Sportivate (formly known as ‘Sport Unlimited’) is a 3-year, government funded grant scheme, which has contributed £36 million nationally through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to encourage more young people to take part in sport. ‘Sport Unlimited’ has now moved in to its final term and will finish in March 2011.
The main emphasis of ‘Sportivate’ is to increase and retain participation for young people in a variety of sport. The programmes are mostly non-traditional sports as many more traditional sports are already easily accessible. Projects have included, outdoor pursuits, skipping, martial arts, skateboarding and cheerleading.
March 2011 will see the end of a hugely successful project for Leicester City with over £193,000 brought in to the city from approved bids, allowing over 4,000 young people to access a large variety of new and exciting sports coaching.
An example of the success of Sportivate has come from Leicester Archery Academy, which runs in Evington Leisure Centre, Leicester. The Archery Academy was able to successfully apply for over £3000 which enabled nearly 150 local, young people to try Archery for free. The club were able to attract the interest of local “semi-sporty” young people which allowed them to try a new, exciting and different sport, completely free.
This has led to young people competing in local and regional tournaments and taking up archery as a full time sport. Thanks to limited funding the club has now been able to spread its session to other areas of the city, benefitting more young people.
The new government recently announced the beginning of a new project called “Sportivate” which will replace Sport Unlimited from April 2011. “Sportivate” will uphold many of the principles of Sport Unlimited with a greater emphasis on exit routes and club links. Further information will be available in the near future.
