The Youth Sport Trust is a national charity that is building a brighter future for young people through PE and sport. Through 20 years of experience we have developed a unique way of maximising the power of sport to grow young people, schools and communities through the development of qualities including creativity, aspiration, resilience and empathy.
We know that good health supports successful learning and can impact on attendance, attitude and behaviour. We also know how inactivity affects more than just a child’s physical health because it undermines their mental and emotional wellbeing too. This is why we advocate so passionately about the need for high quality PE and sport, and deliver an impressive range of interventions across the UK and internationally. But, in order for us to really maximise our work, we know that it must be undertaken in partnership.
We are, therefore, particularly proud of the work we do with corporate partners, such as Sky Sports, Bupa, Matalan/Sporting Pro, Virgin Active and Sainsbury’s, where we are able to combine our efforts to have the biggest possible impact for young people.
For example, with support from Bupa, we have developed a new approach to teaching PE to four – seven year olds. Bupa Start to Move enables teachers to gain a greater understanding and confidence in key elements of teaching PE at primary level.
Elsewhere we have the partnership with Matalan and Sporting Pro that delivers an award-winning grass roots sports initiative – Sporting Promise - that has already enabled over two million young people to have vital access to new and exciting sporting activity in school.
With Sainsbury’s support, we are able to deliver in partnership with government, Sport England and the British Paralympic Association, the Sainsbury’s School Games. The Sainsbury’s School Games is a unique opportunity to motivate and inspire millions of young people across the country to take part in more competitive school sport.
The Sainsbury’s School Games are made up of four levels of activity: competition in schools, between schools, at a county/area level and finally at national level, with the Sainsbury’s School Games finals contested by elite, school aged participants.
Charities engagement with corporate partners has to be flexible to the needs of the partner and our relationship with Virgin Active is a clear example of that, where they are encouraging their members to fundraise for our charity, rather than provide funding for a new programme or intervention.
Living for sport
Every single one of our corporate partnerships is hugely important to us but to give a clear overview of how we use PE and school sport to change lives, our partnership with Sky Sports in delivering Sky Sports Living for Sport provides a fantastic example.
Sky Sports Living for Sport, which is part of Sky Academy, is a free initiative that uses sport stars and sport skills to improve young people’s lives. The programme was launched by Sky Sports back in 2003 in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust and has since gone from strength to strength.
This initiative for 11-16 year olds is available to all secondary schools in the UK and Ireland with the programme designed to inspire and support every participant in areas relevant to them - whether it’s improving confidence or attainment at school or leading a healthier lifestyle.
Schools that take part in the programme receive a visit from one of the world-class athlete mentor team. These athletes have been selected for their ability to engage with young people through their own stories of struggle and success, including the challenges they had to overcome such as bullying, dyslexia, exclusion and living with a disability. This year alone, over 35,000 young people will participate directly in projects.
The six keys to success
When the Athlete Mentor first visits a school, as well as explaining how the initiative works and helping you with the project, they’ll introduce the six keys to success which have been developed in partnership with the British Athletes Commission.
The six keys to success are: Mental toughness, hunger to achieve, people skills, sports and life knowledge, breaking barriers and planning for success.
The six keys to success are designed to help young people develop valuable life skills that will help them in and outside of school, now and into the future. The Athlete Mentor will use the six keys to success when they come to do a Project Visit and work with a project group to help them build valuable life skills.
Independent research clearly demonstrates the impact they are having, with findings showing that 84 per cent of participants engaged more in learning and 91 per cent of participants improved in self-confidence and self-esteem. The research also showed that 81 per cent of participants behaviour in school improved and how 87 per cent of teachers thought there had been a positive impact on student attitudes towards their future.
Role model Bethan Gill
One of the recent Sky Sport Living for Sport award winners, Bethan Gill, provides a clear overview of just how big an impact the project can make. Bethan has been described as a role model student; well-known and respected by all her peers at Samuel Cody Specialist Sports College, not only for her success on the sports field, but for her academic achievements and inspirational character.
Twice in a row she has captained Rushmoor District’s athletics squad to county championships at the Parallel Games, while in the classroom she has become one of the first students at the school to undertake PE at GCSE level.
However, at the start of her Secondary School education it was a very different story. Bethan had been a selective mute at Primary School, meaning extreme anxiety led to her being unable to speak in specific situations or to specific people, which also impacted on her academic progress and led to poor results in core subjects. This difficult beginning makes Bethan’s journey all the more remarkable. Her story is an inspirational one spanning almost five years on one of the longest-running Sky Sports Living for Sport projects in the country.
All the projects were designed to raise self-confidence, and Bethan’s journey was aided by Athlete Mentors Alex Danson and Toby Garbett, whose own determination not to let academic difficulties prevent them from succeeding both in school and sport inspired her to follow suit. In fact, Alex in particular became a personal role model, taking an extra interest in Bethan’s progress.
Bethan’s communication skills and self-confidence have now grown to such an extent that she now acts as a sports leader, a house captain and sports ambassador for her school, having gained the respect and admiration of all her peers. It is her personal development however that has been the most significant as it is that which has helped her to realise that she has a voice.
Bethan’s next step is to join the Military Preparation College at Farnborough to take a BTEC level 1 in Sport and Active Leisure; a real indication of just how much her confidence has grown.
“The change in Bethan over the last five years has been remarkable,” said Alex Danson, a long-time Sky Sports Living for Sport Athlete Mentor and a Great Britain hockey star.
“She found the strength and motivation to use her passion for sport to improve so many areas of her life and to overcome the challenges she faced. Bethan is an amazing young woman.”
Creating opportunities
Moving forward, as Sky Sports Living for Sport looks to help more young people like Bethan, the focus is clear. It’s not about finding the next sporting superstar, it’s about using the power of sport to change behaviours and increase academic attainment, whatever your athletic ability.
So Sky Sports Living for Sport really does illustrate how important our partners are to the Youth Sport Trust and exactly how we can work together to achieve shared goals. That is the most important thing for us when we are entering into cooperate partnerships because it is vital that you can work together towards the same objective.
Our own goals are simple. Our charity is passionate about helping all young people to achieve their full potential by delivering high quality physical education and sport.
Our work aims to give every child a sporting start in life, through high quality PE and sport in primary schools.
We aim to ensure all young people have a sporting chance by developing opportunities for those with special educational needs and disabilities.
We strive to support all young people to achieve their sporting best in school and their personal best in life.
These are clear aims but in order to achieve the best possible results for young people, we cannot do work alone. We need like-minded organisations to support us so that we can share best practices and utilise each other’s strengths.
That approach has been key to all our success in our partnerships with the likes of Sky Sports, Bupa, Matalan/Sporting Pro, Virgin Active and Sainsbury’s and it will be at the heart of everything we do going forwards.
The challenge now is to create further partnerships that embrace the right synergies and values, so that work is mutually beneficial and helps create a brighter future for young people through PE and school sport.
Further information
www.youthsporttrust.org
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