NO matter if you are glass half-full or half-empty during the current situation, most of us feel like the glass isn’t moving at all. For sport, this is a major issue – particularly those that rely on large swathes of supporters congregating together in the one place.
However, what this situation has shown is how important sport and physical activity is to our lives. It further cements the role of the “sport for change” organisations which continue to support those in most need.
As chair of Scottish Sports Futures (SSF), I couldn’t be more proud of how all the staff reacted to this new normal in terms of their working life. I am delighted to say that we have retained all the full-time staff, having only to furlough those who were sessional. This, of course, is courtesy of the many grant-funders who have invested into the various programmes. Recent figures put together for our Phase 4 report to the Scottish Government fund CashBack for Communities were extremely positive, and showed quite clearly the need for this type of intervention: using sport to change lives.
Let’s start with our young volunteers, who have nearly 17,000 hours of volunteering supporting others in their communities. We worked with a total of 5320 young people. 90% of the participants were from the most deprived 20% of the population, with 27% from the most deprived 5% of areas in Scotland. This highlights how challenging and rewarding the role of the young volunteer is with SSF.
The feedback from those involved in the project speaks for itself. 92% of young people said that their confidence had improved through being involved in SSF programmes, with 95% saying they felt more positive about themselves, their lives or their futures. In fact, 93% of participants and 100% of stakeholders felt that SSF helped young people improve their wellbeing.
However, fund-raising is always required and we welcome any support.
Find out more at www.justgiving.com/scottishsportsfutures.
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