We are investing in 46 national governing bodies over four years
and have agreed clear outcomes for grow,
sustain and excel with each one.
Below are performance summaries for each governing body, setting
out progress 24 months into the funding period.
Angling
The Angling Development Board has had mixed success in achieving
the goals set through its Whole Sport Plan. Its strongest
performance has come in traditional areas such as coach
accreditation. Our local intelligence tells us more needs to be
done to increase the impact of some County Angling Action Groups.
We are encouraging the governing body to ensure that it is focusing
on the wider needs of the sport. Close monitoring of progress is
required over the next six months.
Archery
Archery GB has made good progress in the first two years of
delivery given the limited sports development resources and
capacity within the organisation. Participation figures are
encouraging and the roll out of the governing body’s club
development programme, ontarget, is ahead of schedule. Key
challenges over the next 12 months include better engagement with
the existing archery committee network, as well as accelerating its
work with young people.
Athletics
UK Athletics and England Athletics are making excellent progress
towards their overall objectives, with really strong growth in the
informal running market. The potential for further participation
growth remains considerable, and the governing bodies are working
closely with partners to ensure that running appeals to a wide
range of consumers. Athletics Networks and coaching are critical in
rebuilding track and field athletics; there is emerging evidence
that this work is having an impact at the sport’s grassroots.
Badminton
While BADMINTON England remains some distance short of its
participation growth target, there is evidence that its grassroots
programmes are starting to have an impact, as the governing body’s
relationships with leisure operators and other key partners
develop. The continued expansion of No Strings Badminton, together
with the increased adult focus of the Community Badminton Networks
and the launch of PlayBadminton will be key to getting
participation numbers on track. Customer satisfaction with the
sport has increased in the past year and BADMINTON England has
exceeded its goals for club links and volunteering for young
people.
Baseball/softball
Baseball Softball UK has made considerable progress this year
and there are strong indications that participation is growing in
the two sports. Engagement is becoming stronger across the sporting
landscape, with some good examples of fruitful partnerships such as
those with Wickes and with the emergency services in the Midlands.
Staff in the governing body are clear on what they need to do to
achieve their goals and are working hard to develop the products
and programmes to get more people participating.
Basketball
Following the de-commitment of funding in March 2011, England
Basketball is now required to provide - and then deliver upon - a
clearly-articulated new plan, with realistic timelines, to achieve
growth in weekly participation in the sport. England Basketball has
struggled to address the decline in weekly participation among
young people aged between 16 and 19 and this group needs to remain
a priority for future delivery. Overall, we believe that these aims
can be achieved, given the untapped demand for the sport, provided
England Basketball rises to the challenge of looking outside its
traditional structures with the support of a range of partners.
Boccia
CP Sport is working towards transferring its Whole Sport Plan
award to the newly formed, Boccia England. Close monitoring of
progress is required over the next six months. This sport has a
relatively small number of players and the activities of the
governing body are principally focused on increasing participation
among younger people. It has achieved its targets for 2011 for
participation and volunteering by children and young people. Work
is ongoing to better define and measure the sport’s talent
development pathway.
Bowls
The Bowls Development Alliance is a new organisation which has
an excellent opportunity to develop a sport with a large and
increasing target market. However, progress to date has been
limited and it is evident that achieving the sport’s participation
target will be a challenge. We are encouraged by the governing
body’s revised development plan, which focuses on geographical
areas where there are larger numbers of potential players. Key to
success over the coming two years will be a continued focus on
increasing participation by the governing body, with support from
its Board, as well as the organisation’s ability to scale up
current activities.
Boxing
Organisational change has hindered the Amateur Boxing
Association of England’s ability to deliver over the past six
months. However, under the guidance of the new CEO, the governing
body is now focused on continuing to grow adult participation and
supporting talent development. This should ensure a consistent and
coherent approach for the remainder of the funding period, but
ongoing close scrutiny will be required. The sport has
well-developed plans to establish a foothold in the fitness market.
There are also examples of success at a local level such as the
mobile boxing arena project in Bolton.
