Sports Development in the United Kingdom

This article will be looking at sports development in Wales and the sports development continuum. I will be looking at three specific sports to evaluate what is put in place to develop these sports and details of each level in relation to each sport. The three sports I will be evaluating are football, rugby and netball in Wales. I am predicting that there will be greater opportunities for football and rugby and limited opportunities for people wanting to play and develop their netball. I believe this is because football and rugby are far more popular in the country; they are also televised much more and produce better well known role models such as Beckham and Wilkinson. I have chosen to look at these three sports in particular because of a couple of reasons. The main reason I have chosen football and rugby is because these are two of my favourite sports and I believe these will prove to be the most developed sports in Wales. Therefore I believe there will be a lot of work being put into developing these sports in contrast to netball. I have chosen netball because it is not as popular as the other two and normally played by females. Therefore instead of just listing three extremely popular sports, I will be able to find out whether people who don't necessarily want to play football or rugby have equal opportunities to play the sports they want.

The modern sports development programme is usually based on a four part model called the sports development continuum. For my project I will be looking at the three sports chosen and look at each stage of the continuum to see what is put in place. At the bottom of the pyramid is the first stage, foundation level. The foundation level of the continuum focuses on teaching young people basic and perceptive skills and this generally happens at school level. The aim of the foundation level is to ready pupils for the higher stages in the continuum and encourage them to take sport seriously and consider taking part in sport throughout their life. It teaches the basic skills in order to partake in a specific sporting activity; these include activities such as body literacy, hand-eye coordination and special awareness. Due to the fact it is unlikely that when young people join primary and secondary schools they have any real knowledge of sporting games, the schools will start with teaching basic skills such as dribbling, catching, passing etc. To encourage kids to stay playing sport, there are many things parents, teachers and sports development authorities can do to help. They need to be willing to provide transport, opportunities, equipment and also motivation. Sports at any level rely on members attending week in week out in order to keep the clubs going. Therefore the sports rely on methods such as advertising, marketing and sponsorship.

The second level in the continuum is participation. This level is possibly the most important in the continuum and is the main focus for sports bodies, local, regional and national authorities. The aim is for more people to take part in sport to stay healthy and therefore aid the NHS. This is because a healthier Britain means less people on waiting lists for treatment and less money having to be spent by the government. Therefore this level involves people who want to take part in sport to stay healthy and have fun, also this level is where some younger people will start to realise they can succeed in a specific sport and progress higher up the continuum. The sports council, now sport England, in its annual reports always has categories of participants it wishes to encourage, such as young people, the elderly, ethnic minorities and women. Therefore this involves targeting beginning performers and bringing them up to performance level and maybe trying to prolong the playing of sport by older people, encouraging lifelong participation. There are many providers who can aid this, some include parents helping their children through voluntary work and coaching, PE teachers and lecturers in schools and universities, local authority sports development officers, local clubs, local sector facilities such as gyms and pools, regional sports councils and federations and active community programme leaders.

The third level in the sports development continuum is the performance level. This is the stage where sportspersons reach county level and start to earn money while playing sports whether it is part or full time. This level signifies a sufficient gap from just playing sport for fitness; it is a form of more competitive sport. Therefore people are competing for higher achievements or personal reasons. An example of performance level is someone who plays semi-professional football for a team in order to win trophies and earn extra money doing what they are good at.

The highest level in the sports development continuum is the level of excellence. This is where people have reached the higher performance levels in sport and are participating at national or international level. Promoting excellence is extremely difficult for the governing bodies. Most sports development agencies focus on grants aiding talented individuals, such as financial support for coaching or scientific support. Also they must work on promotion work to attract sponsorship, state of the art facilities and setting up junior networks or grass-roots schemes. Although the formation of the United Kingdom Sports Institute has brought another dimension to development at the top level, providing further networks of facilities and support for elite players and athletes around the UK.

Football Development in Wales

Foundation Level

All children take part in football in school time; even girls participate at younger ages in physical education lessons. The schools qualified teachers teach the children the basic rules of the game and they do not necessarily have an in-depth knowledge of the game. Therefore the children don't have expert advice available, although at a young age this is not necessarily needed. The facilities used will only be basic such as a field or maybe football pitch. Some schools prefer Astroturf because it is easier to maintain and provides safer conditions.

Football is very popular at foundation level because it is a popular sport and relatively cheap for the schools to run. This is because football equipment is relatively cheap i.e. footballs sell for near to nothing and goal posts last for long periods of time. Also there are many famous football role models who greatly help participation in the sport because young people aspire to being rich and famous like them. The target aim group for the sport at foundation level is boys aged 11-16 years old.

