Teachernet, Step Into Sport

Step into Sport

Kids playing sports

Step into Sport is the one of the eight workstrands within the national school sports strategy. The project is delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, Sport England and Sports Leaders UK. It provides a clear framework of coordinated opportunities at a local level to enable young people aged 14 to 19 to begin and sustain an involvement in leadership and volunteering through sport.

In schools, pupils can experience sports leadership, gain leadership qualifications, help children in primary schools organise festivals of sport, and take up sports volunteering placements in their communities. At the same time, the national governing bodies in 17 different sports are being supported to develop and implement volunteering strategies to ensure the effective deployment, development and recognition of their volunteers in community sports clubs.

Boy plaing with ball Overall, Step into Sport is seeking to increase the percentage of young people aged 14 to 19 from school sport partnerships actively involved in sports leadership and volunteering, from nine per cent in 2004 to 14 per cent in 2006, and to 18 per cent in 2008.

In total, for between 2002 and 2006, the Government has allocated £15 million to Step into Sport, with a commitment to maintaining the current baseline figure of £4 million in the years 2006/07 and 2007/08.

In the first two years (2002-04), Step into Sport has:

trained 60 000 young people in Junior and Community Sports Leadership Awards
provided skills-development training for 6,000 14— to 16-year-olds to plan and stage sports festivals for primary schools across the UK
enabled 1500 sports festivals involving 21,000 14— to 16-year-olds and 150 000 primary-school children to be held across the country
engaged 4000 16— to 19-year-olds in community volunteering
hosted two four-day residential camps for 700 young volunteers
trained and recruited 4000 mentor and volunteer coordinators
supported 17 national governing bodies of sport and 45 county sports partnerships to develop volunteering strategies.