Canoeing
The British Canoe Union is delivering well against its
commissioned participation and talent development outcomes. We are
encouraged by the governing body’s work to convert occasional
participants into regular paddlers through the activities of clubs
and watersport centres. The British Canoe Union is also taking an
increasingly proactive approach to working with other providers
within the informal canoeing market, through Go Canoeing, and
further developments in this area are expected in the next six
months. A clear vision and strong, steady leadership means this
sport has the potential for further growth.
Cricket
The ECB has a significant challenge remaining in order to
achieve its 2013 participation target, given the gradual decline in
the number of adults playing regularly that has been seen in the
past two years. The ECB has taken some important steps in
reappraising its approach to growing the game, and shows signs of
broadening its support to the wider network of clubs and players
beyond its Focus Club network. Success will require real focus and
energy, and the ECB must now demonstrate that the wider adult
grassroots game is an organisational priority to support.
Participants’ satisfaction with their experience of cricket
continues to increase and the sport also receives Sport England
investment both for talent development among disabled people and
the women and girls’ game. This investment continues to deliver
strong results for cricket.
Cycling
British Cycling provides some of the best examples of a national
governing body working hard to understand and satisfy its
customers. The success of Skyride and the local led rides have
brought new people into the sport, though the challenge now is to
help more of them to remain as frequent cyclists. The sport has
achieved its year-two participation targets as well as increasing
the number of young people volunteering in the sport. The return on
our Excel investment has also been strong, with a high quantity and
quality of riders moving from the Go Ride programme and England
talent pathway onto the Olympic Talent Team.
Equestrian
The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) operates in a complex
environment with significant variety in the capacity of the
federation’s member bodies. After a good first year, participation
has dropped away, and the BEF has responded well by adapting the
nature of its investment through its member bodies as well as
starting to create local networks of equestrian-related venues,
clubs and organisations. The next six months will be important in
embedding and expanding these networks. Notable successes for the
sport include the creation of a federation-wide young leader’s
scheme, as well as the regional foundation squads to develop
talented riders.
Fencing
Adult participation in Fencing has dropped significantly during
the funding period. British Fencing has been through a lengthy -
and at times challenging - period of organisational change.
However, significant progress has been seen in the past six months.
The key for British Fencing is now to concentrate on the grow
agenda and to build on the progress made with existing programmes,
together with a shift in focus toward efforts to stimulate demand.
Progress with the sport’s talent development programme has been
acceptable and is expected to increase in pace over the next two
years.
Football
The FA is not currently on track to achieve its four-year target
for growing participation in the sport. However, through our
investment in the National Game Strategy we are encouraged by the
FA’s recognition that small-sided, flexible formats and
recreational football will be key in increasing the number of
people playing regularly. Get into Football officers have been
successful in generating more football teams while the roll out of
Just Play over the next six months will be critical both in terms
of scale and the way the FA evolves the initiative in response to
customer feedback. The FA has clear disability and women’s talent
pathways in place.
Goalball
There have been significant governance issues over the past six
months which have caused wide-scale disruption to the sport and
threatened the future existence of Goalball UK. Sport England and
UK Sport are working closely together to help Goalball UK to
resolve the issues and encouraging progress is now being made.
Golf
The England Golf Partnership has responded to the drop in the
number of people playing golf regularly by revising its approach to
try and ensure delivery is targeted in areas of the country – and
among groups of people – where it has the greatest potential to
impact on participation. Having agreed to a reduction in investment
alongside a renegotiated participation goal, the governing body is
working in a focused way with its national and local partners to
halt the decline in participation. Success in its work with
children and young people demonstrates the organisation’s ability
to deliver. Golf has a clear and coherent England talent pathway in
place, which is being translated into success by the next
generation of professional golfers.
Gymnastics
For some time, British Gymnastics has recognised the need for a
changed approach to growing the sport. Gymnastics participation
peaks at the age of 10 and the Active People Survey shows a decline
in the number of adults doing the sport. British Gymnastics has
developed programmes that are retaining existing participants for
longer as well as appealing to older participants. In the revised
strategic priorities of British Gymnastics, there is clear
recognition of the need to accelerate delivery of these targeted
programmes in the next two years to achieve the desired
outcomes.