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) is very keen on increasing the development of football in the country. At foundation level the FAW have realised that schools football is the foundations of players participation and development for countless years. The Technical Department of the FAW has recognized the importance of this by forming a strong partnership with the governing body for schools football, the Welsh Schools Football Association; this is to offer financial and professional support for the activities it undertakes, including most importantly, the National teams and Development squads.

They also offer schools throughout Wales a program of support to attract the interest of young players to the game and assist teachers in establishing football in the curriculum, as well as after school clubs and festivals for pupils to play competitive games. The FAW hope this will lead them to further their interest and play on a more regular basis by joining a local junior club. In an attempt to try and co-ordinate this support to schools in a structured way, the Technical Department have devised a new National Program, the McDonald's Primary Schools Accreditation Scheme. This scheme aims to increase participation and improve the standard of provision in schools through the setting of quality standards that schools try and achieve. In return, those schools that become accredited receive outstanding benefits, through the support of McDonald's, including the use of the scheme's branded logo, professional and voluntary support, free equipment, special festivals, resource cards, a regular newsletter and international match tickets. Special schools are involved in this scheme too and it is anticipated that it will be expanded to include Secondary schools at some point in the future.

Participation Level

This is the level where younger people may start to realize they can succeed in the sport and progress higher up the sports development continuum. In football, this is where adults play for fun in their spare time and maybe train during the week. These older participants are likely to have jobs and haven't pursued a career in football. They are therefore participating to maintain their mental, social and physical well being. This level is also where teens that are looking to progress in the sport play on weekends for their local team and may be scouted or drafted into youth academies. The younger generation playing football tends to be more competitive as they are fighting to impress their coaches and teachers in order to be noticed. I believe it is extremely important for work to be done on the participation level as I have experience of my football team folding because there was nobody willing to continue coaching us.

Football as a sport has many advantages when encouraging kids to participate as it is extremely popular, has many famous role models, has many well known sponsors and is extremely easy to set up and play. There also needs to be local clubs and local authority sports development officers, otherwise talent will seep through and be wasted where there aren't any. Imagine if Wane Rooney wasn't encouraged by his parents to play the game.

The Welsh Local Government Association has also put much effort into increasing participation in football. They believe particular emphasis should be put on community involvement, particularly local clubs which play an important part in increasing participation in football, especially by young people which in turn will aid developing safer communities. Considerable progress has been seen at junior level football in recent years, and with continued improvements in coaching levels and this trend could easily continue. However, lack of adequate funding hampers development and there continues to be a need for greater consistency across Wales. In particular, there needs to be better support for junior and grass roots football for both males and females. They need to ensure that local authority football development officers are able to spend their time more constructively in developing the sport to ensure that participation levels increase by delivering coach education; funding workshops and advising on increasing volunteer numbers. Unfortunately, these development officers continue to be called upon to deal with technical work and player development is hampered by this.

They have also made it an aim to help increase women's participation in the game. Although women's participation in the game has increased by 300% in recent years, the participation rate still remains low. The WLGA believe that for the growth rate to continue, additional resources are needed to create opportunities for women to play quality football games on a more regular basis. Also amateur football in Wales plays a significant role in football development. Hundreds of clubs are signed up to the Club Accreditation Scheme, and there has been a significant increase in qualified, registered coachers over the last few years. Amateur football is vital to the sports' development and more input is needed to increase standards further.

Performance Level

At this level players are performing at a high level and looking to improve all the time. Players playing at this stage are not quite up to international standard but are not just playing the game for fun. They are either playing the sport as a career or participating for more personal reasons. An example of someone at performance level is a player playing at a semi-professional level, who is playing for their own personal while earning money.

