We were delighted to welcome representatives from across a wide variety of sports, alongside longstanding partners including Sport England and Team GB, to discuss how sport can better meet the needs of the young people we serve.
The day was compered by StreetGames Young Advisors Arissa and Mubarakat, who brought invaluable lived experience to the discussions throughout the event. Presentations from staff across the StreetGames team gave attendees the opportunity to hear about the broad spectrum of our work, while discussions in small groups focused on individual sport’s motivations for engaging young people living in low-income, under-served communities (the “why”) and any challenges or barriers they have faced in this work.
The day also included a panel discussion with representatives from England Hockey, the Golf Foundation, British Cycling and The FA, who shared their own “why”s, their ambitions going forward, and how collaborating with StreetGames is supporting them in this work.
A recurring theme across the event was the importance of focusing on the immediate value sport can bring to young people’s lives, rather than viewing participation solely as a pathway to elite performance.
Looking back on her own experiences, Young Advisor Arissa reflected: “It was never, ‘I’m going to take this professionally all the way’, it was ‘what opportunities can it give me now?’”
She also highlighted the importance of creating welcoming and enjoyable environments for young people: “Don’t make it an academy, make it somewhere fun, somewhere sociable that they can just come together with their friends.”
This was echoed by several members of the panel:
“Not everybody needs to become a club rider, not everybody needs to go to a club. We know that’s a barrier.” – Hilary Conway, British Cycling
“We’re trying to provide an offer where, in some cases, we know that they’re never going to join a club, but it’s still the right thing to do.” – Chris Lock, England Hockey
“A lot of what we’ve developed in our community programme is centred around mental resilience; golf is secondary.” – Tom Sparks, Golf Foundation
There was a shared recognition among attendees that meaningful engagement starts with listening to young people and communities, rather than expecting existing sporting models to work everywhere. As Tom from the Golf Foundation summarised, “We have to listen to what these young people want, what these community groups need.”
The panellists cited this as a key reason for partnering with StreetGames, with Hilary from British Cycling sharing: “We’re working with StreetGames because we know that we can’t talk to some communities. We know cycling; what we don’t know is how to talk to young people in those communities.”
Kat Clarke from The FA added: “One of the main reasons for wanting to work with StreetGames is how we can look to extend the reach into sections of the community that don’t feel they’re represented in the game. Together we’re looking at how we can make it easier for community and Third Sector groups; to make football feel like it’s a sport that they can easily get involved in with the FA to deliver.”
StreetGames’ approach to working with NGBs is built on the foundation of collaboration and shared purpose. We are incredibly proud of the impact of these partnerships to date, including a revamped strategy for the Golf Foundation as a direct result of our partnership working.
Our immediate priority is to continue to listen to and gather insight from sports to understand their “why” and what is driving their ambitions to widen access. We know that this is not a short-term process; we’re committed to this work because we know just how important is for the young people we exist to serve.
If your sport didn’t attend the event and would like to have a discussion with the team, please get in touch: