StreetGamesStreetGamesDeveloping doorstep sport with deprived Developing doorstep sport with deprived

communitiescommunitiesLilleshall May 2007Lilleshall May 2007

Founding Conference 2007

Steve Hodkinson Vice Chair – StreetGames: The National

Charity– Member of the London Region Sports Board– Former Pro-Vice Chancellor Brunel

University– Board member of Brentford FC

Welcome!

• To the first of many StreetGames gatherings• Two days to celebrate our achievements:

– Making it known that deprived communities are sporting losers

– Creating the charity to promote doorstep sport– Convincing Gvt there are enough of us to make

doorstep sport worth trying

Why are we here?

To share ideas – to learn from each other – For the national team to check-out their

ideas– For local projects to tell the national team

what’s needed and viable– To swap top-tips with each other

Getting it right…

Important new phase for StreetGamesYour input needed to make sure its right:

– Athletics– Basketball– Volunteering– Work with girls

And a host of other issues that will arise over the next couple of days

From pilot to Lilleshall

• Summer 2003 Gvt and FF piloted SG in North East, London, North West. Brought together sport and neighbourhood renewal

• Idea grew: project stuck in Gvt bureaucracy• Summer 2005: decision time• Core group drove bids through Sport England

and Football Foundation: people working for free to establish Charity

• Charity launched Jan 2007 with first 10 projects

Key conceptsYou will repeatedly hear talk of:1. Doorstep sport2. Networks3. Partnerships4. Community capacity building-

sustainability5. Conduits for positive social messagesThese key concepts came from pilots

Key concepts 1: Doorstep sportThe pilots overcame barriers to

participation:1. Price2. Location3. Requirement of adult supportSG delivers sport at a time, at a place

and at a style accessible to young people.

This is ‘doorstep sport’

key concepts 2

NetworksStreetGames is national network for doorstep

sport:– Bidding axis– Training and swapping top-tips– Negotiating package deals with NGBs– Hosting events at right level– Regional networks giving advice and support– Website with easy M and EStreetGames is not a top-down

organisation: it is a ‘network’

Key concepts 3

PartnershipsThe idealised local partnerships which drive

doorstep sport: • Police, school, PCT, clubs, YOT, community,

council etcAgencies have their own concerns• Sport: participation• Health: health inequality• Education: under-attainment• Community safety: repeat offendingAll these sectors share target groups – it’s a

partnership ready to happen

Key concepts 4

Positive social messages

• StreetGames projects are plausible conduits for positive messages:– Widen horizons– Smoking cessation and healthy living

Statement of ethics says ‘Bullying, racisms, sexism and homophobia

are well beyond the tolerance of StreetGames and are forbidden.’

The key concepts 5

Community Capacity Building

• StreetGames network can reach marginalised communities – and strengthen them.

• Capacity build so community can deliver for itself – chances for sustainability: training, club building, volunteering opportunities, employment opportunities.

Why are we funded?

• The 5 key concepts are why we are funded

• Raising participation is the prize

Why we are needed

• 25% of highest socio-economic group participate regularly against only 16% in the lowest.

• Once-a-month participation is even more skewed by class –top 20% are roughly twice as likely to participate as bottom 20%.

• Research of elite performers in a basket of sports show 37% from managerial and professional background.

5% manual workers.

• The Times estimate 58% of Britain’s Athens Olympics gold medalists were privately educated.

• 45% of all UK medalists in the last three games came from the 7%

of the population who go to private schools

Conclusion• The next two days are your chance to

shape sport• To test out the key concepts• To share your knowledge and• Pick up some tips

So…• Enjoy yourself and see you at the

next Conf!