StreetGames boosts access to sport and helps tackle young people’s problems

• Coaches from local organisations deliver sessions and act as mentors to help young people tackle behaviour problems

• The charity supported 8,700 young people last year and most volunteers move on to further education or training

ACTION

Young people living in disadvantaged areas are being supported to enjoy healthier and more active lifestyles through the work of StreetGames and its network of community organisations.

The charity has developed a long-standing partnership with hundreds of these organisations across England and Wales - which it calls locally trusted organisations (LTOs) – that help it to deliver its programme of activities and events.

As well as encouraging young people to take part in exercise through its flagship Doorstep Sport programme, the charity also aims to tackle youth-related crime and antisocial behaviour through its targeted work.

Since it was set up in 2007, around two million young people from deprived households have benefited from StreetGames’ belief that lives can be changed and communities transformed through the power of sport.

The driving force behind its creation was the recognition that for those living in disadvantaged communities around the UK, opportunities to access sport are less compared with better off areas, explains Mark Lawrie, the charity’s chief executive.

“Very often there are fewer sports clubs and less people who volunteer which is obviously a big part of running them,” he says.

Fewer facilities in deprived areas, transport limitations and being unable to afford extra-curricular activities also restricts access to sports, Lawrie adds.

“We know the average low-income family has about £3.65 a week to spend on sport and active recreation which doesn’t even buy you a swim,” he says.

“As a family you’ve got so little money to play sport that it becomes a barrier,” he says.

“Also, high levels of crime and antisocial behaviour mean that trying to find safe spaces isn’t that straightforward.”

Identifying and overcoming these barriers helped shape the charity’s principle of “Five Rights of StreetGames” which applies to any LTO providing a fun and informal sports club (see p29).

“By providing sport on the doorstep of these communities, all the potential barriers they face are taken away,” says Lawrie.

“This means they can access sport in a safe space, where they live and provided by trusted adults who know how to engage them and understand some of the challenges that may be going on in their lives,” he says.

While Doorstep Sport activities may vary from area to area, they are designed to be delivered in a fun and informal way.

Lawrie says this is in keeping with providing sport in the “right style”, since young people are asked to choose the type of activity they want to do.

Local leaders from LTOs are then tasked with ensuring it is made enjoyable for those taking part. “You won’t see lots of cones and young people running backwards and taking part in fitness training – it’s about playing sport and enjoying physical activity,” he says.

Examples of sports played include basketball, football, table tennis but also activities such as boxing and street dance, he adds.

Leaders and volunteers from LTOs that need help with supporting young people and delivering activities can access courses and workshops through the charity’s training academy.

An analysis of the Doorstep programme from 2013 to 2017 found that some coaches, often from a traditional sports club background, wanted help from the academy to adapt their style.

“A coach or a leader needs to style a friendly approach, but that is not the same as being a participant’s friend who will let anything go,” states the report.

“It is hard and skilled work to appear cheerfully laissez-fairewhile supporting 30 teenagers to attain high standards of behaviour.”

During the four-year period the charity says its academy provided 1,364 courses and workshops to help paid and voluntary coaches and leaders to master the art of providing “fun sessions”.

Lawrie says the wider benefit of the programme relies on the adults involved to employ mentoring skills while working with groups of young people. By doing so, issues around mental health and risk-taking behaviour can be identified and addressed.

“The leaders and volunteers are on the side of the young people. They want them to succeed and will work with them on issues they may find difficult rather than judging them,” he explains.

Since 2015, the charity has been working on programmes in partnership with the Home Office, police and crime commissioners and violence reduction units, supported by Loughborough University, that explore how Doorstep Sport can be delivered in a way that reduces crime and antisocial behaviour.

“That strand of Doorstep Sport is developed all the way from a national board of police and crime commissioners who are interested in sport to the LTOs who we provide with training and resources so they can better support young people at risk of antisocial behaviour,” adds Lawrie.

IMPACT

The most recent impact report for London and the South East, which covers the period March 2020 to December 2021, says despite the enormous challenges presented by the pandemic thousands of children and young people across London and Kent have been supported by the work of StreetGames.

With more than £600,000 invested from its partners, the charity delivered 193 Doorstep Sport interventions and nearly 4,500 sessions involving more than 8,700 young people.

The sports delivered were aimed at inactive groups that were low on confidence and did not want to join any competitive sessions.

“We managed to help this group of young people become active and start doing sport more regularly,” states the report.

“Many stated the pandemic left them with mental health issues and these sessions were a way of integrating them back into the community.”

According to Lawrie, however, the “real impact” can be seen at an individual level and evaluated using tools such as youth outcome stars and a portal that captures improvement in young people’s wellbeing.

“Using Office for National Statistics wellbeing questions, we can demonstrate that Doorstep Sport has a measurable impact in terms of young people’s wellbeing,” he explains.

In addition, 86 per cent of the young people participating in full-time volunteering with the charity have gone on to further education and training.

• Read more in CYP Now's youth work and sport special report