Sport Unlimited

Sport Unlimited is an innovative youth sports programme which cascades funding to local communities via the county sports partnerships network.

It’s targeted at youngsters who may have some interest in sport, but aren’t particularly engaged with community or club sport.

The first step in the programme is to establish what sports young people actually want to do.

Popular alternative sports include trampolining, climbing, free running (also known as parkour), BMX, street dance, skiing and horse riding. These sit alongside more traditional sports such as football, badminton and tennis, often repackaged or adapted to be more relevant to a younger audience.

Local providers organise 10-week, high-quality Sport Unlimited taster sessions designed to inspire youngsters to sign up for longer-term participation. We aim to get 900,000 young people along to these taster sessions, and want at least a third (300,000) to commit to their chosen sport once the 10 weeks are up by March 2011.

The spirit of Sport Unlimited is captured by 14-year-old Chelsea. She was worried about looking silly in front of girls who were in sports teams at her school. After the taster sailing sessions she said:

“It’s really fun… you make a lot of friends and get more confident. It really doesn’t matter if you’re a complete beginner, you learn along the way. It’s given me confidence not only in sport but socially and in school.”

Find out about the results of the second year of Sport Unlimited