Sports Development in context

What is Sports Development?

The central role of the profession is to work with the community (groups and individuals) to increase participation in sport of all kinds.

Sports Development in Local Authorities

Local government spends approximately £1 billion per year on sport and leisure - more than 50% of the total resources available to sport every year.

Local government Sports Development Officers Sports aim to provide opportunities for participation in sport for all sections of the community. They can offer advice on participation opportunities, suggest available funding, assist with club capacity building including accreditation and affiliation and distribute relevant information. Officers also organise sport-related projects, classes, programmes, coaching, club development and training for those who want to participate for either fun or those who are interested in competition.

Sports Development: The National Context.

Participation or involvement in sport is an effective government tool for addressing, amongst others, the issues of health, regeneration, national identity, crime and social inclusion. For these reasons, sport features prominently in multiple government agendas and consequently, many public and private bodies are either dedicated to or associated with the sector.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) provides significant funding for sports provision, improving the quantity and quality of sporting opportunities at every level, from the playground to the podium.

Sport England is the government agency responsible for developing a world-class community sports system. Their aim is to increase participation in Sport and Physical Activity by 1% year on year.

School Sport in the UK is managed by The Youth Sport Trust.

UKSport is responsible for managing and distributing public investment and is a statutory distributor of funds raised by the National Lottery. UK Sport works in partnership with the home country sports councils and other agencies to lead sport in the UK to world-class success.

National Governing Bodies of Sport are responsible for assisting in the development of their particular sport. This development could relate to support with funding, insurance, affiliation and accreditation, organising competition and improving the quality and quantity of coaches and officials.

Sports Coach UK work to improve the quality of coaching in the United Kingdom by enabling the education and continuous development of coaches.

Sports Development in the East London Region

Funded through Sport England and the NHS, PRO-ACTIVE East London are one of 49 County Sports Partnerships in the UK. The partnership works across 10 Boroughs (including Tower Hamlets) to develop new ways of using sport and physical activity to bring about positive change in the social and economic well being of East London’s communities.