Handball
As a developing governing body, England Handball has continued
to make strong progress over the past six months. The recruitment
of more full-time staff at a national level has improved its
relationship with national partners and stakeholders. The receipt
of additional funding via the Change4Life Sports Club programme has
boosted England Handball’s capacity to deliver sport on the ground.
It has increased the size of its coaching workforce and improved
the way those coaches are deployed. It remains important for
England Handball to prioritise its work to make most effective use
of its resources.
Hockey
The England Hockey Board has prioritised grassroots
participation over the past 12 months, realigning financial and
human resources to implement its growth strategy. The governing
body has recognised the need to modernise the game and provide
opportunities for participation outside the formal club structure.
Rush Hockey will provide more informal participation opportunities.
This, alongside the Back to Hockey programme and the sport’s 2012
programme, will be the catalysts for growth. The NGB is now at a
crucial stage of implementation and, in order to demonstrate
effectiveness, will be sharing progress with Sport England on a
monthly basis.
Judo
The British Judo Association has made good progress in the first
two years of delivery, but will need to accelerate over the final
two years to achieve the commissioned increase in participation.
The governing body shows an improving understanding of what is
working, and now needs to prioritise its most successful
programmes. The club marketing programme has helped clubs to
promote themselves in a professional and cost-effective way. The
return on our Excel investment has been strong, with a strong
talent development programme in place that is linked closely with
the governing body’s performance team. We will continue to closely
monitor the implementation of governance improvements.
Lacrosse
The English Lacrosse Association is a good example of a
relatively small governing body with clear, targeted plans to
expand its sport from a limited participation base. Examples of
strong performance include current work to engage the informal
sports market and its response to opportunities within the higher
education market which has seen a large increase in the number of
students playing competitively and socially. The governing body has
also had success in its work to improve links between schools and
clubs and to engage young people in volunteering.
Pentathlon
Pentathlon GB has come through a significant period of change
with a new chief executive now in place. Whilst behind target,
membership numbers have shown good growth. However, much of Sport
England’s investment supports the sport’s talent development
programme in England, and the roll out of the programme has been
slow. While plans to address this are now in place, close
monitoring of progress is required over the next six months. With
proven World Class success, the expertise exists to reach further
down the talent pathway and accelerate the development of athletes
in the England Talent Pool.
Mountaineering
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is currently on track
to deliver its funded outcomes for 2009-13. It is already ahead of
its four-year growth target for participation and satisfaction
among climbers remains high. Developments in the delivery of its
talent programmes give us confidence in the evolution of a clear
pathway for talented climbers. Continued focus on working with
operators of indoor climbing walls is a key part of the BMC’s
strategy for the next 12 months. This will support the transition
of climbers to outdoor activity and clubs as well as introducing
new participants to the sport.
Movement and dance
The Exercise Movement and Dance Partnership is delivering well,
given the limited resources and capacity within the organisation.
There is a clear plan to get more people taking part in movement
and dance, and the organisation’s business approach to delivery is
ensuring our investment is stretched as far as possible. Among the
priorities for the coming year will be work to simplify the
relationships between movement and dance bodies and to better
define the role that exercise, movement and dance has in the
sporting landscape.
Netball
England Netball is an excellent example of a governing body
taking a participant-centred approach to its work. The organisation
continues to perform well across all of its funded activities. It
has developed a really significant understanding of what current
and potential players want from the game and, in Back to Netball,
it has a product and a delivery model that is tried and tested. All
of this gives us confidence that participation will continue to
grow during this investment period and beyond. England Netball also
receives Sport England investment both for talent development and
elite activities and has strong programmes in place in these
areas.
Orienteering
The British Orienteering Federation has made significant
progress in the second year of the investment cycle in developing
its team and delivering its programmes. This is reflected in a more
positive trend in adult participation, following the decline in
year one. The Community O programme remains the main vehicle for
driving weekly participation in the sport, and the growth in the
number of community clubs delivering this activity is welcome, with
over 70% of open clubs now signed up. The number of families taking
part through Community O is encouraging.
