Sport Unlimited Success

Joe and Abbie visiting the Olympic park

Sport Unlimited visit to the Olympic Park

After three years, Sport Unlimited, an innovative national Sport England youth sports programme, aimed at boosting participation among those aged between 5 and 19 by giving them the freedom to choose the sports on offer, came to an end. The programme specifically targeted youngsters who may have some interest in sport, but were not particularly engaged with community or club sport.

This proved to be a huge success in Northumberland with over 111,362 sessions delivered in 30 different high quality sports and activities across the county in a wide range of traditional and less well-known sports including archery, climbing, beach sports and lifeguarding.

National Recognition

Northumberland Sport were also recognised as being the second most consistant County Sports Partnership in the country for delivering the programme, with delivery to over 17,000 young people in the county. This was only achieved by the hard work commitment and dedication shown by partners in the county. Only by working effectively with these delivery partners were we able to achieve this success by;

  • Consulting with young people to find out their needs, tastes and preferences.
  • Working together to produce cohesive plans for young people's sport.
  • Use innovative signposting that promotes awareness and interest.
  • Offering an extensive menu of opportunities.
  • Using incentives to encourage participation, which included prize draws to win a Nintendo Wii and Apple iPod Touch.
  • Obtaining feedback and evaluating activities.
  • Utilising external and high quality deliverers to attract and enthuse young people, which included European PGA Seniors Tour Professionals, Newcastle Eagles and Durham County Cricket Club Coaches.
  • Setting personal goals/challenges and hosting events for young people.
  • Utilising technology including SMS text messaging to encourage participation.
  • Using former Olympic Gymnast andSporting Champion Craig Heap to help raise the aspirations of young people involved in the programme.

London 2012 Inspire Mark

The programme was also awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark, awarded to projects which are inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The award is recognition of a well planned and managed programme that was innovative and inspiring. This supports the view that the impact the programme has had on young people will assist in delivering a lasting participation legacy for the Games in Northumberland.

The "icing on the cake" resulted with two programme participants from Chantry Middle School in Morpeth being invited down to the 2012 Olympic Park & Stadium in London, where they hand delivered a message of goodwill from the Chair of Northumberland County Council to one of the Directors of the 'London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games'.

For more information including case studies, please visit our dedicated Sport Unlimited microsite.

In association with

Northumberland Sport