CSP: Active Dorset
Introduction
The ‘Give it a Go’ programme (GIAG) was created by Active Dorset County Sports Partnership in conjunction with the Arts University Bournemouth (AUB).
In 2015, Active Dorset met with AUB and were told “…our students aren’t interested in sport”. One year on, the Student Union (AUBSU) have embraced the need for physical activity, worked with the CSP to successfully apply for Sportivate innovation funding and even employed a new member of staff to service the demand met by the CSP’s research and insight.
Active Dorset and AUBSU are working in collaboration to ensure that social, non-competitive sport and physical activity play a bigger part on campus and enriches the lives and health of AUB students.
Effective use of insight and customer engagement
- It took the CSP 6 months to fully understand the motivations of the AUB community through a pilot programme which showed the demands of AUB student community as very different to those of Bournemouth University (BU) students, despite the Universities being the width of a road apart. Prior to this, we believed that BU serviced the demand of AUB students, but this was not the case.
- Sport England Youth Insight has been utilised in the design of the project; AUB students are most likely to be ‘Cautious Introverts’ – the least likely segment to participate in sport. Therefore, session delivery and marketing are designed specifically to an AUB audience. Advertising has therefore not mentioned ‘sport’ but messages have included motivational terms such as ‘keeping fit’, ‘social’, ‘health’ and ‘wellbeing’.
- The GIAG logo is designed by AUB students. Appearance and design is extremely important to the AUB community. Therefore, if marketing isn’t designed to appeal to Make Up, Architectural or Fine Art students for example, they will not take up the activity, despite how appealing the session might otherwise seem.
- Participant feedback is so important if GIAG is to remain social and enjoyable, so we ask Activators to adapt their delivery according to requests from participants. Subsequent feedback from participants includes: “Activators have been really helpful, I was a total beginner and they really helped me”; “Sometimes we focus on particular skills, sometimes we just play matches – it is up to us!” and “I discovered netball with a friend and we really enjoy the informal atmosphere of the sessions”.
Evidence of achievement against the objectives set
- The original Sportivate application has a KPI target of 195 students by 31st March 2016. After term 1, the half-way stage, over 160 students have already engaged (158% of term 1 target).
- Another aim was to increase the awareness of the benefits of physical activity on campus through the ‘Give It a Go’ project. More than half of the students now recognise the GIAG project and awareness has risen dramatically. In a recent survey, the demand for new sports/physical activity has outgrown music and the arts. 57% of requests for new clubs or societies on campus were for sport-related activity, compared to just 10% from the previous academic year.
- o The project targeted national Sportivate underrepresented priorities such as the inactive, females and those aged 19-25. 98% are aged 19-25, 73% are female and 86% are inactive at registration.
Effective local leadership - brokering relationships, influencing stakeholders & co-ordinating delivery
Despite the initial response in late 2015 being that “AUB students are not interested in sport”, it is arguable that the CSP now has a tremendous relationship with this University than any other due to months of negotiation and influencing the right people in the right departments. The CSP has led in negotiations to create links between AUB, numerous NGBs and local businesses. Project lead Gary Head recently completed the CSPN Leadership Journey and believes that skills learnt on this course have improved the effectiveness of his influencing skills with key partners.
To cope with the new demand and prove their ongoing commitment to social sport, AUBSU showed their dedication and commitment to GIAG by employing a Sports Assistant in 2016 to increase GIAG awareness and participation.
The project has reached members from the entire AUB community with every course available at AUB having students attending sessions. We have recently engaged with other departments at AUB, such as Creative Events Management, who have choreographed a fencing flash mob to be held in the library in January and a day-long ‘Healthy Living’ event on campus in February.
Innovative practice – product/service and/or processes used
To register participants at sessions, every Activator uses Parkrun scanners to scan the individual’s student card, leaving the Activator to concentrate on delivering the session and not having to take a register. This innovative practice links scanned data to a database designed by the IT department at AUB which in turn, automatically uploads participant data to the database; who turned up, what time, email and postal address, age (etc).
Using Ping sets, GIAG has even turned the canteen into a Table Tennis venue in the evening, where students can turn up in casual clothing, purchase food and drink and participate in social Table Tennis. The project has even used classrooms to deliver Yoga and Fencing sessions due to the lack of facilities on site. Term 2 will see new activity including Raveminton, Dance and Clubbercise sessions which will take place in a Bournemouth nightclub.
Evidence of sustainability and business development
The success of the project has created job opportunities for graduates. AUBSU employed a new Sports Assistant post which was filled in October 2016.
Sessions are run by Activators who have upgraded CVs, gained valuable coaching experience, and increased their future employability. As a reward for their volunteering, the programme has paid for Activators to attend NGB training, Youth Insight workshops, Mental Health in Sport workshops and gain Emergency Aid and Safeguarding qualifications.
AUB have no sports facilities, so we have block-booked the facilities in a nearby secondary school which previously had very few bookings from the wider community.
We attracted £43,000 of investment for sport in Dorset after a successful Sportivate innovation bid by the CSP in conjunction with AUB. This has boosted the local economy. Local businesses such as schools, restaurants and even a homeless shelter have benefitted from the project whilst Surfing and Climbing businesses in the local area have benefitted from new members/regular customers who first came to their attention through the GIAG project.
The proven demand for sport and physical activity will ensure that this project continues beyond the funded period. The project team, jointly made up of CSP and AUB staff, are working hard behind the scenes to liaise with key partners such as deliverers, volunteers and local businesses, to plan and ensure GIAG delivery continues beyond April 2017