Briefing note
Support to develop local sport clubs
Introduction
This briefing paper provides an overview of sportscotland’s support for club sport, with specific focus on:
· SGB Regional Development posts
· development of a club self improvement tool
· new direct club investment
· Awards for All investment
· Sportsmatch investment and
· Help for Clubs.
Overview
As the national agency for sport, sportscotland’s vision is a Scotland where sport is a way of life. To achieve this we are focused on developing a world class sporting system at all levels.
In 2011, sportscotland published the Club Sport Framework. Developed alongside our partners, this document is a guide to support the development of club sport. It identifies the collective challenges and the six priority areas for action in striving for world class club sport in Scotland.
To help achieve these collective challenges, sportscotland invests in SGBs to deploy regional development managers (RDMs) who work directly with clubs. The SGB RDMs work within six Regional Sporting Partnerships (RSPs), bringing local and national partners together to ensure that clubs and the athletes, coaches and volunteers in these clubs are supported to play their part in the sporting system.
The key focus for RSPs is to understand the needs of local sport clubs and work with them to develop. Historically this understanding has been gained through discussion. We aim to improve this by developing a tool that provides clubs with a simple way to self assess themselves against the six focus areas in the Club Sport Framework. This tool will be housed on the Help for Clubs website and will be easy to use and interactive. Once the club works through the tool they will get a summary, showing them where their development opportunities lie. They will also be directed to more detailed information within Help for Clubs that can help them get started on these developments.
The tool will help clubs identify their needs and opportunities and Help for Clubs will help with the solutions. Where solutions require investment, Help for Clubs will provide information on appropriate sources of funding. This may be existing sportscotland programmes like Awards for All, sportsmatch and the Sports Facility Fund, or it could be a number of local and national funding programmes offered by our partners for local sport clubs e.g. local authority grants.
The funding programmes mentioned above tend to be one off awards and short term. They provide very specific support to clubs and rely on local clubs applying for support. This support works well for clubs that require simple solutions to their needs but it doesn’t suit clubs that want to undertake larger scale development that may take a few years to embed. We recognise this is a gap and we are currently developing a direct club investment programme that will work through RSPs to invest in identified clubs over a 2-4 year period. It is designed to support larger scale development that will support a clubs aspiration to becoming world class.
In the following sections we will provide a bit more detailed information on the changes we are making to existing programmes and the new projects we are developing to support clubs.
SGB Regional Development posts
In recent years we have seen real benefit in a regional way of working. We will be investing in more SGBs to grow the number of SGB Regional Development staff in post, ensuring that there are more professional people working directly to support local sport clubs. This focused work will ensure that RSPs provide a place where partners work together with a focus on world class club sport.
Club self improvement tool
The aim of the new clubs self improvement tool is to provide clubs with a simple but tangible way of understanding what their needs are and the opportunities that they have to improve. The tool will be housed on sportscotland’s Help for Clubs website. It will allow clubs to self assess themselves against the six priority areas of the Club Sport Framework;
· Well Organised
· Better Connected
· Well Promoted
· Sustainable
· Great People and
· Great Places.
The tool will be an interactive journey through these six priority areas and at the end; clubs will be presented with a clear picture of what they do well and where they could improve. Development opportunities will be identified and a link to HfC, giving further information in these specific areas will be provided. Overall the tool will provide clubs with a holistic view on the development opportunities that exist for them.
Direct club investment programme
This new direct club investment programme is focused on strengthening club sport by delivering on two key outcomes:
· Growth in club membership and/or;
· Growth in clubs which provide the correct environment to develop athletes to performance levels.
We want to support clubs to sustainably grow the active membership of their club, consequently increasing the opportunities they offer and the number of people taking part in club sport.
The other focus of this investment stream is the progression of athletes aspiring to world class performance. We want to support clubs to create an environment where the required coaching, practice time and attitudes are fostered and displayed.
The investment is designed to help clubs with ambition to make a step change in their delivery through targeted resources which would not otherwise be available, for example professionalising their coaching infrastructure, developing a pathway for women or accessing a better facility.
This investment is available from 1 April 2013, but in the initial year of this programme we will be taking a pragmatic approach to develop our understanding of how best to support these clubs over the next few years. We will use the RSPs to identify and support around 50 clubs during 2013-14 and will make investment decisions on specific projects twice during this period, in June and September. Notionally we would like to support up to 35 clubs across the Highlands & Islands, Grampian, Tayside & Fife, Central and East regions and up to 15 clubs in the West region. We want to ensure that clubs from a wide number of sports benefit form this investment and clubs don’t have to have a SGB Regional Development post in their sport to receive support.
Regarding levels of investment, we are working to a guide figure of up to £10,000 per project per annum. Our approach to investment will be for the club and its partners to consider what they can bring to the project and then sportscotland will provide additional support to help add value. When making investment decisions we will consider projects against the following principles:
· Impact – ability to deliver against outcomes
· Sustainability – ensuring the work will be sustained by the sport over time
· Holistic approach – ensuring the appropriate partners are working together
· High standards – improving the quality of club sport
· Additionality – adding value not replacing what exists already.
Any sport club can apply for investment, and all RSP partners (local authorities, SGBs, universities, colleges and sportscotland) have a role to encourage applications from clubs that they feel are ready to make a step change and deliver against the outcomes. Applications are to be submitted to their respective RSP in time for the June and September deadlines and should be submitted in the form of a business case. A business case guide is available from sportscotland for applicants.
Each RSP will identify the clubs that they collectively feel are best placed to deliver the outcomes and present their recommendations to a sportscotland investment panel for approval. Investment will be provided for 2-4 years, depending on the project, and activities must be captured in the clubs own plan. The appropriate investment will be provided to the club and the impact will be monitored over the duration of the agreed project. We will have the ability to invest through the club, local authority or SGB to support the club and will take a case by case approach to ensure we use the right mechanism.
We are clear that any investment must achieve the specific outcomes and we will monitor the outcomes throughout each project to ensure it is having an impact. Our initial focus will be on making changes to improve but we will make tough decisions if impact isn’t being made.
Awards for All
We will be increasing the budget for sport clubs to apply to Awards for All from £1 million to £1.5 million from 1st April 2013. This programme is a valued resource for sport clubs and provides a flexible opportunity to invest in the needs of local sport clubs.
Sportsmatch
In the summer of 2013 we will be re-launching an updated sportsmatch investment stream. The stream will still support new or enhanced grassroots sport by matching sponsorship of a club between £500 and £10,000. An online application form will make applying easier for clubs and we have taken away the investment categories to ensure we are able to invest in the specific needs of each club.
Help for Clubs
In order to ensure that we provide world class guidance to local sport clubs we will be developing the Help for Clubs (HfC) website during 2013. HfC is a really well used resource but it needs to improve if we aspire to support world class sport clubs in Scotland.
We will undertake a project to improve all aspects of the site to ensure that it meets the needs of club sport. This will include ensuring that the advice and guidance is appropriate and that there are a variety of resources to help clubs develop. Our aim is to develop HfC as a place that informs, inspires and engages club people.
Further information
Please contact James Steel, Lead Manager on 0141 534 6592 or 07949 277 526 or Stuart Ferrier, Lead Manager on 0141 534 6529 or 07855 229 506.
Contact: James Steel /Stuart Ferrier
April 2013
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