Rounders
Rounders England has now firmly established itself as a
professional governing body of its sport. After a year of putting
the foundations in place, the impact of programmes on the ground
has started to have an effect on participation in the sport with
recent positive growth and satisfaction trends. The challenge for
the sport is sustaining regular adult participation, as there is
currently relatively little infrastructure to build on activity
within schools, where rounders has a vibrant tradition. We will
offer close scrutiny and support over the next six months, which
will be an important period in supporting the spread of the game in
a variety of environments including universities, corporate
settings and informal return to rounders sessions.
Rowing
Further work is required in order to ensure that British Rowing
has a coherent strategy to increase the number of people who row
regularly. A demand-led approach is needed to ensure that
activities and investment have the maximum effect on participation.
Explore Rowing, the governing body’s major legacy programme, must
be prioritised and positioned to respond to the demand likely to be
generated for the sport though a successful home Olympic and
Paralympic Games. We are pleased to see that the British Rowing
Council has put a process in place to recruit a Chief Executive
Officer position in autumn 2011.
Rugby league
The Rugby Football League has recognised the need to change the
approach to grassroots delivery if genuine growth in regular,
sustained participation is to be achieved. Having agreed to a
reduction in investment alongside a renegotiated participation
goal, the governing body now has a clear strategy in place to
increase the numbers and frequency of people playing rugby league.
This includes creating a competition framework for the community
game based on the summer as well as an increased focus upon touch
rugby.
Rugby union
The Rugby Football Union, which agreed to a funding reduction
alongside a renegotiated participation goal, has now prioritised
its work to reverse the decline in participation. The governing
body’s plans to address its challenges of 2009 and 2010 will see a
greater focus on all four forms of the game – 15-a-side, 7-a-side,
Tag and Touch. There will also be more focus on improving the
quality of experience for all participants in rugby. Maintaining
this new approach will be critical to success as will tackling the
drop out of players and attracting new participants to the
sport.
Sailing
The Royal Yachting Association has grasped the challenge of how
to drive up adult participation, building on its strong past record
around participation and talent development for children and young
people. The governing body is using all available intelligence to
understand how to increase and sustain participation in sailing and
windsurfing – and then to match its delivery to the opportunities
for growth. It also has significant plans to capitalise upon London
2012. While participation numbers remain well below the targets
agreed with Sport England, recent results have shown positive signs
and we will keep the sport under close review.
Shooting
Progress with the Shooting Whole Sport Plan has been slow. The
member bodies of the Great Britain Target Shooting Federation have
now agreed to merge with British Shooting, and this change is
expected to take place by the end of September 2011. This should
help to create greater alignment between the Olympic programmes and
the talent pathway work identified within the Whole Sport Plan.
Snowsport
Snowsport England has made good progress in the first two years
of investment, given the limited sports development resources and
capacity within the organisation. It has taken the sensible step of
focusing its activities at 10 priority locations, recognising that
this approach has the greatest potential to contribute to increased
participation. As a result, Snowsport England can be confident of
having an impact on participation within England.
Squash and racketball
Over the past six months, England Squash and Racketball has
developed a much clearer understanding of the squash market and a
more coherent approach to growing the sport. It plans to focus
significant efforts on the public facility market both to increase
participation and protect the current squash facility stock from
closure. This strategy, if implemented effectively and with
urgency, will present the greatest opportunity to increase
participation. The sport receives Sport England investment both for
talent development and elite activities and continues to deliver
strong results, including a World Champion and the best ever
performance at the Commonwealth Games.
Swimming
The ASA has failed to generate growth in swimming participation
and needs to continue to improve its activities in order to achieve
its four-year target. The potential remains for this decline to be
addressed given the size of the potential swimming market. But to
do so, the ASA needs to focus on converting infrequent swimmers
into regular weekly participants through targeted action plans
delivered at pools across the country. Improved working with owners
and operators of pools will be critical to the ASA’s future
success. Accelerating the implementation of its plans is a key
requirement if the ASA is to reverse the declining participation
trend and maintain its current level of investment. The ASA
continues to meet its annual targets for its talent development
programme across all aquatic disciplines and within Paralympic
classification groups.