The FAW have also made it one of their aims to increase the standard of the performance level in Wales. They have made it one of their technical department's key aims to identify and develop talented players to support the success of future National teams. To try and achieve this they are working with all key partners in the game to try to create a clear and well structured pathway for players with talent to emerge and develop. This process begins by working with local junior clubs and leagues to provide additional quality training opportunities through the establishment of local development centers. Junior team managers and league representatives nominate players to attend. Players are also identified through the schools program and representative matches. The Development Centers operate for 24- 32 weeks of the season and are coordinated by the County Football Development Officers. Games against other centers are organized on a regular basis to improve the level of competition that the players experience. Players may be identified by League of Wales clubs to attend their academies or are recruited by football league clubs, including Cardiff, Wrexham and Swansea to attend their centers of excellence. In some cases, outstanding players can join professionals clubs straight from local league football. Here players are identified to play for the Welsh Schools FA (WSFA) Regional Squads (North and South), with ultimately the best players progressing to the National Development squad at under 15 level and the WSFA under 16 national team. The FAW Trust has established a National Player Development Forum to try to coordinate this process in a structured way, aiming to minimize any conflict that may emerge between the key partners involved. This ensures that their most talented players are not overplayed or torn between school, club or WSFA loyalties. To this end a National Player Development Calendar is produced to create a structure to the season and provide information regarding the timing of representative games to avoid any potential conflict.

Excellence Level

This level is for the highest performing athletes in the country. Players at this level are playing for the more successful football league clubs and the Welsh National team. One example of a player at this level is Gareth Bale, who plays for a premier league team and regularly for the Welsh national squad. Historically the development of excellence has been dogged by a number of deficiencies, and this was shown in the 1980s and 1990s by the UK' failure to succeed at the highest levels of international sport. The problems encountered include lack of coordination among sports bodies, lack of facilities of international standard for training or playing, lack of coaches and educational staff and also lack of sports science support, e.g. injury clinics, assessment and evaluation centers.

Recent developments have begun to address some of the problems identified, such as establishment of the National Coaching Foundation and a network of university sports science centers in Manchester, Loughborough, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield and London. Centers of excellence have also been established around the UK under the new organization UK Sport, to foster development of elite performers. These centers offer increased knowledge of how to develop the football game and help learn more about injuries sustained, also better facilities and coaching standards aid the development of the game.
Rugby Development in Wales

Foundation Level

At school level, children will be taught the basic skills of the game such as catching and passing, this is in the earlier years of their school lives. It is important that all kids have at least a small knowledge of how to play so that they have more opportunities in sports later on in life. Also at foundation level teachers offer their knowledge of the game in order to educate kids enough for them to want to continue in the sport. Rugby is similar to football in the fact that it is a very popular sport and is extremely cheap for schools to run. All that is needed for the game is a safe playing surface with suitable rugby posts and rugby balls are very cheap to buy in large quantities. It is important at this level for parents to help the kids develop an interest in the sport by providing them with motivation, transport and also maybe taking them to professional games to see what they could possibly achieve.

The Welsh Rugby Union is looking to develop rugby at younger ages in order to provide more participants at older ages and also provide a wider range of talent for league teams. Their rugby directorate is identifying players as young as 12 for prospective places in the regional academies and need to have continual input into their rugby development through to the age grade international teams. More importantly, they must be in a position to have a direct influence on their potential to ensure they make the very best of their talent.

The WRU's director of rugby recently has given a new scheme his blessing. This scheme involves a partnership between Buy as you view TV and the Welsh Rugby Union. Under the scheme two full time development officers which are former Treorchy coaches Chris and Clive Jones will visit schools in the area to promote the grassroots game. The TV Company will pump £70,000 a year into the venture while the WRU will provide management backup in line with the WRU management plan. They believe that the scheme will inspire a new generation of sporting heroes and that it developing the game from the bottom is their vital long term viability.

Participation Level

In the participation level, younger children are playing for their local teams and developing a stronger interest in the game. Also at this level adults are playing the game for fun and to maintain their fitness. Again this level is possibly the most important level in the continuum as it is important for everyone to carry on taking part in sport even after they finish school so that they can live a healthier lifestyle. There are many trusts over the UK looking to increase participation in all sports. Dragon Sports is a trust in Wales looking to increase participation levels in rugby. The Dragons Rugby Trust is a charitable organization, whose role it is to develop participation in rugby union in Wales. This is not an elitist approach; it is a grassroots program in which excellence is the by-product of participation. It is the trust's belief that young people can best achieve success through the principles of teamwork, good sporting behavior, skill, leadership, fitness and fun.

Performance Level

At performance level players have realized they have significant skill in the game to a make a living from it and play for county and club level. Players are playing for careers in the game and also for their own personal enjoyment. Players at this stage are not yet good enough to play at international level. The Welsh Rugby Union secured Objective 1 funding in March 2005 to deliver an Academy program for rugby players identified as potential, future professional rugby players; a project which is called "The Welsh Rugby Industry". The £3.66m project was and continues to be backed by £1.62m of Objective 1 funds from the Welsh Assembly Government. The Academy program recognizes the importance professional rugby can have in Wales in terms of instilling confidence in the nation, lifting aspirations (not just in sport); putting Wales on the European and world stage, raising awareness about the country internationally; encouraging sports tourism and repeat visits starting from these sport visits, as well as motivating individuals to participate in sport and recreation, thereby encouraging a healthier Wales.

