Our wonderful friends over at Sport for Confidence are proud to share a new vision that has been coproduced with their participants, partners, commissioners, staff and Board.
They are centrally concerned with tackling inactivity, reducing health inequalities and providing meaningful opportunities for people who face barriers to participation. The team are determined to play their part in striving towards an equitable society.
A new strategy
Following months of extensive consultation with the internal team, partners, stakeholders and policymakers. Sport For Confidence has released ‘Play Your Part’. This strategic document clearly defines how the progressive, award-winning organisation plans to bring communities together to tackle inequalities and strive for a more equitable society.
The new strategic vision outlines why people should work with Sport for Confidence. Within it, they outline the many reasons why people are excluded from our society and community spaces like leisure centres.
The Sport for Confidence team understands this and works to provide a personalised approach focusing on what matters to the person, how the leisure centre can adapt, and how they adjust the sport to make it an inclusive and valuable experience for all.
How they help support people
To achieve their vision and mission, they recognise the importance of looking beyond sport and physical activity. Sport for Confidence listens to their participants. Those who attend Sport for Confidence to feel valued achieve important personal goals such as making friends, building vocational skills and managing their health – the primary reason is rarely to improve their physical fitness.
With that in mind, Sport for Confidence uses a holistic, whole person approach to enabling people to enjoy what sport and physical activity offer. Over the last five years, they have tried and tested an occupational therapy model of practice that provides a professional framework on which we base our work.
They use a ‘no labels’ model, which means that they welcome everyone. The team uses an evidence-based model to provide in-depth clinical reasoning as to how and why they make decisions. It should never be ‘one size fits all’ – they work collaboratively to provide meaningful activity to the person in the right way at the right time and in the right place.
Lyndsey Barrett, BEM, Founder of Sport For Confidence and lead Occupational Therapist, said:
“As Occupational Therapists in any setting, we see the impact of ‘inactivity’ in people’s lives. We play a key role in challenging this and seek to empower and enable people to have opportunities to engage in activity that is meaningful and life changing for them.
“Our Play Your Part strategy has been created to clearly define our vision, values and philosophy.
Sport and physical activity has the power to change lives. Everyone deserves an equal opportunity to participate. Our ambition is to bridge the gap between the need and the provision, creating a level playing field which gives everyone an opportunity to take part in activities that enhance their health and wellbeing.”
Want to learn more? You can read Play Your Part, Sport for Confidence’s new strategy here.
