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As we work alongside partners in Uniting the Movement, we have been deeply inspired by the brilliant youth voice initiatives across the sector that are supporting young people to make themselves heard. 

At the Leadership Skills Foundation, our own youth-voice journey is about reinforcing a core belief: that every young person can lead change if given the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence.  

Overcoming obstacles through communication

As part of our role as a Sport England system partner, we’ve been building understanding of the barriers young people face to accessing leadership opportunities and progressing into the sector's workforce. 

Youth voice has been an important part of this process and we’ve been testing a new accredited learning programme to empower young people to lead the conversation. 

The Speak Up Challenge aims to build young people’s skills and confidence through creative, participatory activities in classrooms, sports halls and youth clubs. 

Based on the Lundy model for youth participation, it gives young people a platform to communicate their views to influential professionals and policy-makers – all while also receiving feedback to help them understand the potential impact of their insights. 

As part of our pilot, colleagues at Sport England kindly agreed to listen and to provide video feedback as young people shared their perspectives on the barriers into sports volunteering and worked together to reimagine pathways into employment. 

Their ideas spanned transport difficulties, prohibitive costs, lack of role models, low confidence and negative perceptions of careers in sport. 

We’ve taken all the insights and created a summary for everybody to access and this is available on the Challenge page too. 

Our journey so far  

Inspired by Sport England’s Youth Voice Innovation Storybook, we began by running co-design and consultation sessions in a variety of community and academic settings.

The young people we worked with were both energised by the opportunity to lead change and motivated by the potential to earn accredited recognition for their participation, but they also shared their concerns: 

• Lack of time to commit to ongoing youth-voice activities. 
• Worries about standing out amongst their peers or being visible online. 
• Concerns around lacking the skills and confidence to make a difference. 

These insights helped form our core design principles: prioritise confidence-building, avoid long-term commitments, foster peer collaboration, protect privacy and recognise skill development through accreditation. 

We planned a small, iterative pilot to test and adapt as we learned during the first phase, and we were blown away by the depth of insights shared and the level of creativity displayed.

However, some less confident participants, particularly those from special educational needs and disability (SEND) and neurodivergent backgrounds, felt overly vulnerable and struggled to express their views.

Delivery staff reflected that participants needed more time to build trust and grow into the activities. 

Our second iteration focused more on building this base of skills and team rapport.

By improving scaffolding for mixed abilities, we saw positive signs that the programme was becoming more accessible and inclusive.  

Overall, our internal evaluation showed that 87% of participants believed the pilot helped them build skills to speak up for change, and the same percentage said they are now more confident speaking in front of others. 

These results reinforced our belief that the ability to form a viewpoint and effectively share it is a leadership skill that can be practiced, improved and recognised.  

Encouraging impact 

This project has strengthened our understanding of young people’s lived experiences and is informing how we design and deliver programmes for underrepresented groups. 

Participation has also had a meaningful impact on those involved.

It was a real joy to witness a room of boisterous 15-year-olds fall silent and react with smiles as they watched their views being addressed by colleagues from Sport England.

When we surveyed how they felt about the feedback, the overwhelming majority indicated they “definitely felt heard”.  

They were proud that their insights were taken seriously and this validation has acted as a springboard into other opportunities.

Following the challenge, we’ve seen participants inspired to launch online petitions for their MPs, to create new youth-led school clubs and to seek out other youth advocacy initiatives. 

Looking ahead 

As we move into the next phase of our development, we know we’ve still got some way to go, but we are excited to collaborate with other system partners to build on our learning and to support other related work from across the sector.  

Together we can make sure that every young person – regardless of background or circumstance – is able to lead positive change, so if you’d like to discuss our findings or how we can work together to empower young leaders to speak up, please contact us.  

We’re excited about continuing to grow together.

The week our latest Active Lives survey results come out is always one I look forward to, because it’s a chance to step back, look at the data and really understand what’s happening with volunteering in our sector.

With Volunteers’ Week here, I wanted to share a few reflections on the latest adults release – what it tells us about the state of volunteering right now and what it might mean for those of us working across sport and physical activity.

Volunteering levels are recovering – but not fully

The headline figure is encouraging: 10.9 million adults in England gave their time to support sport and physical activity in the 12 months between November 2024 and 2025. That’s an increase of nearly 400,000 compared to the previous year.

This recovery matters, because volunteers are the backbone of our sector and they create opportunities for people to be active in communities that boost wellbeing.

Volunteering in sport and physical activity also generates an estimated £8.6 billion in social value annually, and much of this worth comes from the wellbeing benefits individuals gain through volunteering.  

But we shouldn’t get carried away, because whilst we’re seeing recovery since the pandemic, we’re still not back to pre-Covid levels.  

Volunteering was already in decline before the pandemic and so even though numbers are improving, many clubs and organisations won’t necessarily feel that recovery on the ground.

What does this mean for the volunteer experience?

Fewer volunteers can mean more pressure on existing volunteers, and we hear consistently from partners and volunteers that workloads remain high.

Sport volunteers are incredibly committed – they step up, take on extra responsibilities and keep things running.

But this resilience can mask an ongoing risk of burnout, which became apparent during and after the pandemic and hasn’t yet gone away. If anything, it’s become part of their day-to-day reality.

That’s why it’s critical to focus not just on bringing new people into volunteering, but on improving the experience for those already involved.

Inequalities remain stubborn

The data also reinforces something we’ve known for a long time: volunteering is not accessible to everyone.

People from lower socio-economic backgrounds, disabled adults and those with long-term health conditions remain underrepresented.

This mirrors patterns we see in participation more broadly and won’t change without deliberate action.

But if we’re serious about improving the diversity of our volunteer base then designing volunteer opportunities around lived experience, making them more flexible, inclusive and relevant is essential.  

A widening gender gap

One of the most striking trends this year is that men are driving the recent increases in volunteering.

Men now make up 62% of weekly volunteers – compared to 37% who are women – and the gap appears to be widening.

This raises an important question: are we genuinely reaching new audiences or are we relying on the same groups to do more?

This isn’t to take away from the positive recovery we’re seeing, but it does highlight that more needs to be done to ensure our volunteers are representative of the population.

What’s not working for women?

The gender imbalance is even more concerning alongside the wider context of women’s experiences in sport.

Women in Sport's research highlights issues such as misogyny and women feeling that their voices aren’t heard in coaching roles, and that practical factors like how voluntary roles are structured and whether they fit around people’s lives play a significant part in how accessible roles are to women.

Life stage matters too, as highlighted by our Life Cycles research, and Active Lives shows that while having children increases the likelihood of volunteering in sport overall, the effect is stronger for men.

This is because men with children are more likely to take on coaching or officiating roles while for women, caring responsibilities can be both an enabler and a barrier, particularly in leadership positions like refereeing and coaching.

So, what works?

To bring more women and other underrepresented groups into volunteering – and to deliver positive experiences  – we need to take a more intentional approach and be open to challenging the status quo.

This is a multi-layered challenge – it requires systemic and cultural change, tackling discrimination head-on and rethinking how roles are designed.

Flexibility, family-friendly approaches and clear pathways into leadership roles all make a difference and I can't recommend enough the wide breath of volunteering resources by Buddle, which provide support at every stage of the journey for sport and physical organisations – from help finding volunteers, to defining roles, ensuring wellbeing or building progression paths.

We must also remember that visibility matters – when people see relatable role models and examples of positive experiences, it helps them shift perceptions of who volunteering is for.

For instance, Black Girls Ruck demonstrate the power of community building and how, when done in an authentic way, it can challenge perceptions, give visibility and empower women currently underrepresented in a sport.

Women-led and targeted programmes, like those highlighted in the This Girl Can volunteering guide, show what’s possible when opportunities are designed with women in mind.

Where to next?

Volunteering is recovering, but we can’t rely on this recovery alone to solve the underlying challenges.

For a more sustainable and inclusive volunteer workforce, we need to focus on experience as much as numbers – supporting existing volunteers, reaching those currently underrepresented and creating environments where everyone can thrive.

And whilst acknowledging the scale of the challenge, we also want to take this moment in Volunteers’ Week to recognise and thank the millions of people who give up their time to help others.

Their contribution makes a huge difference to people and communities across the country, and we want to make that experience better for everyone.

If you’ve ever wondered whether a simple walk can really make a difference to someone’s life, the answer from our Somerset Health Walks community is a huge ‘yes’.

Over the past year, we’ve been gathering feedback from over 3,000 of our individual walkers and over 180 volunteers to better understand the impact that our Health Walks programme is having across Somerset.

But while the statistics are important, it’s the personal stories and comments that really bring everything to life – and honestly, they’ve been some incredibly moving tales to read.

One thing that shines through again and again is how welcoming and inclusive our walks feel.

Another lovely theme that emerged was people reconnecting with their local area.

Walkers told us they’d discovered footpaths, countryside routes and places they never knew existed.

Enjoying our local spaces

Others spoke about the joy of being outdoors in all seasons – being out in fresh air, nature, muddy boots and all – plus the recent study by Current Psychology confirms that walking in natural environments significantly improves mental wellbeing.

As always, we’ve also listened carefully to suggestions and feedback, and over the past year we’ve introduced more walks in different locations, added clearer meeting point information and improved details on our website to make walks easier to access.

Walking is a favourite activity for many people and why wouldn’t it be here in our beautiful county?

It’s important to us that Somerset Health Walks continues to grow and evolve with the needs of our community. That’s what working in Place is all about.

The investment from Sport England is important, but working in this way has only been made possible by our incredible volunteers and walk leaders.

The warmth, professionalism and care they bring every single week is what makes these walks so special.

And, of course, the walkers themselves. They are what make this community what it is and why we carry on working together in this way. See you on the next walk!

Ultimately, action can look different for everyone – for me, it is running. This is an activity that gets me in nature, helps me process emotions and to build my self-esteem.

For you, however, it might be reaching out to a friend, making time for a walk, joining a local activity, or creating spaces where people feel welcome, included and able to talk about how they’re really feeling.

Through our partnership with Sport England, we highlight how participating in physical activity, particularly with others, can be a powerful and practical action that people can take for their mental wellbeing and not just during MHAW, but all year round.

Connecting through physical activity 

Local sports clubs, physical activity providers and community organisations are often trusted spaces, rooted in relationships and shared experiences.

That also makes them uniquely placed to notice when someone is struggling, able to offer connection and help by providing opportunities for people to build routine, confidence and a sense of belonging.

We know that many people face barriers to being active.

These could be related to cost, disability, long-term health conditions, caring responsibilities or even experiences of exclusion and stigma.

But Sport England and its partner organisations are committed to inclusion and supporting people to overcome any challenges they face. 

This could be by offering flexible, free or inexpensive sessions, non-competitive options, welcoming environments and a focus on enjoyment rather than performance.

When movement is framed as something supportive and human, rather than something to be achieved or perfected, more people can take part and benefit.

The evidence is clear that being physically active can support mental health, helping to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, and to improve mood and sleep.

But what we hear from communities again and again is that it’s the combination of movement and connection that really matters.

Showing up together, being greeted by name, or sharing progress or challenges are small gestures that can turn into powerful remedies against loneliness and isolation.

MHAW is also an opportunity for organisations to take action internally.

Coaches, volunteers and session leaders often play an informal but important role in people’s lives, so supporting them with training, resources and confidence to have conversations about mental health can help build safer and more compassionate spaces.

But encouraging rest, balance and wellbeing within organisations is just as important as supporting participants.

Supporting long-term positive change

This year, we’re asking people to think about how action can be sustained beyond a single week.

Taking action for our mental health isn’t about doing everything at once – it’s about making realistic changes that fit into everyday life.

That might mean protecting time to move regularly, checking in on someone who hasn’t been around for a while, or advocating for inclusive opportunities in your local area, because small actions taken consistently, can create meaningful change.

As we celebrate MHAW, we’re inviting sports and physical activity organisations to get involved, share what they’re doing and be proud of the role they play.

By amplifying these stories, we can the help more people see that support for mental health exists in many different places, including those they already trust and enjoy.

For individuals there’s no expectation to push harder or do more, because taking action might simply mean doing something gentle, sociable or familiar, so choose whatever helps you feel a little steadier, calmer or more connected.

Looking ahead, we’re proud of what this partnership with Sport England has achieved so far, and we’re motivated by what’s still possible.

Mental health challenges remain widespread and many people continue to navigate pressure, uncertainty and inequality.

By working across sectors and communities, we can help ensure that action on mental health is practical, inclusive and rooted in everyday life.

Together, we’ll continue to champion movement as one of many actions that can help protect and improve mental health, because when we move together, support one another and take action collectively, we can build healthier and more connected communities for all.

At Get Doncaster Moving (GDM) we have a mission: to support the youngest in our society and their families to be as active as possible, because the benefits of moving are something that will accompany them for the rest of their lives.

It is with that mission in mind that across Doncaster, partners within our network are working together to create the conditions to help children, young people and their families build healthier, more active lives.

Through a place-based approach, the network is enabling innovative programmes, unlocking new partnerships and supporting communities to develop sustainable activity habits.

This is something we’ve undertaken as a long-term mission.

GDM is continuing its work with local Pokémon Go group ‘Raiding Doncaster and beyond’ to grow this welcoming, inter-generational walking and gaming community, and encouraging new players to engage in this family-friendly activity, and to move more – particularly within Doncaster’s parks and green spaces.  

Trying something new

In sport, the ‘Free Park Tennis’ initiative started a couple of years ago in a local park to expand opportunities for children and families.

Resident volunteers have been trained as Free Park Tennis Activators to deliver free, weekly sessions to the community in two Doncaster parks, which led to one park being awarded ‘Park Venue of the Year’ by Yorkshire Tennis.

Our most recent park venue to host Free Park Tennis sessions, Haslam Park, which started in May this year, has already seen 369 attendances, with four local volunteers upskilled to deliver the weekly sessions.

This has been a fantastic opportunity for people to come along and 'have a go' at tennis in a relaxed and social setting, and it has been very popular with both children and families.

Doncaster’s place-based model played a key role in connecting partners and enabling the Active Start initiative, a programme designed for staff working with children aged 2–5.

Active Start is led by Yorkshire Sport Foundation, working in partnership with, and funded by, the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board's Children and Young People’s Alliance. Their latest Impact Report: Giving children an Active Start is full of learnings and data.

This information is key to the training and resources they provide to early years professionals to help embed movement and active play throughout everyday learning.

This approach not only supports physical development but also communication efforts, social skills and school readiness, giving children the strongest start in life.

Doncaster’s Public Health and Early Years teams have trained as tutors, offering one-on-one support, continuing professional development opportunities and resources to nurseries, schools, childminders and all 12 family hubs, which are places for families to go within their communities to access groups and support.

Many settings have already taken part in centralised training and are now better equipped to encourage movement in class and at home.

But this is not all, because work will continue into the 2025/26 academic year as the programme develops further across South Yorkshire.          

Looking ahead, shifting the dial on children’s engagement in activity will require continued place-based collaboration.

Sustained shared learning, creativity and innovation – alongside a connected, empowered GDM network – will help Doncaster’s young people to move more, play more and thrive.

At the heart of everything we do is fostering better integration and reducing isolation for culturally-diverse communities across the city of Exeter and beyond.

From our days during the pandemic delivering much-needed food parcels to South Asian and other culturally-diverse groups in our communities, our volunteer drivers became acutely aware of how many individuals felt socially isolated and inactive.

During these times, we worked with volunteers from several culturally-diverse communities – such as the Devon Bengali Association and the Exeter Hindu Cultural Centre – to arrange socially-distanced walks, giving many residents their only human contact and physical activity for months.

And those walks were just the beginning.

Fast-forward to today and many of our cultural events also include an element of physical activity within them.

With support from Live and Move, the Sport England Place Partnership in Exeter and Cranbrook, we have been able to run other activities, including zumba, women’s only yoga, badminton, volleyball and cricket.

Activities like these are very attractive to those from South Asian communities particularly.

Word-of-mouth spreads during Friday prayers at the Mosque and via our drop-in service, which supports residents with completing forms and accessing mainstream services, among other things.

And this approach is working.

The latest Live and Move local active lives survey data shows that levels of inactivity amongst culturally-diverse communities in Exeter have now almost decreased to pre-Covid levels.

Rates of inactivity

The success of this programme has enabled us to successfully apply for three years of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to run our Better Connections project, enabling us to further support groups and individuals from South Asian and other communities.

With this funding, we are able to do so much more!

Our South Indian communities run an annual sports day, as does our Filipino community, plus the Devon Bengali Association put together a badminton tournament and a cricket tournament.

All these physical activities have become focal to our residents – whether it’s fun games for children or a more competitive sports match, the aim is to ensure that everybody has fun and is a little bit active.

What’s vital and the reason it works is that we listen to our residents from a variety of ethnicities –  we learn what is important to them and what they were missing at the time and we try and plug the gap.

We’ve learned so much by engaging with different communities in this way.

We know that not all South Asian communities are the same. Each has their own cultural identity and it’s important that any organisation understands and appreciates these.

Culture, religion and food are important to many of the people that we work with. We focus events on these elements and slot physical activity in as appropriate.

Word-of-mouth is by far the most effective communication method.

Friday prayers at the mosque or our drop-in services and the women’s-only yoga sessions, all proved to be helpful ways of communication.

Sustainability comes about because of communities taking a certain amount of ownership over an activity. For instance, the yoga group quickly became ‘their’ yoga group, and as a result, participants have ensured its sustainability.

I’m proud that, through our activities, we are improving health and wellbeing, building cross-cultural understanding and strengthening community relationships in Exeter and across Devon.

I hope other places across England feel they can do the same.

It’s only been a few weeks since I completed my first year as CEO of BAFA and I’ve been reflecting on the journey we’ve taken.

It’s been over 12 months of learning, growth and of laying foundations for the future of American football in the UK and this week I’m proud to share Together to Inspire – our new three-year strategy to inspire the next generation of British American football players, coaches, officials and volunteers by bringing the Britball (British American Football) community together alongside its partners and supporters.

Since securing our initial investment by Sport England we’ve made strong strides as a national governing body.

One of our first priorities was to reset the National Flag Football League under BAFA’s direct management, while reconnecting with clubs and players and also fostering a more inclusive, development-focused culture.

The support from the investment has allowed for some immediate short-term participation growth, but we now have a big opportunity in this space to grow the sport as we build towards the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

We’ve also invested in our digital infrastructure – recognising that sound systems and processes are critical for long-term sustainability.

Platforms like JustGo are being enhanced to capture better data, helping us understand who’s playing and how to support them.

And in the meantime, our team continues to balance the efforts of our incredible volunteers with the consistency brought by skilled staff and contractors that then align into our chair and board members.

It hasn’t always been easy, but we think all these efforts are vital to our future.

Leading for now and what’s next

A key lesson this year was balancing ‘the urgent and important’ with the long-term priorities.

There’s always something pressing – a complaint to attend to, another scheduling to fix or a new opportunity for growth to be pursued.

But for me it’s been key to be able to step back away from the day-to-day business and connect with members across the game to ask them about the kind of sport we want to build.

That’s what our new long-term strategy aims to answer.

With Together to Inspire we’re not just solving today’s problems – we’re building tomorrow’s potential.

And we’re doing so in continuing our alignment with Sport England’s long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement, by creating a sport that’s inclusive, connected and sustainable.

Whether it’s supporting clubs, widening access or growing the workforce, we’re proud to be part of that mission and the work we have delivered in year one.

Listening, learning and leading with community

The biggest insights in our strategy have come from conversations.

Hearing from coaches, volunteers, officials and players has shaped our understanding of what’s needed, but this is an ongoing activity.

Through National Flag League resets, youth competitions and GB performance camps, we’re creating more spaces for meaningful dialogue – not just consultation, but connection with our community.

U19 regional 11v11 pilot

In 2024, we piloted a regional 11v11 league for under-19 players – removing barriers while offering meaningful development.

It reached 400 players across 12 camps and six fixtures, and it led to 80 additional GB trial invites.

The result? A boost of 16% in under-19 registrations!

The pilot also developed new coaches, several of whom now contribute to GB performance teams.

This model reflects the Uniting the Movement’s focus on youth engagement and inclusive talent pathways.

Strengthening safeguarding

This year, we implemented MyConcern – a secure case management platform powered by First Advantage.

It streamlines case-tracking and integrates DBS checks via JustGo to streamline the process and make it easy and secure for the user.

We’re also working with CPSU and NSPCC to ensure our policies reflect best practice, by furthering a safe and trusted environment for all.

Looking ahead

There’s a lot to be excited about, including:

• reimagining our participation pyramid around accessibility and values
• building a flag-performance system for LA28 and beyond – backed by uksport
• strengthening clubs, empowering volunteers and investing in coaches and officials.

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games present a huge opportunity for us, not just for visibility, but for exciting partnerships with the likes of the NFL UK and BUCS that’ll aid long-term growth together.

We look at these games as the beginning, rather than the end.

Looking back, I’m proud of how far we’ve come – and even more excited about what’s next.

We’ll keep working with our clubs, volunteers and partners to build a thriving future for contact and flag football in the UK.

Together to Inspire is more than a strategy – it’s a goal to work with our partners to create a sport that is values-driven, to make a difference for our clubs, workforce and athletes.

Volunteering levels have been falling over the long-term and this was accelerated by the pandemic, plus we are yet to see volunteering return to pre-pandemic (November 2018-19) levels, as there are still 1.7m (4.8%) fewer volunteers compared to seven years ago (November 2016-17).

This decline is not unique to the sport and physical activity sector.

The Community Life Survey, which measures volunteering across sectors is also reporting that levels of formal volunteering have been in decline, suggesting that there are wider social and economic factors at play.

Our recent State of the Nation report points to some of the wider changes we’ve seen that provide interesting context for the data.  

There has also been little change in who volunteers.

Women, people with disabilities or a long-term health condition and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in volunteering, plus those with two or more characteristics of inequality are least likely to volunteer.

The data shows that, in many ways, volunteering mirrors the stubborn inequalities that we see in sport and physical activity participation.

As a result, community sports clubs and community groups continue to miss out on the valuable skills and experiences a more diverse volunteer base could bring.

It also means that the volunteers who help deliver sport and physical activity are not always representative of the communities they serve, which can pose challenges in staying relevant to the changing needs of diverse participants and communities.

Changing this is fundamental to creating a more inclusive and welcoming environment for everyone.  

Making a difference

A good starting point, and our focus in Uniting the Movement, is to focus on the volunteer experience; on changing culture and practices to enhance it, and on making it more inclusive and welcoming.

We recently commissioned Leeds Beckett University to complete an evidence and scoping review to understand the existing evidence and insights out there on the volunteer experience in sport and physical activity.

We’ll publish more details from this work as soon as we can, but it felt relevant here to share a snapshot of what the existing evidence tells us works to enhance the experience of volunteers, particularly those from underrepresented groups. These include:

• supporting the development of feelings of connection to the purpose, values, work or people of the organisation
• ensuring roles align with the individuals’ motivations to volunteer and that these roles are suited to their skills and experience
• making sure volunteers feel able to manage role demands with their available personal resources and know where and how to access support
• establishing an organisational culture that is welcoming, caring, safe and inclusive
• creating environments volunteers feel seen, heard, known and valued throughout all stages of their volunteer journey
• ensuring that organisations critically reflect on volunteer management, policies and practices
• developing person-centred approaches that underpin the recruitment, development and retention of volunteers
• providing a volunteer offer that is diversified and that's made easier through flexible, accessible and appealing roles
• designing non-linear pathways to support the development and retention of volunteers and to address any skills gaps.

What about the future?

Imagine it’s 2035 and these principles and approaches have been embedded across sport and physical activity volunteering.

What changes would we see in the data about who volunteers?

Would there be an increase in volunteering with more people encouraged to give their time to support others to get active?

What we want is to see a future where volunteering in sport is uncomplicated, meaningful, well supported and easily integrated into people’s life.

And for this to be possible we need an inclusive, accessible, people-centric culture where volunteering is accessible and relevant to everyone.

We hope that, in the future, the volunteer workforce will reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, and that the experience of participants is richer and more positive within this inclusive environment.

I’m really looking forward to discussing and reflecting on these findings with our partners to understand how we might create these conditions in more of the clubs, groups and organisations to improve the experience of volunteers across the country.

In the meantime, I hope that this provides some inspiration for even small changes to help improve the experience of volunteers right now.