic groups do not always have someone to
look up to who is the same race as themselves. Especially for children
this is awful because most children want to get involved in sports because
of their role models for example David Beckham is looked up to by many
children.
Sport England’s key partner for racial equality is Sporting Equals.
Sporting Equals is a national proposal, funded by Sport England and the
Commission for Racial Equality. Sporting Equals aims to change our
society into a place where ethnic minorities can influence and participate
equally in sport at all levels, as players, officials, coaches, administrators,
volunteers and decision makers. Sporting Equals is working to raise
awareness and understanding of racial equality issues and their impact
upon sport. They are also trying to establish a sporting environment
where cultural diversity is recognised and celebrated.
 Bibliography
• www.sportessex.com/docs/csn/barrierstoparticipationwomenandgir
lsbrentwood.

• (wsff.org.uk/what-we-do)

• Sport level 3- mark Adams/ Ray Barker/ Adam Gledhill/

Chris Lydon/ Chris Mulligan / Pam Phillippo/ Louise Sutton

• www.wales.gov.uk/topics/cultureandsport/sportandactiverecreation
/5x60prog.

• www.sportengland.org/support__advice/children_and_young_peop
le/community_and_club_activities/sport_unlimited.aspx