Health and lifestyle
Give your kids a sporting chance
Helping your child to get involved in all sorts of sport will reap all sorts of rewards. The Youth Sport Trust explains how
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It’s oficial! Helping your children to get involved in all sorts of sporting activities will reap rewards, both for you and them. It’s a great way to improve their self-esteem, help them build friendships, and in a world that’ s full of computer games and TV shows, it gets them outside and enjoying being active.
The Youth Sport Trust is a charity set up to help young people reach their full potential and we work with schools and teachers to help young people from 18 months to 18 years to be inspired and achieve their best through sport. We also use sport as a vehicle to help young people achieve their potential while in education.
Breaktime fun |
The Youth Sport Trust knows that, for many children, the playground can be a lonely place, sometimes dominated by scores of boys playing football. It can be hard for some youngsters to know where they fit in.
To tackle these and other issues, the Youth Sport Trust has developed “Zoneparc”, a set of playground markings that help to make break times more active and inclusive for everyone. Zoneparc playgrounds are split into different coloured areas, each set up to enable children to take part in a wide range of activities.
- The Red Zone marks out a court so it can be used for a number of different sports, from rugby and football to cricket and netball.
- The Blue Zone is designed for multi-skill activities such as running, skipping or balancing.
- The Yellow Zone is a “chill-out” area, where board games are available in a shady seating section, so children can choose to take part in quiet play.
The beauty of the Zoneparc approach is that the children choose how to use the equipment they have been given, allowing them to lead the games and be creative.
Make the most of lunchtimes and after school
Lunchtimes are a great opportunity to get young people active, as are after-school clubs. The Youth Sport Trust supports the 42 specialist sports colleges across the country, who work in partnership with other schools in their area in a school sport partnership to promote high-quality PE and school sport. Many of these school sport partnerships are working with local sports clubs and national governing bodies to give young people the opportunity to get involved in sport in a number of ways.
Some children are less inspired by traditional sports so the Youth Sport Trust in conjunction with Sainsbury’s has developed the TOP Activity programme. TOP Activity provides schools with training and resources so they can deliver alternative physical activities at out-of-hours clubs. The TOP Activity programme is spilt into four fun sections: Xpress Yourself, Xercise Highs, Xtra Times and Xtreme Challenges so young people get to try out a wide range of activities, from jive and cheerleading to Frisbee and tri-golf.
CASE STUDY The Youth Sport Trust has developed Zoneparc playgrounds to solve many playtime problems. Zoneparc playgrounds have been proven to help reduce unacceptable behaviour and isolation among young people. At ebor gardens primary school in leeds, there were concerns about incidents of unacceptable behaviour, which were also spilling into class time. Following the introduction of Zoneparc facilities, equipment and practices, 83% of staff said that incidents of unacceptable behaviour had either decreased or decreased greatly. More importantly, 91% of children said they had more fun in the playground. These statistics were confirmed by the school’s head teacher, who commented: “It has cut down on unacceptable behaviour. Some days before, you’d spend at least the first half hour of class time sorting out issues. "Now, generally speaking, the
whistle blows and then it’s straight
down to work." |
What does the future hold?
Developing opportunities for young people to have access to high-quality PE and school sport is at the heart of the Youth Sport Trust’s mission, so we were delighted by the government’s recognition of the importance of our work.
Gordon Brown has announced an extra £100m worth of funding to give every child access to five hours of PE and school sport a week. The campaign to drive up levels of participation is spearheaded by Dame Kelly Holmes in her role as National School Sport Champion, managed by the Youth Sport Trust and supported by Norwich Union.
Dame Kelly’s role sees her visit schools across the country to see how they are encouraging their pupils to get involved in a range of sporting opportunities. She’s been taking part in activities from belly dancing to archery and has spoken to many young people about what sport means to them and her own experiences.
As Dame Kelly explains: “I want to inspire pupils of all abilities to be the best they can be, whether that’s as volunteers, young leaders or participants. With the government’s increased support for competitive sport, it’s a great time to meet and encourage more young people. I want to see real change and for more children to take part in more activities. We need to be a sporting nation and for that to happen we have to inspire, motivate, encourage and capture the imagination of all our young people so that sport becomes a part of their day-to-day lives.”
Dame Kelly is also involved in the Norwich Union GirlsActive programme, which helps motivate young girls to be involved in sport. Norwich Union GirlsActive empowers girls to take ownership of PE and sport in their school, enabling them to try out all sorts of different kinds of physical activity, from street dance to martial arts, while improving their self-esteem and teamwork skills.
Craven School Sports Partnership in Yorkshire has seven schools working together through Norwich Union GirlsActive with some great results. The inspirational visit they received from Dame Kelly Holmes has given Craven’s girls’ realisation that personal aspirations and dreams are possible. It has started girls talking, preconceived ideas have been challenged and inspirations lifted. Seven Craven “GirlsActive” Awards have been given out to girls who have shown a commitment to developing their own personal best. By popular demand new after school clubs have started in sports, including Thai Kick Boxing.
CASE STUDY Selly Oaks School, in Birmingham, which is part of the Lordswood Boys’ School Sport Partnership, works with pupils who have special needs and is providing tennis opportunities for its young people. It was recently named the Lawn Tennis Association’s “School of the Year”. The school not only developed the oncourt skills of young tennis players, it is also using tennis to develop their leadership talents. Pupils from the school played in the British Tennis Foundation National Learning Disability Tennis Competition with great results. The school also took part in the
pilot of the Tennis Leaders Award and
trained 12 Tennis Leaders. |
Get active
Parents have an important role to play in developing children’s sporting lifestyles, so if you’re looking for inspiration to have fun with your children, follow our 10 top tips.
- Park play An afternoon in the park making use of play equipment is a free and easy way to get kids running and climbing. Take your own ball or frisbee, too.
- Indoor play If you’re stuck indoors, roll a few socks together and clear a space to play sock footie or play make-believe exercise class.
- Swimming Kids pools often have summer sessions with inflatables and floats provided, giving the kids lots to swim and play with.
- Soft play Many leisure centres have soft-play facilities for kids, where your they can play around in ball pools and exhaust themselves tearing round in a safe environment.
- Competitions Everyday challenges to see who can do the most skips or hops, leap the furthest or get up the stairs quickest gets everyone moving.
- Play schemes Schools, play groups and local authorities often run holiday sports schemes, covering a whole host of sports like football, tennis and athletics.
- The right “sport” It’s not all about footballs, racquets and running. If your child isn’t into traditional sports, try dance, martial arts or walking a treasure hunt.
- Friends Two or more kids in the garden are usually more active than one. Give your kids someone to play tag with by inviting their friends round.
- Bikes Go on a bike ride picnic or tour a local park. Challenge your kids to bike “time trials” over a route. Play groups often have trikes that younger kids can use.
- Fun Make sure you and your kids are enjoying yourselves. The easiest way to get kids active and into sports is to find something they like and make it fun.
For more information, visit: Website: www.youthsporttrust.org