Table tennis
The English Table Tennis Association is on track to achieve its
participation targets with the number of people playing table
tennis rising sharply, bolstered by some innovative approaches to
engaging new participants such as Ping! We believe there is an
opportunity to accelerate this growth, if the governing body
prioritises and expands its most successful activities.
Taekwondo
Sport Taekwondo UK has only recently received investment to
develop the sport’s talent pathway in England, but has already
taken significant steps towards achieving its goals. Work to
develop the emerging junior, cadet and talent pathway, to plan and
implement the Sport Black Belt Syllabus, athlete profiling and to
discover and nurture young talented coaches will be the key focus
for the next 12 months.
Tennis
The next six months are critical if the LTA is to reverse the
downward trend in weekly tennis participation and maintain current
levels of investment. The launch of allplay (www.allplaytennis.com)
is a welcome development, focussed upon helping people to find a
playing partner, a local court or coach. The LTA recognises that it
was behind on the delivery of its Parks programme, but has taken
steps to remedy this. The challenge for the LTA is to continually
adapt and scale up this programme in order to achieve a step change
in tennis participation. Good progress has been seen through the
LTA/Tennis Foundation Education Programme and talent development at
the lower end of the England talent pathway is particularly strong.
Triathlon
The British Triathlon Federation continues to perform well and
is currently on track to deliver against all of its performance
measures. In many regards it stands apart from the traditional
sporting landscape as growth is mainly driven by the commercial
sector. The strength of the governing body lies in its ability to
influence this sector, an ability that is being bolstered through
its event accreditation programme. The focus on improving the
quality of all aspects of triathlon is a welcome approach and will
be a significant factor in sustaining participation and increasing
satisfaction.
Volleyball
Volleyball England has made steady progress in the development
and delivery of its growth strategy, and the rate of change
reflects the size of organisation and resources available. However,
significant work is still required to ensure that the sport’s
development plans are successfully implemented and participation
goals are achieved. Following an initial decline, adult
participation has remained broadly static over the past 18 months.
The roll-out of Go Spike this summer is encouraging and should
increase the visibility of volleyball. It is pleasing that
satisfaction in the sport is increasing and the integration of
sitting volleyball is also a positive step.
Water skiing
Despite the limited organisational capacity of British Water Ski
and Wakeboard, the organisation continues to deliver on our
investment and to have a strong influence over the whole sport.
Over the past six months, the governing body has further developed
and defined the talent development pathway for the sport in
England. There has also been good progress in making improvements
to the coaching structure.
Weight lifting
British Weight Lifting has completed a period of reorganisation
over the past 18 months including a significant amount of work to
improve the organisation’s governance. The focus for the next six
months is the production of a targeted development plan that
outlines how the governing body will deliver activities to grow
participation. The approach will be to narrow its range of
activities, but continue those that remain to a higher standard and
with greater clarity. This will help to ensure that the extremely
limited full-time staffing resource within the organisation does
not prevent effective delivery.
Wheelchair Basketball
British Wheelchair Basketball has made significant progress in
the first two years of funding and is on track to achieve its
commissioned outcomes. It has made noteworthy governance
improvements, but in the absence of a regional staffing
infrastructure will need continued support from partners such as
county sports partnerships and school sport partnerships to ensure
success. Playground to Podium and Change4Life Clubs have been
particularly beneficial to the sport’s development.
Wheelchair rugby
This investment cycle is the first time the sport has received
support for the development side of the game and Great Britain
Wheelchair Rugby has made significant progress. It is now a
functional and efficient governing body. Its success in brokering
partnerships to aid its sustainability and support delivery are
crucial, given the limited level of Sport England investment.
Wrestling
British Wrestling has made significant progress on governance in
the past two years and has established significantly stronger
operational systems. Good progress has been made aligning coaching
qualifications to the UK Coaching Certificate. Improvements in
clarity and provision within the England Talent Pathway are planned
for September 2011 onwards. The governing body has extremely
limited resources outside of the Whole Sport Plan award for
development work and therefore the impact of activity on clubs and
participation is restricted.