By Ben Hargreaves
If you were born in the noughties (or thereabouts), the world you are inheriting is a troubled
one.
You entered the scene to an economic earthquake whose aftershocks make it hard to get
mental health support more than a decade later (at a time your generation is reporting very
high levels of mental ill health). You spent your childhood watching a climate crisis which is
none of your doing unfold. And if you’re in education, or have just left school, at least two
years of your learning was severely disrupted by the pandemic.
That’s if you’re in education.
Almost 120,000 children who should be at school weren’t at some point in the 2022/23
academic year. That figure is up a quarter on the year before, according to new statistics
from the Department of Education (the Children’s Commissioner describes the figures as a
“scandal”). Missing school not only means youngsters don’t get the qualifications they need
to thrive in the adult world, they also become vulnerable to exploitation by criminals.
Children who have special needs and from disadvantaged backgrounds are
disproportionately affected.
In this context, sport can provide a powerful way of connecting with young people and
giving them the skills they need to thrive in the adult world (discipline, dedication, resilience,
the ability to work in a team, to name just a few). The improved physical and mental health
associated with sport is also linked to better academic outcomes. Sport can provide the
impetus for better educational performance and employment prospects and a reduction in
anti-social behaviour and crime.
(The most recent report from the global Laureus Sport for Good Foundation found that the
organisation had developed life and vocational skills for more than 170,000 children in 2022.
The foundation also improved the educational performance of more than 50,000 students
that year. In the UK, the Sports Think Tank writes that better provision of sport for young
people has the potential to ease pressure on the NHS, tackle crime, and improve economic
productivity).
Why is sport so effective at improving prospects? Experts suggest that sport is uniquely
effective at capturing youngsters’ attention. That’s not just the case when it comes to the
influence of sporting megastars, but also the example of grassroots role models in the
community. That’s why charities such as Sported and Street League, which work in the
community to provide sport (and much more) in some of the most deprived areas of the
country, are so important.
These types of organisations have a crucial role to play as cost-of-living pressures and
pressures on young people continue to bite. For our part, Sport Local Action’s founders have
already showed how sport can make a massive impact in the local community in London.
Our vision is now to take that success and scale it up to involve sporting organisations and
charities across Britain working for the common good.
We are using the power of sport to create a network of individuals, charities and sports
clubs who work with our army of volunteers to help ensure kids from disadvantaged
backgrounds get more opportunities, because these are challenging times to be young –
perhaps more challenging than for any generation in the post-war era.
By creating our ecosystem of sports and charities – backed up by our army of volunteers –
we can change the lives of young people for the better, and help ensure they don’t end up
falling through the cracks, only to become an absenteeism or crime statistic.
Want to get involved? Contact us today so see how we can work together.