The academies have the responsibility for educating and training the potential performance level player, but do not field any specific competing teams. There are four geographic academies linked to the regional structure of professional rugby in Wales (Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets) and a fifth serving the women's game on an all-Wales basis. The Objective 1 award match funding finances the costs of Wales's regional community development managers and regional player development managers along with other personnel and overhead costs, allowing the Welsh Rugby Union to be able to employ four regional academy managers and an additional seven coaches; four regional conditioning coaches and three central resource coaches, plus a women's academy coordinator.

Excellence Level

At the excellence stage of the sports development continuum players are performing at the highest possible level, playing fro top professional clubs and their international teams. Players like this include strong role models such as Jonny Wilkinson, James Hook, and Brian O'Driscoll etc. these players have passed through each level of the continuum at some point in order to reach this stage of elite status. All players with an elite status at some point started out at grass-root level.
The Welsh Rugby Union puts a lot of effort into looking after and developing players at excellence level. They have come up with the performance lifestyle program where they provide many services to elite players in order to aid them with their high performing lifestyles. The WRU's qualified performance lifestyle manager will recognize that the rugby program is the main focus for competing players and provides guidance on how to maximize that focus while still fulfilling other important commitments such as career, family, social, financial & day to day issues. The approach is to work closely with the players and also the coaches and support specialists as part of an integrated team to minimize potential concerns, conflicts and distractions, all of which can be detrimental to performance, and at worst, may end a career prematurely. Today's high performance rugby player needs a high degree of self-management and professionalism. Support from the WRU PL Manager is available for: coping skills, career exploration, educational advice, time management, budgeting & finance, dealing with the media, sponsorship & promotion activities, negotiation/ conflict management, injury strategy selection and de-selection and retirement (voluntary or involuntary).

Netball Development in Wales

Foundation Level

At foundation level, schools provide juniors with basic knowledge of the game and teach basic skills such as passing and catching. The game is mostly only taught to the young girls while boys tend to be taught the more physical games such as rugby, football and basketball. Therefore the target group for netball at foundation level is 11-16 year old girls. Netball is a popular sport amongst girls but only really at school level. Rarely do girls continue to participate in the game after they leave school. Netball is a commonly taught sport in schools because like football and rugby, it is cheap to run as all that is need is a safe court to play on with hoops and netballs. The local netball development officers for Caerphilly have made it their aims to develop, promote and sustain netball in a fun and a positive manner. They also aim to provide annual inter school competitions for all secondary schools in the county borough. Create good working relationships with local secondary school Physical Education departments. Provide opportunities to 'Talent Spot' potential players and provide clear pathways for them to follow to achieve their potential. Also it is their aim to improve the quality and number of netball coaches and officials in the county borough.

Participation Level

At the participation level of the sports development continuum, children who are at school have developed an interest in the sport and are playing for their local teams. However participation levels are extremely low for netball for people who have left school. Unfortunately it is extremely common for someone to play netball for local teams during their time at school but soon finish after leaving secondary education. Therefore it should be an aim for Welsh sports development officers to attempt to encourage more people to continue playing the game. These attempts may be hampered because of the sports lack of popularity. Unlike football and rugby, netball is not shown on Sky Sports regularly and is not well known for its celebrity role models. Dragon sports is also aiming to increase participation in the game, however it is mainly aimed at the younger generation which isn't helping continue participation after school. However they have come up with Dragon Netball to help get juniors more into the game. This includes simpler rules, smaller equipment and playing areas, plus fun training and coaching; meaning that every girl and boy can enjoy the great feeling of success. Dragon Sport uses the practical help of experts, meaning parents, teachers, students, family and friends so that children have a great time playing a range of sports. Step-by-step advice and training makes it simple to organize sport that is safe and fun too. Below is an example of how much netball is needed to be developed in Wales.

Performance Level

At this level players play regularly as part of their career and play at club or county level. They have already played through the foundation and participation level of the sports development continuum. There are very few players who have stuck with the game through school and teenage life. There isn't much support for the development of netball in Wales, so performance level players must travel to nearby training facilities in England. One example of one of these facilities is in Bath, it is home to the UK's first full time high performance netball centre.

