derbyshire village games cathy rooney operations manager community sports trust
TRANSCRIPT
Derbyshire Village Games
Cathy RooneyOperations Manager
Community Sports Trust
History
• Village Games 2010-13
• 6 of 8 districts in Derbyshire
• 3 year project, total cost £856K of which £600k was awarded by Sport England
• We delivered 36,400 participants attending 222,500 sessions supported by 1150 coaches, 1500 volunteers
New Project
• Village Games 2013-16• 3 years, £740k. £240k DCC Public Health,
£240k Sport England, £260k other partners • New geographical areas including 2 new
districts – Chesterfield and Erewash• Move towards more urban areas –
Estate Games• Focus on areas of deprivation –
the 30% most deprived in England
How we work• Partnership approach - Village Games Co-ordinator in
each District across Derbyshire• Embedded within local teams BUT with Village
Games identity. This has been VITAL as we’ve moved to more deprived areas
• Active Derbyshire – Active District – Village Games• Areas of deprivation – priority villages/wards but never
refusing a warm lead• We help local communities develop and deliver their
own Village Games sport sessions, classes and events by finding out what communities want. We don’t deliver direct, we facilitate!
Community Cafe
Ask the right questions to the right people……•The ones that aren’t active!•Youth groups, sheltered housing, primary schools, community associations, parish councils, over 60’s groups, village hall committees, cubs, brownies etc•But also the ones that aren’t engaged in the community…..•Hairdressers, pub, post office, school gate, bus stops and failing that…. Knocking on doors! •Neighbourhood nudgers to inspire and encourage others – who is the one everyone knows?!
Challenges
• Some of the challenges we’ve faced and how we overcame them
• Some of the things we’ve found out along the way!
Operational stuff• A small organisation that went big almost
overnight!• Governance, systems, process and
procedures all need to be in place, and be robust, before you start delivery
• Budgeting and managing of the money has to be spot on – we are now responsible for 11 staff. For us cash flow is a big issue – our SLAs, reporting and invoicing needs to be spot on.
Partnership Working• Partnership working is tricky…Be prepared to be
flexible! Don’t sweat the small stuff but stand your ground when it matters. Example activities for under 14s and whole project planning
• Communication, Communication, Communication. We provide 3 monthly local and whole project results against KPIs, plus every 6 months more detailed facts and figures, case studies and partnership meetings
• Detailed delivery planning is absolutely essential so that everyone understands what’s being delivered, where and when
Managing Expectations - participants
• We want a BMX track and a 50 meter swimming pool…..
• Never promise what you can’t deliver
• What? You’re not going to do it for us?
• Whoever delivers first must continue – participants build relationships with the instructor/activator.
Managing Expectations - staff
• ‘Derbyshire Village Games gets you active, where you live, by raising the heartbeat of your community’!
• The reality…….
Changing behaviour isn’t easy
Changing Behaviour
• Formal staff training (open questioning, listening skills etc)
• Staff work remotely so it’s essential they have opportunities to share best practice and get support – we have a formal team meeting monthly and an informal admin day monthly where we are all in the same place at the same time
Slow start
• Don’t panic!!!!!• Building networks and
undertaking consultationtakes time
• Do it right… not fast! • Keep talking to your
Relationship Manager• Talk to others delivering similar
projects – benchmark!
Collecting the numbers• How do you collect data on 222,000
participations and have time for the real work?• Make data capture robust but not onerous • Data capture software – we use good old excel!• Our process…. Week 1-6 hands-on, week 6-12
light touch, weeks 12 onwards 3 monthly contact – a ‘how’s it going’ catch-up and gather information on average numbers at sessions (contact conversation captured and filed!)
Casual regular participation v sport system
• We wrote a comprehensive Health & Safety booklet and implementation plan and negotiated with our insurers so that those leading adult activities are trained via internal hazard awareness training
Great! You need to be UKCC Level 2 qualified for our insurance... The
coaching course is over 4 consecutive weekends, the next available is in 2 months in Sheffield, I’ll stick your name down!
‘I’d like to volunteer’
Knowing when to quit!
• Sometimes you’ve engaged, consulted, listened, facilitated….
• And it just doesn’t work
• If it hasn’t worked within 6 weeks it will never work
• Analyse what you did then go back to the drawing board!
What we’ve found…
• People Get People Active - ‘Normal’, understanding, welcoming, warm, fun
• Think Spice Girls…. Non threatening!• Potential participants tell us they
need…..Encouragement to overcome the fear of joining in; local activities to reduce travelling time; shorter sessions to fit into routine; friends/social element; gentler forms of activity; fun; casual; flexibility but to be part of something; inter-generational
Chillax• As SPORT development officers we can
be stuck in our ways! Forget traditional sport development – pathways and talent development are not really relevant to this market
• Brands and products delivered in a friendly and fun way – not necessarily leading to anything other than regular casual participation
Sport…. But not as we know it
• Sport with a friendlier face and a neighbourhood base
• Include choice, multi-sports, beginner level sessions, family activities, return to programmes and ‘pay as you play’ to encourage experimentation and enjoyment
• Non-traditional venues. Netball on a badminton court, volleyball on the local rec.
• Short bursts – half hour hit, school-gate squeeze-in, bish bash bosh!
