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Step into Sport

Step into Sport is an integral programme of the Leadership and Volunteering workstrand of this PE and Sport Strategy for Young People. It targets 11 – 19 year olds by providing a simple framework of co-ordinated opportunities at a local level, to enable young people to begin and sustain an involvement in leadership and volunteering in sport.

The ultimate aim is to increase the quantity, quality and diversity of young people engaged in volunteering and leadership, with consequent benefits to schools, clubs, the community and the young people themselves. In essence the Step into Sport programme is the tool which enables us to grow young people as leaders and deploy them as active volunteers both within the school and community settings.

The objectives of SiS are to develop leadership through sport, and leadership in sport with the overall aims of the programme being to drive;

Personal change in young people by supporting the development of inter-personal skills, self-confidence and a sense of responsibility and
Structural change’ through our work with key agencies to offer broader opportunities for young people to make a formal and valued contribution to the delivery of sport.

The outcomes of Step into Sport are:

A clearly defined pathway of leadership and volunteering in both school and community settings for KS3 – KS5 (aged 11-19).
The National Governing Bodies’ sports specific qualifications and Sports Leaders UK generic leadership qualifications to be aligned to developments in the 14-19 curriculum, including the emerging ‘Sports Diploma’.
Effective support for young people, at a local level is in place to enable them to become effective school-based and community-based volunteers
There are a broad range of roles for young people to engage in as leaders and volunteers, with specific pathways where required. There will be six main roles: Coaching, Officiating, Event Volunteering, Team Manager, Sports Administration, IT and Media Roles. These roles are outlined in the ‘Creating High Quality Placements for Young Volunteers’ resource.

Both the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, with the support of Sports Leaders UK, manage the programme on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Children Schools and Families. Sport England provides communication, training and development support to the County Sports Partnership and National Governing Body network. Sport England provides funding and support to 49 County Sports Partnerships to develop and broker high quality opportunities in the community for the young volunteers. 23 national governing bodies of sport are also supported to implement volunteer support strategies and establish a network of volunteer co-ordinators for their respective sports to receive, develop, and deploy young volunteers.

Step Out – Community Volunteering (14-19 yrs)
Since the onset of Step into Sport more than 16,000 young people have participated in Community Volunteering and given over 1,600,000 hours to community sport.

This aspect of Step into Sport is based on the movement of young people from school-based to community-based volunteering through the provision of volunteer placements in high quality community clubs. Young people are supported by their school mentor and County Sports Partnerships to source a community placement in which they can volunteer. Young people take on a variety of roles from coaching and officiating through to web-design and administration.

What counts as a community volunteering hour?

Each Community Volunteer can gain 25% of their award through training that is linked to their volunteering experience.
Volunteering time at one or more community placements, for example sports clubs, community organisations or leisure centres.
School-based volunteering that is contributing to out-of-school-hours learning and is linked to the community, for example, Multi-Skill Clubs, TOP Activity Clubs, developing inter-school competition.
Event-based volunteering, for example acting as a Team Manager or Official at the County Youth Games.

The essential aspect to the Community Volunteering programme is that the young volunteer is actively volunteering in a community placement on a regular and sustained basis, for example for a minimum of once a week. If this placement is in place then the young volunteer can also accrue other volunteering hours such as school-based volunteering and event volunteering.

Community Pathway (11-19yrs)
It is recognised that many young people who are already part of a community sports club or organisation, often start to take on leading and volunteering roles before they are 16 years old. NGBs will develop the Community Pathway to encourage clubs and organisations to support their young leaders and volunteers through giving them access to a range of leadership, helpers and officiating awards. They will also offer them a variety of volunteering opportunities that will help to further develop their skills and experiences and will then signpost them to Step OUT Community Volunteering (SiS) so that they can be further supported by the SSP and CSP and gain recognition for their volunteering.

A number of NGBs have also developed their own sport specific Leadership Academies which aim to provide support and development to their young volunteers.

Step into Sport On-Line Volunteer Passport (SiS VP) (14-19yrs)
The SiS Volunteer Passport is the online portfolio for the Step IN – TOP Link and Step OUT Community Volunteering Programmes involved in Step into Sport.

The system allows every young volunteer to log and manage their volunteering on-line and ultimately will allow all organisations who are involved in the programme the opportunity to monitor and track the young volunteers who they are working with. It will ensure that each young person who registers as a community volunteer will be insured in their placement.

Access to the site is via the Youth Sport Trust website at www.youthsporttrust.org; just click on the SiS VP tab to access the on-line tutorial videos that will help you to get started.

Useful Resources:

new Step into Sport leaflet for 2008-11 has been produced.
Step into Sport Leaflet (pd)

Awards for Young Sports Leaders and Volunteers 2008-09
23 national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) are supported by Sport England, to develop and implement volunteer support strategies, and establish a network of volunteer co-ordinators for their respective sports to receive, develop, and deploy young volunteers. In addition to the generic leadership training courses developed and administered by Sports Leaders UK, several NGBs have developed sport specific courses aimed at training and developing the next generation of sports volunteers.
More info

Creating High Quality Placements for Young Volunteers
This publication was developed (September 2006) to provide guidance to sports clubs and other organisations, on providing community volunteering opportunities for young people. Information is provided on the benefits of being involved, recruiting young volunteers, and different ways of volunteering.

The document provides a variety of detailed case studies from which sports clubs and other organisations can draw upon. The publication may also be helpful to County Sports Partnerships, School Sports Partnerships and Sports Development officers.
High quality placements (PDF)

Useful Websites
www.youthsporttrust.org
www.sportsleaders.org

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