The programme is delivered by the England Netball in conjunction with Team Bath's director of netball, Lyn Gunson. Team Bath offers a place to study, train and achieve their goals. Team Bath offers performance level players cutting-edge athlete support services, world-class facilities in a £30 million sports training, a top-flight sports medicine and science back-up team. They also provide opportunities to study whilst competing and training at the highest level, providing a stimulating environment and a supportive "family" away from home. Team Bath gives links with local schools and host families for younger athletes; they also give potential talents scholarships and bursaries. The athletes and programme are under the leadership of Gunson, a former New Zealand international player, captain and coach as well as assistant coach, Jess Garland, a former England player and member of Team Bath's super league side. Team Bath's programme through the High Performance Centre delivers and leads England Netball development for the South and South West of England, running the England Netball home training in the area as part of its programme.

Excellence Level

At this level players have excelled at foundation, participation and performance levels in the sports development continuum. They now play for their prospective international teams and at professional club level. Traditionally, performance improvement was left to the governing bodies, to be achieved at a regional level in the main, but performance tended to focus on good players becoming better, rather than the best players becoming excellent. With continued disappointing international performance from the British teams, underlying issues had to be tackled and a more effective strategy for 'excellence was needed for the new century.

Historically, performance and excellence had been bundled together. The sports development continuum showed that a bridging plan was needed, from high performance to excellent performance. One way in which the UK has attempted to improve standards at excellence level is advanced elite coaching training. This started with the National Coaching Foundation (NCF) which is now using the brand name sports coach UK and is responsible for education, instruction and training for professional coaching. This organisation has set up a network of centres in universities to help achieve its aims, networked with other international coaching centres.

Also in the late 1990s, Sport England had a triple focus as its strategy: More people, more places, and more medals. This is meant that the underlying drive was for more participants, more facilities and better results on the World stage. The initiative was aimed at creating facilities of national and international standard for all sports including netball. The starting point was to asses where there were gaps in provision and where new facilities should be built.

Football Strengths and Weaknesses

Football has been developed greatly as a sport in Wales as it is an extremely popular sport and much of the sporting population enjoy playing it. Also football as a whole can be seen as the most popular sport in the world and certainly Europe. Therefore participation levels are going to be higher, meaning there needs to be much more work into giving people opportunities to play the game. Also as football is such a famous sport there are many famous personalities which children and sometimes adults aspire to be like. Some weaknesses that football shows are that the sport is strongly dominated by the male population. The large majority of women prefer to play other sports such as netball, hockey, gymnastics etc. This means that around half the population of Wales has no interest in the game which can be expected for any sport.

Rugby Strengths and Weaknesses

Rugby has also been developed greatly in Wales because of many reasons. On of these is the recent success of the Welsh national team at the Six Nations. National success often increases participation in the sport or even just high profile tournament increases participation. This is proved in sports like tennis and cricket, during Wimbledon, tennis participation increased by around 40% while cricket participation greatly improved when England won the Ashes. Also like football, rugby is one of the most popular sports in the UK and offers up great role models for young people to look up to. A strong weakness in the rugby game is the physicality of the sport, many children are afraid of participating because of possible injury and female participation levels are low due to the 'rough and dirty' image of the game. There are few opportunities for girls touch rugby. However this is not as popular as other women's sports such as netball. Another weakness is parent's reluctance to let their children participate as there is a risk of injury, rather than football which has a much lower risk.

Netball Strengths and Weaknesses

An advantage to the netball game is that it is an opportunity for females to excel in a sport where there isn't a large amount of boys participation. One weakness is unlike football and rugby, netball matches are not televised as often as them on the high statues sports channels. Another weakness is that unfortunately sports governing bodies tend to emphasis development of sports on the already popular sports instead of making less popular sports more attractive to participate in. Sports like rugby, football and basketball excel because of this outlook and their also tends to be lots more opportunities in Wales for people wanting to play these sports. A weakness however is that participation levels tend to be high in netball at foundation level. However this drops once they leave school and focus more on their jobs and other sports.

Therefore, if I was a business man looking to develop a sport in Wales, I would choose to develop football. This is as netball isn't a popular sport and it would be extremely difficult and time consuming to develop this sport. I would choose football over rugby because football is probably the most popular sport in the World and most definately the United Kingdom and Europe. However, there is roomfor development for the sport in Wales and the popularity of the sport wil greatly aid any work put into developing the sport in Wales.