Sport England Update – June 2016
Active People Survey: Latest sport stats show increase in people taking part – Boost to grassroots sport as our figures reveal an extra 340,000 people getting active
New figures from our Active People Survey show that 15.83 million people over the age of 16 played sport in the last year.
That’s a return to the level seen after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And it equates to 1.75 million more than when London won the right to host the Games.
While 81,900 more men are playing sport, the overall increase is largely because more *women are getting active, accounting for over 75 per cent of the increase). The gender gap in sport has therefore reduced slightly, to 1.6 million.
Keep fit and going to the gym remain hugely popular, with the number of people doing them every week breaking the seven million mark for first time. Exercise classes, like spinning and boxercise, continue to attract large numbers of people, especially women.
Some of the team sports are also becoming more popular:
- Cricket has seen an increase of 43,500
- Rugby union is up by 23,000
- Netball is played by 13,100 more people
The running boom looks set to continue, with 138,100 more people running regularly in the last 12 months, and a remarkable one million more people running compared to 10 years ago.
Find out more about who plays sport:
Under the skin – Youth personas: Explore the six youth personalities in our new films
What motivates young people to take part in sport and why are some turned off by it? We’ve produced six new films delving into those very questions. The films add to our comprehensive Under the Skin research released earlier this year, which established six key personas. These are:
- Sport enthusiasts
- Confident intellectuals
- Ambitious self-starters
- Cautious introverts
- Thoughtful improvers
- Everyday youth
Each film explores one of these personalities, highlighting key traits based on extensive research talking to scores of young people. View the films
Sport England Coaching plan for England – We have gathered insight from across the sector to build a solid picture of when, where and how people want to access their sport
The Coaching Plan for England continues to develop at pace and we have considered how this insight matches with our current approach to coaching.
We understand the changes required to provide an attractive & good value coaching proposition and shaped these via the five working groups that we have already held.
Phase two of the working groups will look in greater depth at specific challenges that we know must be met by the coaching system in order to grow participation:
- Defining the different coaching roles & functions
- Understanding females who want to play and coach
- Examining approaches to coach training
- Considering methods for skilful deployment and ongoing support
- Better understanding the role of technology to improve the customer and coach experience.
- Phase two will also cover the talent system and its coaching needs in more detail.
The final stage of producing the Coaching Plan will be to examine how people that coach can improve playing experiences and keep people playing by:
- Understanding the needs and motivations of the individual
- Offering flexible coaching formats which fit people’s lifestyles
- Applying emotional intelligence through activities
- Committing to interaction with people who play between activity sessions, and
- Recognising how digital tools can make sports experience more meaningful.
The end product should be a plan which helps the coaching system in England to be better equipped to achieve growth, while still nurturing talented athletes.