Taxonomy term

England is changing and not just around the edges.

Who we are as a nation, how we live, where we live, how long we live for and what we need to stay well are all shifting. And while these changes are gradual, their impact on sport and physical activity will be profound.

That is the central message running through Sport England’s latest Horizon scanning series on demographics.

Together the three reports offer a clear, evidence-led, picture of how population change is reshaping participation, demand and delivery, and why the sector cannot afford to stand still.

Because if we want sport and physical activity to stay relevant in ten years’ time, we have to design for the realities people are living today.

These reports are a prompt – and a practical steer – for all of us to build offers that reflect modern lives, strengthen belonging and reduce inequality rather than unintentionally reinforce it.

But this is not me presenting a distant future or abstract trends.

These shifts are already happening and they are already influencing who feels welcome, who takes part and who is being left behind.

Identity, belonging and a more complex England

Our first report focuses on identity and belonging.

It highlights how England’s population is becoming more diverse and how identities are becoming more complex and intersectional – changes that make communities harder to define, to understand and to monitor when using traditional approaches.

This first analysis also points to the way life stages are shifting – becoming more individual and less defined by chronological age – and it argues that sport and physical activity approaches should focus less on age, and more on lifestyle and life stage.

The opportunity for the sector is significant as sport and physical activity can foster social cohesion, but only if opportunities and the workforce reflect diverse interests and needs, and if communication and language barriers are tackled to make opportunities accessible.

Ageing, health and widening inequalities

The second report turns to ageing, health and disability.

England’s population is ageing and becoming more diverse in later life, with the report noting that the older population will continue to grow and diversify, reshaping what ageing looks like for future generations.

It also highlights a crucial tension: more people will live longer in good health, but inequalities in health outcomes are deepening, shaped by factors including income and ethnicity.

This creates diverging experiences of later life and a clear imperative for inclusive and accessible opportunities that reflect diverse needs. 

The report is equally direct about the role of sport and physical activity in prevention, supporting physical health, mental wellbeing, independence and social connection, and the responsibility the sector has to act intentionally where inequality is most entrenched.

Generations, place and the geography of opportunity

Lastly, the third report focuses on generations and place, and how geography shapes participation and delivery.

It describes how England remains separated by socioeconomic background and how economic uncertainty risks widening gaps between social groups and reinforcing existing regional inequalities.

It also points to urbanisation pressures alongside the risk of decline or disconnection in some rural and coastal communities and the role that sport and activity can play as community anchors, with local clubs sometimes doubling as social and support hubs.

For young people the report emphasises that their experiences are changing in fundamental ways – shaped by digital environments, evolving education landscapes and pressures on wellbeing – all of which affect how, where and why they engage in sport and physical activity. 

A moment for leadership

What links all three reports is a consistent conclusion: population change is not a side issue for sport and physical activity, but a defining challenge of the next decade.

These demographic shifts cut across policy, funding, workforce, facilities, design and delivery.

They challenge outdated assumptions about who participates, why they participate and what participation even looks like in modern England.

But they also present a powerful opportunity: to listen more closely to lived experience, to work across sectors and to design opportunities that reflect real lives rather than idealised ones so that sport and physical activity can play a central role in building a healthier, more connected and a more equal England.

The question is not whether change is coming. It already has. The question now is whether the sector is bold enough to respond.

Boxing is my religion. Like all spiritual journeys it began with a moment of divine inspiration and my baptism was conducted whilst watching Muhammed Ali defeat George Foreman in “The Rumble In The Jungle”.

I grew up in boxing gyms with the sport giving me purpose, discipline and titles – including representing my country on numerous occasions.

These days it offers me the chance to inspire the next generation of boxers and to help anyone who walks through the gym door, to believe in themselves and choose a positive path in life. 

When people ask me why boxing matters so much to me, my answer is simple: it changes and saves lives.

A safe space for all

Of course, it also improves health and builds confidence, but boxing keeps people – especially young people – away from anti-social behaviour and crime, something that I can personally verify as a former Youth Justice Manager. 

With the number of proven offences committed by children seeing an increase of 4%, change has never been so important and there are many ways boxing helps fight crime.

Firstly, boxing gives young people structure and boundaries.

Many of the children and young people who walk through the doors of a boxing gym – like mine in Oldham, Greater Manchester – come from difficult backgrounds and have challenging lives. 

Having little or no access to opportunities and therefore a lack of agency in the world, may result in challenging behaviours. But not dealing with these pressures means they risk spilling out onto the streets and that’s where crime starts. 

Not because young people are 'bad', but because they have nowhere positive to pour their energy into. But boxing gyms can change that, as these spaces are built on discipline, respect, routine and team spirit.

You don’t just turn up to your gym whenever you feel like it. Instead, you’re expected to train on time, plus you have to listen to your coach, and you learn that effort leads to results and that shortcuts rarely work.

These lessons transfer directly into everyday life and children who understand discipline in a boxing gym are far less likely to make reckless decisions outside it.

Boxing also teaches emotional control, becasue contrary to what some may think, this sport helps a young person understand how to control their emotions, particularly aggression, and how to think and act under pressure.

I’ve seen it first hand – children who once lashed out can calm themselves because boxing gave them an outlet for their emotions and that allows them to thrive.

The many lessons of boxing

Boxing is a good metaphor for life and can help to develop those personal and social skills that people need, contributing to tackling deep seated worklessness and low aspirations.

The sport also fosters the development of positive character, self-esteem, self-discipline, courage, perseverance and resilience.

Instead of throwing punches on the street, they hit the pads, the bags and their coach or opponent inside the ring, but always with respect to the sport’s rules, under supervision and with a reason.

Boxing also teaches respect — for yourself and for others. You shake hands, you follow rules and you learn that real strength comes from self-control, not intimidation. These values reduce crime at its roots.

Another factor that's key is the sense of belonging among those practising the sport. A boxing gym offers identity and loyalty because, at a gym, you’re part of a team.

You train together, look out for each other and you wear the gym name with pride. That sense of identity can pull someone away from a path that leads to anti-social behaviour and crime.

I’ve seen boxing change lives in Oldham and Greater Manchester, where young people that were heading toward trouble now have focus and a reason to stay on the straight and narrow, and I’ve also seen young people who had no confidence, find self-belief.

Not all these children will become a champion boxer and that's okay.

Building better lives through sport

The real victories happen when a young person chooses to stay in school, can find a job or simply chooses not to commit a crime because they don’t want to let their gym or coach down.

At our newly refurbished Greater Manchester Boxing and Development Hub, we’ve been lucky enough to benefit from Sport England funding. 

To my mind, our investors aren’t just putting money into a boxing club and community gym. They’re investing in crime prevention and harm minimisation.

It costs less to fund a gym than it does to deal with the consequences of crime and anti-social behaviour – policing, court cases, prison and reform – as recent estimates place the total economic and social cost of serious youth violence at £11 billion between 2009 and 2020.

For me, boxing is more than titles and trophies, it’s about giving people a chance.

Every time a young person chooses to walk into a gym and away from 'the road', I believe that’s crime prevention in action and that’s why boxing will always matter. 

As one of the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester, Oldham forms part of Sport England’s Place Partnership with Greater Manchester Moving and other local bodies to implement Sport England's Uniting the Movement strategy for getting people active.

I’m proud of what boxing can do to change lives.

In the words of the iconic social activist, pacifist and politician, Nelson Mandela: “Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair.”

Every day, I get to see the truth in these great words in action.
 

As the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games start we would like to extend our very best wishes to the athletes and the support team behind Team GB (and in the coming weeks ParalympicsGB) as the spotlight of Olympic and Paralympic sport shines upon them.

It is worth remembering that during the 2018-22 cycle the winter sports and athletes were particularly impacted by the resultant post-Brexit travel restrictions and also (how soon we forget!) by the Covid pandemic.

UK Sport and the British Olympic Association have an ambitious target this year and I think, and hope, that at this iteration of the ‘winters’ we will see our athletes and sports realise their aspirations as they showcase the rich and diverse sporting offer we have in England and across the UK.

Proudly supporting our talent

At Sport England we are extremely proud of the role that we play in supporting partners and thereby enabling aspiring athletes in winter sports to explore and fulfil their potential, but what does that support look like and why does it matter?

Starting with the second question first, let’s address the elephant in the room – why winter sports?

There is a rather lazy misconception that we don’t have winter sports facilities and that those sports are exclusively the pursuit of people from affluent backgrounds – the truth, like many things in life, is much more nuanced that that.

Starting with the sliding sports (bobsleigh, skeleton or luge to name a few) there is an established track record of athletes coming from the British Army - shout out at this point to our colleagues at British Army Sport which continues to be a key partner of and contributor to the UK High Performance System - or from track and field athletics.

These athletes often transition in to sliding sports (or should it be pushing sports!) through established UK Sport-led talent ID programmes such as Find Your Greatness, and those sports have brilliant pathways to take them all the way to the podium.
 

The skating sports are typically populated with athletes who started their careers at ice rinks and ice centres scattered across the major ‘second cities’ of England.

Funding centres across the country

The National Ice Centre in Nottingham has long since been the base for aspiring short track speed skaters and a great partnership between Sport England, Nottingham City Council and recently British Ice Skating, who received Sport England talent funding into their pathways.

Other English rinks feature prominently in the athletes’ biographies and it was great to see Sheffield hosting the recent Figure Skating European Championships as part of the build up to the Games.

English Snowsport athletes often start their careers at outdoor ‘dry’ (not so much in the rain!) ski slopes, which continue to be popular and affordable community sport facilities, enabling athletes such as the Summerhayes sisters or, for Milan-Cortina, veteran James ‘Woodsy’ Woods (who will compete at his fourth Olympic Winter Games) to progress from Sheffield Ski Village to the X-Games podium.  

Arguably Great Britain's most successful ever Alpine skier, Dave Ryding will contest his fifth Olympic Winter Games, having purportedly earned his stripes at a dry ski-facility up at Pendle Ski Club, a member-owned club located in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire.

Sport England investment supports the talent pathways in a range of winter sports to ensure that performance pathways in these sports are accessible and inclusive, well-led and managed, and that they offer the support needed to allow our aspiring young people to progress to the very highest level.

Through our funded partners, most prominently SportsAid, we also fund programmes such as Backing The Best and the TASS programme that collectively provide direct financial and athlete support services, such as strength and conditioning, physiotherapy and sports medicine services to enable our players to be fit, healthy and optimally prepared for graduation into high performance programmes and success at major events and games.

As an example, of the Team GB class of 2026 in Milan-Cortina, at least 10 athletes (including Dave ‘The Rocket’ Ryding) have received Sport England support through TASS - five of which are current TASS-supported athletes enabling them to be in the very best of health as they embark on one of the biggest events of their careers.

Finally, as we look ahead to the winter Paralympics, we could not be prouder of the English athletes who will represent PGB as the spotlight shines on them from 6 March, I am particularly looking forward to seeing trailblazing English wheelchair curlers: Yorkshire’s Jo Butterfield, Newcastle’s Jason Kean, Wigan’s Karen Aspey and Northumbria’s Stewart Pimblett.

Collectively, they will make history as the first English curlers ever to take to the ice at the ‘winters’.

Their inspirational journey (look them up, their stories are remarkable) was enabled through an innovative partnership with British Curling, which saw Sport England invest in performance pathways in the sport for the very first time.

Best of luck to all our athletes. No need to ask you to make us proud. We already are.
 

Suicide prevention and increased employability among young men might not be the traditional aims of physical activity programmes, but at Rise – the leading North East health and wellbeing charity – we're showing how lives and communities can be transformed using the power of movement.

Rise is the active partnership for Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, and we’re using physical activity as part of a pioneering approach to reduce inequalities and to boost physical and mental health.

As part of this work, we’ve undertaken a significant project in Berwick called Rise’s Healthy Minds for Healthy Lives, working directly with more than 100 men aged 16-30.

Understanding the issues faced by our young men

Like many communities in the North East, young people in Berwick face complex socio-economic problems including unemployment, poor health, relationship difficulties and issues surrounding debt, poverty and substance misuse.

These struggles have had a consequential effect on the mental health of young men in town.

Using data from referrals and initial interviews of the young men we worked with in Berwick, we found that:

• 43% constantly considered suicide
• 76% had diagnosed mental health disorders
• 81% had substance abuse issues
• 67% were unemployed
• 43% faced significant debt.

Our work within the community in Berwick addresses the physical and psychological aspects of wellbeing but it goes beyond that, giving people practical skills as well.

This broad and comprehensive approach helps build stronger and resilient mental health, enhancing young people’s overall quality of life, and by working directly with people who need our help the most, we aim to improve their immediate health and wellbeing.

We also build on their ambitions, motivations and employability prospects, which helps them grow their confidence, improve their mental health and to strengthen their wellbeing through physical activity.

Deacon's story

One positive example from our work within the Berwick community is Deacon’s story.

A local resident of 29 years of age, Deacon had struggled with social issues including anxiety and depression from a young age.
 

Following a difficult living environment, Deacon moved away from his support network to Berwick with his father and that's when isolation set in.

Deacon said: “I needed to be more active and find solutions. I’d never filled in housing applications; I’d never filled in job applications. That help was there when I needed it and I’ve improved in every aspect of my life. I refer to Jaki as the woman who saved my life. She’s absolutely amazing, I cannot thank her enough.”

When Deacon came to see us, I could have scraped him off the floor – he had no sense of self-worth – and I think that had been destroyed by the environment that he had been in.

But then I was able to get him enrolled onto an outdoor equine and nature activity course followed by an employment and wellbeing course.

Fortunately the course providers paid for the transport, which took away that barrier of him getting in from where he lived and he even helped him secure a job out of it!

After gaining employment, Deacon was able to acquire a bike and that enabled him to cycle to and from work, which helped him improve his physical health.

A month after that, he was also offered a local authority flat. The smile on his face was immense. I’m proud of how Deacon has turned it around.

The power of physical activity

Our internal data reflects that since May 2021, Rise has supported 118 young men to improve their lives. Recent evaluations found that: 

• 96% showed a reduced risk of anti-social behaviour
• 76% had successfully applied for a job, training or further learning
• 87% now take part in physical activity
• 75% felt confident with themselves and felt they were making positive choices.

Rise’s Healthy Minds for Healthy Lives project was initially supported by the Northumbria Violence Reduction Unit and London North Eastern Railway and has subsequently been funded by the National Lottery to enable the work to continue.

Through working within communities, we've helped transform the lives of young men, demonstrating how physical activity has the power to enact positive change. 

The concentrated focus of Black History Month provides an opportunity to gain new perspectives through events, articles and media programming that might otherwise be overlooked.

At its best, this month should stir our curiosity and resolve as we look back at the achievements and struggles of Black people, helping us gain a fuller understanding of Black histories to strengthen our grasp of the present.

This celebration (and the round-the-clock efforts by many through the year) should move us to action, reminding us that we don't have to accept the erasure of some people and communities as normal.

‘Making the joy of swimming accessible to all’ is the slogan of Swimunity, a Community Interest Company based in West London that I have the privilege of co-directing since 2017.

Swimunity was founded in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, with the aim of providing a space for healing and resilience-building among local residents through their relationship with water, in the form of free swimming lessons, beach days and residential trips.

Several years on, we’ve had hundreds of local young people and women learning how to swim with us, with some of them even becoming swimming teachers themselves!

Many have also joined us for expeditions to the seaside and for residential trips around the UK (Cornwall, Dorset and Wales) to leave the busy streets of London behind in favour of new environments and experiences. 

For more than 10 years, I’ve had the privilege of being part of a partnership between Sport England and the National Trust that’s been quietly but powerfully changing lives.

This is more than just getting people outdoors – it’s about creating real, lasting opportunities for everyone, especially those who need it most, to connect with nature and feel the benefits of being active in green and blue spaces.

Being outdoors and connected to nature has demonstrable health and wellbeing benefits.

Studies have shown impact such as lowering stress levels and reducing cortisol and inflammation, which are increasingly seen as factors in depression, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Our work at the National Trust is shifting towards a more ‘place-based’ approach, but what exactly do we mean by that?

Rather than parachuting in with one-size-fits-all solutions, we’re considering what’s already happening in local communities, at National Trust properties and on their land, and finding ways to make those spaces more accessible, more welcoming and more connected to the people who live nearby.
 

Whilst we consider how to be more locally responsive, we continue to work at a national scale on initiatives such as improving navigational and orientation signage to ensure paths are easy to find and follow, and refining path-grading methodologies to better reflect the diversity of users.

This work focuses on describing the path itself rather than the person using it and it goes in line with the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) principles and the Equality Act.

What I love about our work is that it’s about making meaningful connections between the land and the community.

It’s not just about trails or facilities – it’s about creating safe, natural, traffic-free environments where people can walk, cycle, run, paddle or simply be.

I’ve seen firsthand how many barriers can stand in the way of people accessing the outdoors.

Things like fear of getting lost, finding themselves in unfamiliar terrain, safety concerns, challenges around travelling to our places or just not knowing where to start.

We’ve worked hard to design experiences that support people who are new to the outdoors and it’s making a real difference.

For that we’ve been able to capitalise on the strength of the National Trust brand.

Our properties are trusted spaces, with essential facilities like cafés and toilets, which makes them perfect for families, groups or individuals who might be taking their first steps into nature.

The multi-use trails that have been developed are a great example. They’re accessible, enjoyable and range from three to 5km, which makes them ideal for walking, wheeling, running or cycling.

And the impact has been incredible!

We’ve seen a 23% rise in visits from people of ethnic backgrounds, which indicates we’re reaching new audiences and helping more people feel like they belong in these spaces.

This is fantastic news since we strive to improve the experience for communities that often find barriers to exploring the great outdoors.

I’ve also been inspired by the way this work helps those who may need deeper support.

Whether it’s supported paddling sessions, inclusive activities for families with SEN, or community-led cycling groups like the Muslim Cycle Sisters at Osterley, there’s a real commitment to inclusion.

And it’s not just about participation but about representation, too.

The Trust is working with partners to tackle underrepresentation in the outdoor workforce, for example through our walking leaders programme, which is such an important step toward long-term change.

Nature restoration and biodiversity play a big part in our work.

Our infrastructure developments are designed to improve visitor experience and get people active whilst protecting some of the most sensitive nature areas.

We are strengthening our knowledge and skills in designing experiences that deliver real, meaningful and lasting nature connection to inspire more people to care for nature and their local environment.

Looking ahead

As I reflect on the past decade, I feel proud of what we’ve achieved and even more hopeful about what’s to come.

Our partnership with Sport England shows that when we focus on people, place and purpose, we can create spaces that are not only beautiful, but truly inclusive and life-enhancing.

And that’s something worth building on.

At EMD UK, we believe group exercise should be for everyone, but for many women – especially Muslim women – challenges to accessing group exercise still exist.

That’s why in 2024 we partnered with Active Together to launch support for women from ethnically diverse communities to become Level 2 Group Exercise Instructors.

The aim was to create a workforce that mirrored the communities it served by driving greater diversity and inclusion within the group exercise sector.

Giving back to their communities

We worked with Active Women, of Leicester City in the Community, to recruit women, to provide local support to build a community amongst the learners and to keep them motivated and engaged.

The goal was to provide a learning and training opportunity for the women that was safe, culturally aware and empowering.

In total, 12 women were enrolled.

They were aged between 25 and 54 and came from global majority communities, including Muslim, Hindu and those of no faith.

The programme offered a fully-funded Level 2 Group Exercise Instructor qualification through Drummond Education.

These women’s beliefs may have been different from each other, but they all brought with them a deep desire to give back to their communities.

Most had wanted to train for years but faced barriers like the costs involved, childcare needs or the lack of local opportunities.

But now they were able to join because the programme was tailored to them and because support was finally available.
 

Confidence levels were moderate to high, but concerns remained as some feared failure and others worried about language, memory or balancing family-related responsibilities. And yet, despite everything, motivation was strong.

Many saw this as a way to serve their communities and especially other Muslim women, which aligned with the principle of Sadaqah: giving back without expecting anything in return.

One participant said she was excited to see how quickly she could pick up the lessons, while another mentioned the timing for her was perfect as she had just finished her master’s degree.

We also spent time asking what support they’d need after qualifying as it’s often at this stage that dropouts are most prevalent.

They asked for help with marketing, setting up classes and accessing venues and equipment.

They also wanted guidance on business development and networking, and this is where the EMD UK membership came into its own.

Along with the newly launched Reach Up programme, in collaboration with This Girl Can, our members also have access to over 400 support resources, CPD training and content to support their group exercise teaching.

Supporting our students beyond the classroom

We also asked what they wanted from us and the training provider as part of their involvement in the programme, and they requested prayer space, female-only sessions and options without music.

They also wanted their dress codes to be respected, local sessions and female tutors.

They reminded us that English wasn’t their first language and asked us to understand their personal circumstances, which were full of family commitments and cultural nuance.

We listened and we’re now committed to continuing that listening as time goes by.

At this point, having commenced in autumn 2024 with four in-person sessions (that was the delivery style they said they needed), nine learners have completed their practical assessment with the remaining finishing the course in 2025.

The successes of this project continue to emerge.

One standout achievement was the attendance of a learner as a presenter on the EMD UK stage at the International Fitness Showcase in Blackpool back in March.

This was her first experience of instructing group exercise and her presentation of Latin-inspired dance fitness for over 100 participants was an impressive debut to kick off her career.

All students now have access to the EMD UK membership and we are committed to supporting them long-term.

Feedback from the cohort on the support given, including its effectiveness and inclusivity, plus on the course as a whole, has been overwhelmingly positive.

They found the programme interesting, engaging, beneficial and welcoming, with the challenge it provided defined as “exciting and aspirational”.

Whilst many of them knew each other before the course started, they left the in-person sessions feeling “connected to each other” and their communities, and proud of themselves.  

What’s more, Active Together reported that the development and engagement of these local women as mentors was imperative to build community confidence in group exercise and that, while funding was critical, it was the community support role of Active Women that ensured this was a success.

Active Women reported this project demonstrated the clear need for these kinds of initiatives to upskill underrepresented communities and to help them continue their mission to “grown [their] own”.

Because this is more than a training programme.

It’s a step toward equity in fitness.

It’s about recognising the whole person.

And it’s about creating space for women who’ve been excluded for too long.

We’re proud to be part of that change and we’re just getting started.
 

The fact that you are reading this blog means you have a good level of digital inclusion. You have access to a device (phone, laptop, tablet), connection to the internet and the skills and confidence to find this post.

Many people face barriers to getting online, experiencing what is known as ‘digital exclusion’.

But in a world where our smartphones can defrost the car from the comfort of our own home, a ring can track all of our health and activity data, and banks are operating solely online, digital connectivity is fundamental to how we now operate.

Not a ‘fixed state’

Digital exclusion is about not having the access, skills and/or confidence to use the internet and benefit fully from digital technology in everyday life.

This is a widespread issue, impacting millions of people across the UK and limiting the extent to which they’re able to participate in our ever-more digital society:

• 6.8 million UK households (24%) report difficulty affording communications services
• 1.5m of the adult population (3%) don’t have a smartphone, tablet or laptop
• 2m young people in the UK (14%) don’t have access to a digital device for learning
• 7.9m adults in the UK (15%) don’t have the eight foundational digital skills
• 3.7m UK households with children (45%) don’t meet the Minimum Digital Living Standard

Interestingly, though, being digitally excluded is not a ‘fixed state’.

People may face one or more digital barriers, to different degrees, at different times and related to other vulnerabilities or life events, plus people may gain or lose access, skills and/or confidence to do things digitally. 

Digital inclusion and physical activity

As a sector we must ensure we not only keep pace with new digital developments and the exciting opportunities these provide, because we also need to ensure that no-one is left behind.

We recently commissioned Good Things Foundation to conduct some research into the topic of digital inclusion in order to better understand how digital exclusion might contribute to inequalities in people getting active.

Good Things Foundation also investigated the role that digital inclusion could play in increasing people’s activity levels and looked into the opportunities for Sport England to support digital inclusion across the sector.

The research confirmed our assumption: while many of us enjoy the convenience and connectivity of a digital world, digital exclusion disproportionately affects the audiences we most want to support to enjoy the benefits of a physically active life.

We really appreciate the great work that Good Things Foundation have done on this and we are pleased to be able to share our key findings as well as the full report.

What did we learn?

There is an extensive report from this initial desktop research, but a few valuable findings include:

• sections of the population who are digitally excluded are very similar to those with the lowest activity levels and those facing health inequalities. This includes older adults, disabled people, people experiencing poverty and people living with long-term health conditions
• digital access, skills and accessibility all shape people’s journeys to being physically active. Growing reliance on digital platforms for accessing leisure and sport services means it is increasingly difficult for those without digital connectivity, devices and/or skills to engage with these services  
• we are investing in places where we need to consider digital inclusion and 84% of new Sport England's Place Expansion Partnerships are in areas where internet access is at its lowest.

Whilst digital exclusion isn’t the most influential factor in shaping people’s physical activity levels, it should still be a key consideration when designing new services to engage underserved audiences.

Otherwise, we could be inadvertently excluding people from getting active if we only use digital solutions to promote, design and provide access to sport and physical activity offers.

What next?

This is just the start of our understanding of digital inclusion and its role in tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity.

In the autumn we will be doing further research to deepen our understanding of the audiences most impacted, as well as partners’ experiences of addressing the challenge of digital exclusion in their work.

We would love to connect with a range of partners to understand how digital inclusion is being factored into their existing work as well as what the sector needs to ensure digital inclusion is considered when supporting people to get active.

So watch this space and please get in touch if you are interested in getting involved!
 

For many, the beginning of June is the unofficial start of the summer.

Holidays are on the horizon, Wimbledon and the Tour de France are getting closer and we get to celebrate volunteers in the best week of the year – Volunteers Week!

The latest data from our Active Lives Adult Survey Report shows that almost 10.5 million adults volunteered to support sport and physical activity across the 12-month period from mid-November 2023 to mid-November 2024.

This is an increase of 488,000 over the last 12 months and it shows a continued recovery of volunteering since the pandemic in 2020.

This huge contribution of people’s time, energy and skills in sport and physical activity is really something to celebrate, and everybody in Sport England wants to say a massive thank you to everyone who volunteers to keep the nation active. 

Volunteering not only enables participation opportunities for others, but it significantly boosts the wellbeing of volunteers themselves.

Our research into the social value of sport and physical activity demonstrated that adult volunteering in England is worth £8.2 billion annually in social value and these benefits to wellbeing are in addition to any value that comes from being physically active.

The present of volunteering

The recovery we’re seeing post-pandemic is positive and it demonstrates the resilience of sport volunteering, and that millions of people are still motivated to give their time.

However, there are also some more worrying trends that we need to take note of.

It’s undeniable that the Lionesses’ recent triumphs and the professionalisation of the women’s game, the strong performance of the men’s team and the fact that the number of girls watching and playing football has doubled in recent years, has made the country proud.

We know that the scale of grassroots football in England means that the sport is well positioned to influence people and communities in tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity.

So because of all of these reasons, we thought that our case study with The Football Association (FA) would be a great way to close our series of blogs.

The FA is the National Governing Body for one of the country’s most popular sports and receives significant funding through Sport England’s system partner investment.

According to the results from Sport England's latest Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Report, more than half of all children and young people (52.2%) aged from five to 16 are not meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guideline of taking part in an average of at least 60 minutes of sport or physical activity a day.

The results also show that significant inequalities remain in activity levels, with Black (42%) and Asian (43%) children and young people, and those from the least affluent families (45%), still less likely to play sport or be physically active than the average across all ethnicities and affluence groups.

The outcomes are, of course, concerning, not only for the current physical and mental health and wellbeing of our children and young people, but also for their future too – if people aren’t active when they are children, they are also less likely to be active as adults.

Starting young and local

However, seeing results like these, has led the APNO and Active Partnerships network – a group of 42 organisations who are immersed in their places and that work with local communities and local partners in different parts of the country to help everyone live a more active life – to underline their commitment to working with children and young people.

It’s why we’re more determined than ever to support this key group – especially those who face barriers to be active – and to help them develop a life-long love of sport, physical activity and movement.

This week, around 100 people from across the Active Partnerships network and Sport England will be coming together in Birmingham to explore how we can better support young people through our work in place, as evidence suggests that the place where a person is born and lives has a huge influence on how likely they are to be physically active.

In 2021 we published our first horizon scanning project, looking at the key trends likely to shape sport and physical activity over the following decade.

At the time we were emerging from the pandemic, artificial intelligence (AI) was still a niche topic and economic uncertainty was turning from a concern into a crisis.

Fast forward to today and the world looks very different: AI isn’t just evolving, it’s everywhere; the cost-of-living impact is reshaping the way people spend on leisure and fitness; and climate change is actively changing when and where people can be active.

So three years on, we knew it was time we took another look around us.

We asked ourselves a series of key questions: what’s progressed faster than expected? What’s shifted in unexpected ways? And what do these changes mean for the future of sport and physical activity?

We worked with Trajectory, a specialist foresight agency, to revisit and refresh our original Horizon Scan, which allowed us to get a clearer picture of how the world is changing and what that could mean for our sector.

What is horizon scanning? (and why does it matter to us?)

Horizon scanning isn’t about predicting the future. No one has a crystal ball that works like that!

Instead, it’s about spotting signals of change, challenging assumptions and thinking ahead so that when shifts happen, we’re ready.

This way of working helps us ask the bigger questions, like:

• what if rising living costs permanently change how people engage with sport and fitness?
• what happens if extreme weather patterns disrupt traditional sports seasons?
• how will AI and automation reshape the way we track, coach and even participate in physical activity?

Our aim is not to spread alarm, but to explore these issues now so we can build more resilient strategies for the future.

Most of the key trends from our original scan still hold strong, but some have evolved more than others.

The full Horizon Scan explores 16 trends under six major themes and there are two that stand out:

The cost of living is reshaping sport and leisure

In 2021, we highlighted growing income inequality as a long-term concern, but what we’re seeing now is more than a trend – it’s a lived reality.

We only get one childhood and there was a time when being a child meant playing out, spending time with friends in person, exploring, joining teams, falling out, making up and everything in between.

Sadly, this is not the case for most young people nowadays, but why?

On the one hand, our research indicates that at least one in four young people feel they don’t ‘belong’ at school.

And Sport England's latest Active Lives Children and Young People report tells us that almost 50% of young people are not meeting the Chief Medical Officers' guidelines of having 60 minutes of physical activity a day, and that young people are spending more time interacting with screens than with their peers.

People here are used to being told what’s wrong but through hope, community spirit and ambition we wanted to focus on ‘what’s strong; not what’s wrong’, using a place-making approach.

Note we talk about an ‘approach’ rather than a ‘plan’ and this is because we’re following a set of principles, instead of rules.

Joining the dots

Place-making is a fluid and dynamic way of working that’s context-focussed, rather than project-focussed.

We wanted to put schools back at the heart of these communities for them to act as catalysts for social change.

However we had also heard stories of persistent absenteeism among students and of the struggle to recruit and retain teachers.

There were also descriptions of pupils' bad behaviour and lack self-regulation, which in many occasions resulted in a lack of aspiration and a rise in apathy.

That all needed to change, so for over 18 months we worked in these places, spent time there, built relationships, listened, learnt and tried to put wind in the sails of the educators and people who know these places better than anyone.

We wanted to listen to the people living, working and playing in these places, but with a listen-to-understand rather than a listen-to-respond attitude, and in order to achieve that we created a new role in schools: the place-maker.

Place-makers are members of staff that live in the community (or have strong connections to it) and who can help activate young people’s talents.

This small group of changemakers have been incredibly effective at joining the dots with local stakeholders including youth services, policing, transport, health and housing.

And there’s more!

We’ve also created the 'Communities of Place’, a series of safe and brave spaces where people are encouraged to raise important issues and work out solutions together.

The importance of trust

In Perry Barr, for instance, girls were not accessing opportunities at the same rate as boys, so the school made a connection to Saathi House, which is a vibrant local community hub specifically designed for women and girls.

Together, they listened to understand the community needs and, as a result, enabled an NFL Flag Football project to provide a safe, diverse and inclusive space for young girls to learn, play and grow together that was managed by a group of female mentors promoting physical fitness, teamwork, confidence and leadership.

Through our approach to Youth Voice, we've also discovered an appetite for Youth Leadership, so the schools invited students to apply to become a young place-maker.

They received 109 applications and there are now 35 young place-makers in Tower Hamlets and The Prescot School, proving the desire for young people to be the change they want to see in their community.

Our place-based work is built on shared values and purpose, because we:

• spend time with people in their places
• build reciprocal relationships and see what we can give rather than extract
• understand by truly listening
• focus on strengths rather than deficits or weaknesses
• are transparent and have tough conversations.

If you take the first letter of these values, you get the most important component of what we do: trust.

Trust is fundamental to us because we’ve learned that progress travels at the speed of trust and that trust is also the hardest thing to earn and the easiest to lose.

And while we are also aware that we don’t have all the answers, we believe that the people in these places do and that part of our collective role is help them to unlock them.

It’s hard to believe that just a decade ago, seeing real women – sweaty, jiggly, unfiltered, and unapologetically themselves – moving their bodies in whatever way worked for them would be such a defining moment in advertising.

But that’s exactly what This Girl Can did.

The creative campaign smashed through airbrushed ideals, rewrote the rules of aspiration and told women they were already enough.

At Sport England, collaboration and learning are at the heart of what we do.

That’s why we’re excited to share the highlights from the recent interim evaluation of our investment into system partners – the Learning Synthesis report – a document that offers valuable insights and lessons for organisations tackling inequalities through system change.

In short, our system partner investment is a new approach that’s aligned with our Uniting the Movement strategy by committing over £500 million since 2022 to more than 120 partners. 

This long-term funding provides up to five years of financial security and stability for organisations to focus on addressing the systemic changes needed to tackle the inequalities stopping individuals and communities from being physically active.

Learning together – why this report matters

It’s important to highlight that this investment by Sport England is about more than funding. It’s about building a movement for change and the Learning Synthesis report is key in this mission.

The report was conducted by Ipsos, New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) and Sheffield Hallam University, and it sheds light on what’s working and where challenges remain within the sector.

But it goes beyond that by posing questions – and presenting answers – about how we can work together to tackle inequalities so everyone can enjoy the benefits of being active.

What we’ve learned so far

The result? Insights that are key for our work at Sport England and for critical points of reflection to anyone striving to make a difference through systemic change at local or national level.

Some of the main findings of the report are:

Overcoming challenges to collaboration is key

System partners build partnerships with diverse stakeholders – from local councils to schools and community groups – that create a more cohesive and integrated approach to system change.

We know that Uniting the Movement has provided a framework for building trust and encouraging alignment and shared goals, but we also know that collaborative working takes time, and that this is often hindered by financial constraints, recruitment challenges and cultural barriers.

These obstacles are further exacerbated by political and leadership changes, which can disrupt momentum and require the continual rebuilding and realignment of relationships.

Change champions make a difference 

System partners have found that identifying and engaging local champions can accelerate system change as these often hold the keys to unlocking new opportunities and relationships.

It is important for us and our system partners to think strategically about how we can influence the system, through engaging with these individuals and groups moving forwards, and how we can best identify them within our communities, places and/or organisations.

Quantitative and qualitative data together tell the full story

While numbers are important, stories and case studies provide rich context for understanding our impact and uncovering learnings about why things work, for whom and in what context.

We need to tackle the ongoing challenges within the system, where qualitative data is not valued as it is difficult to track and evaluate over time.

Learning from challenges

System partners recognise that system change isn’t easy. Barriers like language, staff turnover, strategic planning and the complexity of demonstrating impact are very real. But recognising these hurdles allows us to address them head-on with a mindset of learning and growth.

Looking ahead – building on these learnings

As an organisation, Sport England is on a journey to reshape its relationship with its partners and develop a more relational approach to working together to tackle inequalities in physical activity.

Our evaluation to understand the impact of this ‘new way of working’ is therefore very complex and it's represented in an evolving theory of change.

This hypothesis sets out how and why we think change will happen over the short, medium and long-term, and guides our evaluation accordingly.

The interim evaluation findings we’re sharing today provide a foundation for reflection and learning on our progress so far.

The conclusions and the improvements achieved by our partners, plus the challenges these partners and also us at Sport England still need to face, underscore the importance of adaptability, transparency and a long-term perspective in driving system change.

As we move forward, we think it will be essential to:

• continue sharing what works and what doesn’t work when addressing the challenges that arise through our collaboration between our partners and colleagues
• use our successes and our innate value in our work with system partners to continue to build new partnerships and engage with diverse stakeholders, whilst nurturing those we’ve already established
• focus on sustainable approaches to evaluation, learning and insight that balance the immediate need to demonstrate impact, whilst recognising that true systemic change is a long-term impact.

Join the conversation

We're already working closely with our system partners to share and act on these findings through our capability and capacity-building sessions, and our learning and knowledge exchange work.

We also think the findings have wider value to anyone who’s part of a complex system and exploring how to reduce inequalities. Is this you?

If that’s the case, we’d love to hear your thoughts on these findings, what resonates most with your work or what lessons we can learn together.

And if you have any questions, reflections or feedback on this report or any other element on this blog, please get in touch.

When we are travelling it is easy to get impatient and start wondering how long we’ll still have to go before we reach our destination.

And this edginess often appears even more so when we are on a long journey – like our quest for sustainability in the sport and physical activity sector.

But it is not just sustainable sports centres (to name one example) that we’re after.

We also want more sustainable homes, more sustainable businesses and more sustainable communities – so we are in for a long ride!

Looking back as we celebrate

And just to finish with the journey metaphor, it’s true that sometimes a trip can take you through breathtaking and inspiring places, while other times it drags on with no apparent progress being made.

The efforts around the sustainability journey are no different.

Cynics amongst us may say we are not making any progress with our sustainability efforts but I’d like to disagree.

At Sport England sustainability is a key part of our work, so I thought that as we celebrate the fourth anniversary of our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement, it’d also be a great moment to reflect on the steps we’ve made so far and how we can keep moving ahead while ensuring we make the most of our natural resources without damaging or limiting our environment.

In 2022, we committed to ‘stepping up on environmental sustainability’.

Back then we highlighted three key points:

• We recognised there was considerable work to do not only to reduce our negative impact on the environment but also to prepare our sector for a changing climate.
• We committed to being clear on what actions we needed to take and to improving Sport England’s own environmental performance.
• We said we’d collaborate with other organisations to make these things happen across the sector.

So, can we say we are nearly there? I’m afraid not quite, but we we’ve taken our first steps and we’re not alone, so we can’t stop now.

Plus we’ve done what we said and more. Much more!
 

We listened to our partners and our internal teams and produced an environmental sustainability strategy and action plan, which we called Every Move.

We have a small team to deliver the action plan and embed sustainability across all our work but we can see people across the sector getting constantly involved with our efforts, like when almost 200 organisations signed our Going for Green Pledge last summer after our our Chair Chris Boardman cycled for eight days from Manchester to Paris to inspire action for climate change.

But perhaps the biggest change I’ve noticed is the cultural attitude to sustainability across the sport sector.

Our partners have embraced sustainability and a sign of this is that the language around sustainable development is dropped into everyday conversations.

As a collective we’re really beginning to understand the inter-connection between climate change, inequalities, participation in sport and our role in tackling that.

Environmental social governance is now included in the Code for Sports Governance, setting out levels of transparency and integrity for our funded partners.

Working together for everybody's future

In addition, many of our partners have developed, or are developing, their own sustainability action plans and these recognise the importance of tackling climate justice - addressing the unequal impacts of climate change on disadvantaged communities.

There are shining examples of projects across the country which reduce emissions, increase biodiversity, improve the sustainability of the things they buy and improve the accessibility and quality of our natural environment.

Projects include recycling, second-hand buying or looking at repairing broken items before buying brand new ones, using LED flood-lighting and solar panels on facilities, improving access to natural environments, purchasing goods without plastic packaging and medals made from bamboo, re-distributing good quality kit, cleaning up our natural surroundings or sowing wildflower gardens around cricket pitches.

These initiatives invariably make sport more accessible and appealing to a wider audience by creating inviting natural environments, reducing utility costs or providing the kit to enable sport to happen, plus these are ventures most of us can get involved with.

In England there’s over 75,000 sports and physical activity centres and, according to our latest Active Lives Adult Survey, our sector is powered by 10 million volunteers.

These numbers show that we have the perfect vehicle to spread the word around sustainable action being able to improve the quality of everyone’s life.

The journey ahead looks exciting but it looks tough too as, let’s face it, we still have a long way to go!

The focus must now be on delivery and ensuring we talk about it and share good work practices.

We need to make sure that we tackle sustainability at place-level, underpinning our actions with sustainable approaches.

Sustainability is inextricably connected to deprivation and will become even more so as our climate continues to change.

We must prepare for the future ensuring the places where we are active do not overheat or flood, have clean air and clean water, and are welcoming and accessible for all.

We also need to ensure energy security for our communities, building confidence in the ability to budget and plan.

So no, we’re not there yet, but will we ever get there? I believe the answer is yes.

Happy fourth anniversary, Uniting the Movement. Let's keep working to ensure we have even more to celebrate for your fifth!
 

This week is Inter Faith Week, a celebration that aims to strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels, to increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, and to increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs.

For us at Salaam Peace, this is a key week for our organisation as it was born out of a national tragedy: the 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Building a project at the back of a terrible event

A week after this life-changing event, I was on my way to 10 Downing Street for a reception with the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, for outstanding work in the community.

I remember entering the tube and everybody looking at me, with people breaking into sweat, grabbing rails and checking out for the next station.

What nobody knew is that I was a British Muslim with Indian heritage who had contributed to his community since 1987, at the age of 12.

Almost 38 years later, I am still active but I will never forget how hard it hit me being treated like a terrorist in the city I loved.

In 2006 contacted some friends from the Met Police and the army and I used my role at Leyton Orient to set up the Eid Cup – an event to bring communities together using the power of sport and food.

An imam opened the day educating over 500 people (of which 60% were non-Muslim) about respect, understanding and living a peaceful life by outlining the fact that terror and extremist acts have no place in Islam.

Leading by example

These principles formed the basis of Salaam Peace.

Our vision was to have an organisation that welcomed all, regardless of gender, social standing or class, faith (or the lack of it) or cultural traditions.

It's based on the Eastern/Indian philosophy of master/pupil and guru/student approach, that’s user-led by a team of staff and volunteers that are a product of our work.

Our mission is simple yet robust, “be the change in the community you want to see”, which is about every person taking ownership of social injustice and addressing it through action.

Our chief operating officer, Azi Mohammed, aged 26 and former Sport England intern, is a prime example of our job.
 

Azi began his journey as a participant with Salaam Peace in 2011.

Unaided, he found a source of funding aged 13 and in 2013 he began volunteering at a Friday morning breakfast tennis club at a local primary school.

Alongside his educational achievements, which included a first class degree from King's College in London, Azi attained a huge portfolio of qualifications and awards including The Diana Award and he successfully completed a summer internship at Sport England.

This role planted the seeds of a relationship with Salaam Peace and since joining the team full time in the summer of 2020, Azi has raised over £650,000 and implemented many processes to ensure the organisation remains a leader in the sector.

This year we had a weekly core engagement of more than 1500 toddlers, children, young people, adults and older citizens, which shows that our community is growing and we believe that sport and education are our primary tools for engagement with our groups.

Our reach cuts across many perceived challenges and we set our standards based on the values of respect, understanding, hard work, community spirit, action (as opposed to reaction), assimilation and family.

Mohammed X's story

One person who’s benefited from Salaam Peace’s work is Mohammed X.

I met Mohammed during his final months as an inmate at Pentonville Prison in 2009. 

When inmates' release date gets close many people come to speak to them and Mohammed and I connected at a Friday prayer in Leyton in mid-2009.

Salaam Peace was just getting started and I invited Mohammed to come to a group gym session and to a football game – Mohammed’s two favourite pastimes.

There, Mohammed met with some people from Salaam Peace who made him feel welcome and introduced him into a community of varied faiths and cultures.

We aimed at making the football sessions engaging and along with success on the pitch, friendships were built.

Mohammed began volunteering and supporting Salaam Peace’s work in East London and never was he singled out for his previous offences.

He openly shared that anti-British values, substance misuse and dealing had been a key part of his life before prison, a time when he got caught up in a cycle of hate and money-grabbing.

Mohammed had also bought into a frenzy of extreme Muslim views and drugs that gave him easy money.

But everything changed thanks to Salaam Peace.

Through our organisation, Mohammed was exposed to real role models – people who’d lead by example, saying little but doing so much and who introduced him to truthful Islamic values of community, respect, understanding and giving to the people that needed it most.

Mohammed now lives in Spain with his family and works for the Spanish equivalent to the NHS – a very different picture to what his life could have looked like had it not been for understanding, love and sport.
 

Reclaiming narratives – this year's theme for Black History Month – is important to us because it aligns with The Selby Trust's mission of working with and empowering communities who are often marginalised in society.

This helps in fostering appropriate representation, challenging stereotypes, building solidarity and advocating for systemic change, as well as cultural preservation.

The Selby Trust continues to play a significant role in supporting the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) community through various initiatives, both locally and across London, so as well as reclaiming our past, we can strengthen our present so that the community can look forward to a promising future.

One culture, many communities

Located in Tottenham and within walking distance to over 78,000 people, the trust was formed in the 1990s at the Selby Centre, a former secondary school, by the late Bernie Grant MP – best known as the first Black British MP.

He was elected in 1987 and created The Selby Trust to support the local community.

As our strapline of ‘’One culture, many communities’’ suggests, we’re continuing to support those most in need locally through the activities and outreach provision in place.

We are there for our community by continually advocating for the needs and rights of BAME individuals, by helping to amplify their voices and by ensuring they are represented in decision-making processes.
 

The large majority of staff, as well as other organisations and groups using our premises, are from the local area as community is at the forefront of what we do.

We provide various services and facilities to support local residents and organisations.

This often includes spaces for community events, activities and meetings, as well as resources for education, employment support and social services.

These centres typically play a vital role in fostering community engagement and development by supporting cultural activities and events that celebrate the heritage of BAME communities, fostering pride and a sense of belonging, which is key to the Selby Trust.

We also run free activities in our local area. These include dance sessions for the elderly, fun day activities and events, plus training sessions on job interviews and finance wellbeing to students from the local sixth form college.

But there's more!

Working together for local enhancement  

We also operate the Selby Food Hub, a programme that was established at the start of the pandemic and that currently helps 150 families by providing access to food packs and essential items on a weekly basis.

Our Global Garden hosts fruits and vegetables from across the world, providing healthy food for those attending our food bank, as well as access to a unique open space at the heart of our community.

Now named Selby Ventures, our business-to-business support programme, we help local small and medium-sized organisations and start ups with free workshops and tailored business support, aiding and fostering growth in partnership with Kingston University.

Support has ranged from marketing and Search Engine Optimisation help, access to grants and bid writing, and a second phase will be kickstarting this autumn.

We facilitate connections between individuals and local grassroots organisations, creating pathways for collaboration and support within the community.

We also offer educational programmes and training opportunities that equip individuals with skills for employment, enhancing their economic prospects, like CV-writing workshops, and this autumn we’re offering free IT training to locals who may need to improve their digital skills most.

This will be an opportunity to help users with basics skills like learning how to use their IT devices to boost employability prospects and to access digital resources to tackle the levels of digital poverty in the immediate community.

Initiatives focused on health awareness and mental wellbeing address specific challenges faced by the BAME community.

Since 2021, we’ve been continuing to run regular and free holiday programmes for local children aged five to 16 through Selby Active.

Through both sport and enrichment provision, we’ve delivered activity to 900+ unique participants with free access to activities that would, otherwise, not be available for local young people. 

And we’re also working in partnership with the NHS to deliver blood transfusion and liver screening sessions on-site and with Endometriosis UK to raise awareness among the community of endometriosis.

It’s an exciting time for us as we press ahead with plans for the Selby Urban Village, a new centre, council housing and spaces for businesses to thrive, plus improved community facilities and leisure space for local people to enjoy.

This will continue to be a place for the community, by the community.
 

The Sports4All Innovation Summit, held last week in Paris, marked the start of a critical mission that will run until the LA 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The event was initiated by Sportinnovator in the Netherlands, along with fellow frontrunners from other countries including Sport England, Sport Ireland, Danish Sports Federation, Indescat (Catalonia, Spain), National Resources Centre for Sports Innovations France and Sport Flanders.

The mission of the event was to demonstrate how innovation in sport and physical activity can contribute to addressing the societal inequalities that many communities experience.

There’s also a lack of dedicated support for the purpose-driven individuals and organisations who are designing to meet the particular needs of specific communities.

In fact, these social innovations are central to overcoming the policy-implementation gap.

The support they need is threefold:

• connections that are peer-based, but also public and private as the evidence of their impact grows
• investment to allow them to stay focused on the barriers they are solving rather than chasing the cash
• coaching to help them navigate the complexities of sustaining their business as it grows and to help them respond to change.

So I pose two questions: which local projects can you connect with and learn from? And who could you amplify and advocate for nationally?

2. Social innovation is more important that technology innovation

The term 'innovation' is often firstly associated with technology and new products, but what came across loud and clear in Paris was that innovation for inequalities needs to first have a social purpose, especially when we want to apply it to remove systemic barriers that exist in communities.

This aligns with how we define innovation at Sport England:

Innovation is applying a creative mindset, generating ideas and experimenting to make positive changes that improve people's experiences of physical activity. It is an approach that puts people’s needs at the heart, continually learning and adapting to remove the real-life barriers they are facing.

So think first about who you are seeking to help and then what problem or barrier you are removing for them, before you decide on the solutions that might work best for those communities.

Ideally those groups are also involved in the discovery and design processes, rather than having things done to them.

3. Support to scale the innovation process is key

As Cormac Macdonnell from Sport Ireland shared: "Good ideas and initiatives deserve to be shared and scaled across Europe". But, within the sport sector, it can sometimes feel like we are competing rather than collaborating.

So how can we help many more innovators experience the sharing spirit that our 15 projects experienced at the Summit?

They were offered the opportunity to learn from like-minded people who are trying to solve the same problems, but in different cultural contexts.

We need to do more to create the space for people to trial new approaches, fail fast but learn quickly, and to share that learning so that we are building motorways together, not roundabouts.

Thanks to John Hughes, Director of Partnerships at Community Integrated Care, who talked about an Inclusive Volunteering project that we funded, who shared this fantastic analogy.

Looking at the possibilities ahead

I think it is fair to say that we all left the Summit positive about the future, as what was evident in the room was that the passion for improving inequalities through purposeful innovation is alive and well.

But creating and nurturing the conditions where innovation can thrive will take patience and collective care, so what we really need to consider is whether we’re up to the challenge. I know Sport England is. Will you join us?

On behalf of Sport England, I would like to thank Sportinnovator for the opportunity, and Community Integrated Care, Intelligent Health UK and Planet Earth Games for joining us and sharing what they are learning about supporting disabled people, people on lower incomes and young people with others from across Europe.

If you’d like to learn more about how to take practical steps to apply innovation in order to remove barriers for specific audiences, please look at our innovation and digital resources, our latest research or get in touch with our team.
 

If given the choice between talent and potential, which would you go for? Think about it. We’ll come back to this later.

Most of us might be able to recall a fellow pupil, teammate or athlete who appears to subdue the opponent just by their mere presence, maybe because of their previous performance or perhaps because of a preconceived perception.

I remember taking part in school competitions and over hearing hushed whispers, pupils from other schools saying "the Black girl will win".

I was the only Black girl in the competition and hearing others talking about me like that felt strange.

Not because of the pressure of the assumption, but because of the pointing out that I was different. 

Because it’s not until it’s pointed out to you, either deliberately or via an innocent remark, whether about ethnicity, race, gender or disability, for example, that your sense of belonging to a group, a collective or a sport can come crashing down.  

The comment didn’t make sense to me at the time but it’s something that I have never forgotten and often recall when working on our talent pathway.

Breaking barriers and assumptions

I consider that assumptions on someone’s ability, based on their belonging to a particular background, should be eradicated.

Even if – like in my case – they predicted a positive outcome (they thought I was going to win!) these kinds of predictions are false.

And this falsehood is something that we want to eradicate so we can be successful in supporting national governing bodies (NGBs) and our partners in identifying and recruiting talent from under-represented groups in the UK by understanding their barriers and ultimately broaden the potential pool of talent.
 

Talent can often be misunderstood with the assumption that a commitment to work hard is not required, the need to be disciplined unnecessary and the element of resilience, irrelevant.

Usain Bolt, otherwise known as the greatest sprinter of all time having won eight Olympic gold medals, summed it up flawlessly when he said "hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”, reinforcing the importance of dedication and perseverance in achieving success.

Our talent inclusion programme

This is because whilst hard work may count for an element of the talent pathway, so does, for example, economics, geography and fundamentally the opportunity to take part in sport in the first place. 

And so our seven guiding principles were designed to provide a strong foundation on which to build our talent inclusion strategic intent.

A system that confines itself solely to the identification of talent based on current performances (such as winners of junior competitions) will not necessarily pick up those with the most long-term potential. 

So, what do we mean when we talk about talent inclusion? 

Maybe a better place to start is what we don’t mean.

Inclusion in talent doesn't mean we have to forfeit winning medals or creating a high-performing environment, but it does mean a renewed emphasis on the culture and environment created within talent pathways so athletes feel comfortable being open about themselves.  

For example, during Ramadan, sports settings may need to adapt the training demands of athletes who are fasting, or need to pray, with conversations about how to best accommodate these religious schedule of prayers.

Inclusion in talent doesn't mean NGBs having to match the UK/England demographics of age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity to the exact percentage.

Inclusion in talent does mean NGBs and partners should know who’s in their talent pathway and know who their wider participants are so they can understand barriers that prevent people progressing into the talent system. 

This knowledge will help our partners attract participants, develop athletes in our talent system and increase NGBs' talent pools.

I'll repeat: a system that confines itself solely to the identification of talent based on current performances (such as winners of junior competitions) will not necessarily pick up those with the most long-term potential. 

In summary, we risk missing out on potentially talented athletes and coaches unless we take a broader and more long-term view.

So talent or hard work?

And so back to the question we opened with – if given the choice between talent and potential and you can only choose one, which would you go for? 

Perhaps both, because talent by itself won’t win you first places, but hard work will.

And because talent and hard work don’t just belong in a particular protected community.

They can be found everywhere and we’ll work hard to make sure we find it.
 

For many, summer is their favourite part of the year – longer and warmer days (when the sun is out!), holidays and a sport competition or two, but I have a soft spot for October.

Why? Because it’s the month when we celebrate the Sporting Equals Awards.

The event is a celebration of race equality in sport and physical activity and it turns a focus on both the elite and grassroots of the sector with an opportunity to mark the progress made and to profile role models at every level.

New opportunities to celebrate 

This year, the awards ceremony will take place on 5 October at the prestigious Royal Lancaster Hotel in central London and it will be hosted by comedienne Judi Love.

Previous winners include Sir Lewis Hamilton, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Basketball England and Kadeena Cox amongst many others.

This year we have 10 awards categories year including: Sportswoman and Man of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, Young Sportsperson of the Year or England Athletics Coach of the Year to name just a few.

The support of our sector peers in these awards, particularly from Sport England, England Athletics, The Football Association, Mind and Swim England, allows us to all celebrate the achievements and contributions of ethnically diverse people in sport and physical activity.

Role models are often lacking in mainstream media so these awards provide that focus and spotlight for local and national champions to be celebrated.

Here at Sport England, we’ve been asking ourselves the same question.

We invest in sport and physical activity so it becomes a normal part of life for everyone in England, regardless of background, location and many other factors that may influence the possibility of a person being physically active.

But we know that not only does a changing climate threaten people’s ability and opportunity to be active, but in the process of taking part in sport that we are also negatively affecting the very environment we rely on.

We also know that climate change and poor environmental conditions disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities, not only in other countries across the world, but here in the UK too.

Some of these groups experience poor air quality, higher temperatures during heatwaves due to the urban heat-island effect, and terrible floodings.

The Government’s research on the future of sport and physical activity shows that these same communities are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity.

And that’s why we’re determined to take action to become more environmentally sustainable.

Our objectives

We aim to realise a vision of a positive and regenerative sport and physical activity sector that champions environmental sustainability with every move and that will help us deliver our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement.

We are setting out our approach to sustainability in our strategy which you’ll be able to read in the new year.

But in the meantime, we are already starting to take action by providing training and building on the already available resources so that clubs across the country know what their next steps are and how to take them.

In the coming months and years we will continue to advocate for system change and ensure that sustainability is considered in all our funding decisions.

We aim to build capacity across the sector to take action, focusing on biodiversity and highlighting the need to build resilience to a changing climate across the sector.

COP28 is helping focus minds on what each and every one of us can do in clubs and groups across the country, so that together we make a difference.
 

Wrestling has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years, with females making their mark and shattering stereotypes.

This development not only showcases the empowerment of women but it also offers a striking link to inter faith unity.

Because in a world marked by religious diversity and cultural differences, female wrestlers serve as powerful role models demonstrating that strength, resilience and shared passion can bridge the gaps of faith and belief.

Historically, wrestling was perceived as a male-dominated sport but this narrative has changed dramatically nowadays.

British Wrestling has made a commitment to working with clubs on a grassroots level to aid the shift and bring wrestling to a whole new demographic.

The Legacy Project

The formation in 2022 of The Legacy Project gave coaches and clubs the resources necessary to support and develop female wrestling in many communities across the country.

Delving into these disenfranchised groups allowed British Wrestling to see what we could do to better engage and make the sport more accessible to everyone, particularly those from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Wrestling has strong ties to both culture and religion for many people from these communities, so projects like ours have created a space for people to connect not only with each other but also with themselves and their identities.
 

Working for the future generations

One of the pioneers for our project is Impact Fitness Academy's very own Coach Haniyah.

Her journey started as a volunteer but she later grew to be a core member of the team, spearheading the fierce female programme in Birmingham, taking on the role of the head coach and even expanding to help set up projects in other areas.

Another name to look out for is Coach Whabna. She is part of Bahja Initiative, an Islamic faith centre aiming to bring about a positive change in the Lancashire community of Accrington, by including wrestling as part of their mosque curriculum, making it easily accessible.

They have 75 girls participating on a weekly basis.

She is a true role model, working hard to help young girls from a range of ages and reaching some of the most deprived areas in the UK, with Accrington being ranked in the bottom 2% of neighbourhoods based on multiple deprivations. 

It's clear that wrestling permeates multiple areas of life and that it’s not just limited to the sporting sphere, but has the potential to penetrate religion also, evidenced by the incredibly successful Bahja Initiative.

So, with further exposure to wrestling for the general public by the work done by British Wrestling and The Legacy Project, we can squash these barriers and move towards a future where wrestling has a place in the lives of all.
 

For us, co-production is at the heart of the work that we do, so we support people with lived experience of mental ill-health, which we call 'Experts by Experience' or EbEs, to work in equal partnership with healthcare professionals or professionals in other relevant fields, ‘Experts by Training’ (EbT), so together they can come up with effective solutions.

What we’ve learnt

One impactful outcome of our partnership with Sport England is the design and dissemination of a questionnaire co-designed with EbEs.

The questionnaire, based on the Theoretical Domains Framework, examined the emotional barriers, environmental context and resources, social influence and beliefs about the consequences and capabilities, with respect to engaging in physical activity.

A great example of how barriers and enablers interact with a person moving appeared when one of our EbEs mentioned how a change in financial circumstances meant she had to join a different gym to reduce costs (environmental context barrier).

She didn’t enjoy the new gym and felt judged and unwelcome because of her size (emotional barrier), but thanks to the support from family and friends, and as long as they attended with her, she continued to go (social influence enabler).

One person living with bipolar disorder in our focus groups understood the importance of physical activity in her routine, mentioning how when this was lost she’d felt she lacked energy, her mood would lower and she wouldn’t be able to achieve what she had planned for the day.

So she started planning physical activity into the day to help with routine.

Another person living with schizophrenia explained that when in the gym they would always have a shower, but that otherwise they would sometimes go for days without showering if their mood was low.

Improved physical health was not mentioned as a benefit of physical activity as much as mental health was.

However, poor physical health was often mentioned as being a barrier to physical activity, hence breaking the assumption that physical activity aims for physical health only, or mainly.

And that’s not all!

More than two-thirds of survey respondents felt they would gain socially from engaging in physical activity with others.

One EbE talked about taking part in walking football and how the gained peer support allowed him to feel “less alone”.

Working for an active future

In all of this, the impact of Sport England's funding has been instrumental.

We are creating a ‘move-more mentor’ role aimed at supporting people affected by mental ill-health to have deeper conversations about physical activity by providing the emotional and practical support identified as necessary.

Working with EbEs and EbTs, we are linking together conversations about physical activity with stronger support and physical activity provision.

This includes working with leisure services to co-produce sessions and a good-practice guide and collaborating with healthcare professionals to improve conversations about physical activity, and connecting those with our wider work.  

By continuing our partnership with Sport England and piloting scalable, sustainable interventions, we are creating a brighter future.

We are reaching more groups and expanding our impact, and while this is (much) more than one day, World Mental Health Day is a great time to remind ourselves of the many benefits of physical activity for those with severe mental illness. 

So don’t forget to talk about it this World Mental Health Day. Physical activity truly is a fundamental human right.
 

One year ago, all eyes were on Birmingham.

The city kicked off a spectacular 10 days of sport and culture with an opening ceremony at the newly refurbished Alexander Stadium in Perry Barr.

Sport England invested £35 million into the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as part of our commitment in Uniting the Movement – our 10-year strategy – to tackle inactivity inequalities. 

Now, as we look back at this momentous occasion, we reflect on the progress we have made in delivering on our ambition with a list that, while may not be exhaustive, will help to highlight a series of areas and examples of how our funding is being used to create new opportunities for people to be more active.

More than infrastructure

Substantial funds were allocated to enhance facilities, talent, volunteering and grassroots initiatives, and through them Sport England has played a pivotal role in laying the groundwork for a more active and healthier region and nation.

Our investment of £2.5m has supported the development of a brand-new state-of-the-art aquatics centre which was designed and built to meet the needs of the residents in and around Sandwell, whilst providing an iconic regional asset.

It was this sense of place and the importance of working at that level, evidenced in our local delivery pilots, that drove the creation of our substantive community-focussed programme - the Commonwealth Active Communities (CACs).

The CACs are four place-based programmes, made up of a consortia of organisations in Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull, and a collective approach by the four Black Country authorities of Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell.

Each place identified its strategic and local needs and developed an approach to tackle inactivity and inequalities via physical activity, through the principles of co-production, collaboration, distributive leadership and a commitment to learning and sharing outcomes.

Across the four places, activity focussed on young people, active environments (including streets, parks and canals), inclusivity and disability, walking and cycling, social prescribing, care homes and mental health.

These elements are now the focal point for other services and organisations for us to connect with, and the programmes and tools developed have added to our learning and informing our future place-based work.

Regarding the nurture of grassroots sports participation on the back of the Games, we focused on the above-mentioned CAC principles and invested £6.5m into the 22 Games national governing bodies of sport.

The aim? To use the Games to amplify opportunities for underrepresented communities to get active and to enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

Some examples of these efforts include:

• British Wrestling - they used their allocated funding to support the appointment of two locally trusted women as legacy leads to head female activation sessions to highlight the barriers women often face in sport, and to further support clubs and groups to challenge these, providing more opportunities for women and girls from culturally diverse backgrounds to be active.
   
• England Athletics - they have developed their Funetics scheme, delivered through engaging with locally trusted organisations and services to better connect with local communities, like with the share shacks I mentioned earlier. Through this connection, the group have provided equipment bags, resource cards and training for community members to use in parks and festivals to engage with families.

With the backing of government, we also distributed around 16,000 items of sporting kit used in the Games, which benefitted 290 community organisations.

This giveaway helped foster a sense of diversity, equality, ownership and involvement and it provided opportunities for people of all abilities from a diverse range of communities.

Beyond the Games

Looking past the immediate benefits of the £870m boost to the UK economy, our investment in Birmingham 2022 has made an impressive impact through initial evaluation.

As we celebrate the one-year-one milestone, it is important to recognise that the journey is far from over.

The impact of the Games and our investment continues to evolve, with ongoing efforts to engage communities, develop talent and promote physical activity nationwide.

Our commitment to fostering a healthier and more active nation remains, serving as an inspiration for future major events and further place-based working.

We want to celebrate but also acknowledge the dedication, hard work, and collaboration that has gone into creating lasting change.

As we move forward, the profound impact of our investment will continue to inspire and shape the future of sports participation, community engagement and overall wellbeing in Birmingham and beyond.
 

Last week, I chaired a roundtable of leaders and experts at the House of Lords exploring how the NHS can better utilise movement and exercise to meet its current challenges.

The occasion was hosted by Baroness Amanda Sater, a committed advocate for young people’s participation in sport.

It was a rich and wide-ranging discussion with contributions from NHS England, MPs and peers from both sides of the bench, primary care and public health specialists, health charities and movement, sport and exercise organisations.

The importance of our personal experiences

I kicked off the conversation with the reflection that each person’s experience of movement, health and wellbeing is different.

Our experiences are impacted by the community we live in and how we engage with professional services, and they also depend on a wide-ranging, skilled and well-equipped workforce.

This reminded me that active people are the best advocates for getting active.

There was a strong echo of this point as we discussed how supporting the NHS workforce to get active themselves could be a significant way to unlock a movement to encourage patients to increase their activity levels.

Opportunities for change

Our national partnerships lead, Suzy Gardner, presented what we refer to as the three key opportunities for change – working with the NHS, changing attitudes to risk and making the most of physical activity to improve mental health.

In response to these, the group discussed:

• The need to work together more, to speak as one voice with a clear message.
• How GPs are reimagining primary care services.
• The need for training and development for health practitioners.
• The significant benefits and some of the limitations of physical activity for individual and community health.
• The opportunity to work locally and hyper-locally to create health and wellbeing services that blend primary care, community connection and opportunities to move more.
• The need for full participation of children and young people in driving change with us.

The premise of our discussion was that, given the strength of evidence, physical activity can be better utilised as a tool to help deliver key health outcomes and priorities, helping to reduce the challenges the health system is currently facing.

It was only a few weeks ago that we were celebrating the 75th anniversary of the NHS, and the  transformation and changes needed to enable it to weather the extreme strains it's under.

The UK Chief Medical Officers were most eloquent when they compared physical activity with “a miracle cure” because of all the illnesses it can help prevent and treat.

This is a reference we’ve used in the past in our work and it appeals to the core of our long-term strategy, Uniting the Movement.

We know that, even in small amounts, moving our bodies is beneficial at all stages of life, particularly for the most inactive individuals where the greatest health gains can be made.

We also know that individuals and communities want support, with one in four saying that they would get active if told to do so by their doctor or nurse.

And this is just the tip of a growing evidence base!

Social prescribing and sound advice from health professionals are key to shifting people’s habits but significant structural barriers remain.

Overcoming these requires all of us to be brave in designing services that cut across traditional institutional boundaries and keep people at their heart.

Working together 

At Sport England, we want to accelerate and amplify the work we have done with partners in this space.

Our resolve to build a coalition of allies that can help us advocate for the value and role of physical activity, to improve the population's health and to help reduce health inequalities is stronger than ever.

But this is not work we can do alone – we need trusting, long-term partnerships.

Our key priority moving forward is to work closely with partners and places to continue to understand the key policy changes required that can enable the right conditions for physical activity to integrate, particularly through local integrated care partnerships and boards.

It was clear in the room that we’re starting to build momentum for change and we finished the round table by committing to take action together.

We are really excited by the opportunities that lie ahead and will continue to evolve our approach and our coalition of partners to strengthen the connections between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing.

Our mental health is our most valuable asset and moving regularly is proven to help us to look after it as well as our general wellbeing, which is key to leading a happy, healthy and fulfilling life.

The benefits of physical activity are well evidenced, playing a role in both protecting us from ill-health and in managing and alleviating mental health struggles and, for this reason, physical activity is often described as a ‘wonder drug’.

However, it remains as one of the most under-utilised public health interventions.

Whilst anyone can experience a mental health challenge at any point in their life, we know some are more at risk than others, and challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis are also contributing negatively.

Being active can significantly support those with mental health conditions but the symptoms associated with mental health problems such as low mood, fatigue, lack of motivation and anxiety – the focus of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week – make it even harder to do so.

It really can be a vicious circle that many people find difficult to break, and that’s because it’s not as easy as ‘just doing it’ or ‘telling’ someone to move more. If only!
 

We don’t always consider how the various barriers towards being active can be too significant to overcome for some, and that these many need greater support to get started.

For this reason, Uniting the Movement focuses on supporting people on their journey to living a healthier and more active lifestyle by helping remove barriers and scaling up the enablers that will address these inequalities.

What we'll do

We know that mental health challenges start young – half are established by the age of 14 and three quarters by the age of 24 – and that’s why, as a foundational step into children and young people’s mental health we will be conducting an evidence review.

The aim is to establish the evidence for the role of sport and physical activity in the treatment of diagnosed mental health challenges for this segment of the population, and to identify what works and where the gaps are to inform future investment.

Through our adult funds, we will continue to explore how we can better connect sport and physical activity provision with local NHS Talking Therapy services so more people have the opportunity and support to access physical activity as a treatment.

Plus we will be exploring the impact this has on clinical outcomes and comparing against standard talking therapy.

We will also work with partners to develop a series of support resources to make it easier for mental health services to understand how to go about embedding physical activity into routine care, plus we will keep building on our existing work with Rethink Mental Illness.

There's currently a lack of studies that focus on the role of physical activity on those affected by severe mental illness, so in order to tackle this shortage of knowledge we'll explore how physical activity can play a major role in improving physical and mental health, as well as social and overall wellbeing in Tower Hamlets and North East Lancashire

Working in local health systems, these trailblazing projects will aim to improve the support to those from culturally diverse communities and deprived communities.

This will require understanding the determinants (barriers and enablers) to physical activity for people severely affected by mental illness, while specifically exploring how local systems can better support people living with severe mental illness.

But that’s not it!

Our long-term relationship with mental health charity Mind, will focus on helping community-based sport and physical activity organisations to support the mental health of people experiencing inequalities, with a focus on young people aged 11+ (especially those experiencing trauma), people from ethnic minority groups (who are both disproportionately impacted by mental health problems and inactivity) and people from the most deprived socio-economic groups.

We'll also continue to advocate to national and local policy makers the role of physical activity as a helpful population health tool and a driver for supporting the nation's mental health and wellbeing.

While we know the coming months and years won't be without their challenges, we have one simple ask of you today (and every day, actually) - when things get a little difficult or stressful, get up and move.

Keep moving while you make that cuppa.

Get yourself outdoors and take notice of nature.

Turn that Teams meeting into a walking meeting.

Your mind and your body will thank you for it.
 

The digital divide is caused by barriers such as a lack of digital skills, but also low access to devices, internet connectivity and poorly planned accessibility for disabled people.

So this is something we want to highlight and make sure we help overcome by using the right approaches to help people engage with sport and physical activity, be it with non-digital or digital skills support, to ensure no-one is left behind.    

We have explored alternatives to digital support in campaigns like We Are Undefeatable and TV and tabloid press have been highlighted as good alternatives to reaching people who are digitally excluded.

But if we agree digital platforms are useful and go with the digital direction of travel, we need to be teaching people the skills to use them.

This is a strong need, not only from a human perspective, but also from an economic one.

The benefits of being online

The Centre for Economics and Business Research has calculated that just shy of £10 of economic profit is achieved for every £1 invested in digital skills.

The problem is that traditional digital skills courses sometimes overlook the importance of teaching people how to use digital platforms to be physically active - be that by finding things like equipment, booking pitches or using online workout platforms.

But a good example of solving this issue is the Get Out Get Active initiative. This campaign provided activity sessions for disabled people alongside digital skills sessions to help them grow in confidence and find other suitable activities.

This is the kind of blended approach that we need to follow to make sure everybody is able to make the most of any digital opportunities.

The Active Sunnah campaign

On Friday 28 October, the Active Sunnah campaign went live through the weekly Friday sermon, which is conducted by Mosques throughout the country.

It highlighted how the Islamic faith is filled with examples from the highest sources relating to participation in sports and physical activity.

The sermons were conducted at over 130 Mosques throughout the country and transmitted via social media directly into people’s homes, plus the collaboration of our national and local partners meant the reach was further extended.

Several Sport England colleagues attended the sermons, including football relationship manager Asad Qureshi, who visited the Makkah Mosque in Leeds.

We also produced a document that illustrated concepts such as maintaining a healthy body, mindfulness and spiritual awareness.

This resource illustrated the historic traditions in a simple format so that they could be utilised by all organisations and institutions across the country, and it remains a tool that educational organisations such as the Madrassahs can use with their children for years to come.

We had two objectives with this campaign: to remind Muslims of our heritage and how we must look to revive this somewhat forgotten perspective; and to educate national organisations providing clarity that Islam is not a barrier towards sport and integration.

As a direct result of the engagement and awareness campaign, we’ve been inundated with messages from organisations such as Mosques, Madrassahs, sports clubs and charities who would like to work in collaboration with us delivering sport and physical activity for inactive members of their local communities. 

And we have also been approached by organisations such as the British Islamic Medical Association and the Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board to carry out further campaigns pertaining to health and wellbeing.

The campaign was – and continues to be – a resounding success, with Muslims and non-Muslims working together to support the campaign locally and nationally, which is a result we’re tremendously proud of.