Part 3: Curiosities and Criticisms of Sport- Strategic Misalignment
A small child grips the cold bar of a tall reinforced black spiked fence. Their forlorn face is pressed between two pickets, staring longingly at the empty field on the other side.
The field is a vibrant green. Blindingly brilliant. The grass is immaculate. There are no discernible patches or divots. It looks soft and inviting, perfect for a game of footy or even just to lay on and gaze up at the clouds.
You'd be forgiven for thinking we are describing an incarcerated youth, but this child is not locked in, they are locked out.
Last year at the National Sports & Physical Activity Convention I was engrossed in a conversation with some colleagues. As experienced sports administrators they were hardened and they were despondent.
The source of their frustration was not the typical lack of funding. Nor was it stemming from an increasingly inactive society. In fact, they had overcome both these hurdles.
The issue wasn't even a lack of facilities, there were plenty.
The problem was that they couldn't access any of them. Not one.
I am talking about schools.
One of the biggest issues plaguing sports and physical activity in Australia is the strategic misalignment of key stakeholders.
The very first priority listed in the Sport 2030 National Sport Plan by the Australian Sports Commission is to "Build a more active Australia".
Critical to promoting participation in community sports and physical activity is access to suitable facilities. This is supported by an abundance of research from around the world.
It's something we are aware of.
"By 2030...Barriers will be reduced, allowing greater access to sporting facilities and infrastructure for all Australians no matter where they live."- ASC.
Because of this, Australia has an increasing number of initiatives driving infrastructure development for sporting organisations. The NSW government has even claimed we are "in the midst of a sports facility construction boom".
And while I'm sure the $113m pledged by the NSW State Government for NRL 'Centres of Excellence' will be very helpful if you are in the rugby league elite pathway, I'm not convinced it will do much to increase the capacity of most grassroots sports.
I believe the development of new facilities is important, but it's no silver bullet.
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We are missing a trick.
We talk about 'optimising our facilities to advance sport and inspire Australians to get involved" but we are not collaborating to optimise the use of facilities that already exist.
Let's go back to my colleagues at the NSC.
They had spent months trying to find a way to meet increasing demand for their participation programs by utilising school ovals 'after hours'. These fields were not being used and the sports were even willing to pay hire fees!
When I questioned the reason for the school's reluctance, the answers were disappointing, but not surprising.
It mostly comes down to stricter insurance, excessive paperwork and enough red tape to deter even the most passionate school administrator.
They are so concerned that a rogue ball might smash a window or the turf my get churned that they are willing to lock their gates and pour potentially millions of additional hours of physicial activity down the toilet each year.
Now I know I have been accused of naive optimism on more than one occasion.
And, I know different organisations have disparate, and even competing priorities, so I'm not even going to go near the Private or Catholic Schools this time.
But how is it that state and federal governments are committed to increasing physical activity, yet we have policies from one department desperately pushing for more facilities, while another puts fences around those that already exist?
I love good governance. I am all for due process. But if we keep making it more and more difficult to engage, contribute and innovate as an industry, if we don't have greater strategic alignment from key stakeholders, then the goals set for 2030 are merely pretty words on paper.
If you made it to the end of this piece and have an opinion, idea or criticism I'd love to hear it. Please don't be shy.
You can also check out the other articles in this series:
Recreation & Open Space Planner at Midcoast Council | Member of Parks & Leisure Australia (PLA) National Advisory | JP, Mmnt, ASM, NEM, DFSM, CPLP
2 年I have been in the industry for 22 years Nick, and we were trying to get access to school sports facilities 20 odd years ago. The issue is one of "who is in control". What we found was that you need to enter agreements with each and every school principal, because they "sign" for their respective assets. If you get a brave one they will sign an MOU with the local council and off you go. But when they get posted you lose that. The worse situation I saw was when with SRQ. We signed a MOU to build a 25m indoor pool in a school, so that the community could access it out of hours. All great for 3 years, then the principal got posted. The next guy banned all community access. That is the issue. Another point is one of tenure. Schools, just like community sports facilities sit on crown land. That land is supposed to be accessible to the community, but school facility units have convinced the government that they need to build 6ft high fences, to protect the kiddies, forgetting that they can't do that. You can't put a fence around crown land. Good subject.
Coordinator Community Facilities Operations - City of Wanneroo | Leader | Sporting and Community Assets Planning and Operations
2 年This is where "shared use agreements" between the education department and local councils can help. After all, families that attend the local schools are ratepayers. Yes, there are complexities to work through, but they work well for us. We get access to the schools car park after hours, and the school can access our oval during the day. So our community clubs get local grounds and provide good passive surveillance for the school. There is more to it... but that will do for now.
Leadership | MBA | Board Director | Strategic Planning
2 年Dave Goodwin
Managing Director at Hunter Hamilton Consulting
2 年Nick you have highlighted a key reason grass roots sport is struggling. Schools use to create the love of sport in our kids with the flow on benefits to community health (less obesity, less mental illness, understanding of the benefits of teamwork, resilience, etc). Our schools these days look for easy ways out in this area - promoting a strong sports program means you have to manage risks, motivate kids who’d prefer to be playing on their phone & complete a bunch of red tape, all whilst using tired facilities. And of course you can’t have winning and losing as well!!! It’s a major issue for society as organised sport in schools is just not a priority anymore.
CEO at Little Athletics Queensland
2 年I remember walking up to my local school oval to kick a footy through the goals, throw a frisbee with my brothers and ride a bike in the asphalt courtyard. Are the fences there to protect facilities after hours, or protect students during them? Because no-one is going to damage the oval (unless a car can access them), and the kids aren't protected from outside visitors during the day anyway... 1. Rebuild the fence to exclude the ovals 2. Take away liability for damage from the principal 3. Reinvest the money from hitting the fields into maintenance to ensure they can cope with increased usage