Far beyond physical exercise, sports can serve as a powerful tool for personal development, skill-building, and social empowerment. Let’s explore how HAF-funded programmes can help young people break the cycle of poverty, promoting lasting changes in communities worldwide.
1. Building life skills and confidence
One of the greatest benefits of sports programmes is their ability to foster crucial life skills. Sports require discipline, teamwork, goal setting, and resilience, all of which translate into life skills that are invaluable in personal and professional environments. For underserved communities, sports programmes offer a safe space to learn, grow and build a positive outlook on life.
HAF-funded provisions could offer physical activity and creative programmes. Using your local environment, such as stadiums, parks, and beaches for free play and enrichment, you can create a stronger connection with your community and its landmarks.
2. Providing educational support and access
Sports companies enrich a young person’s educational experience. After two successful pilots in 2018 and 2020, research has shown that school holidays are not just a pressure point financially but also show some of the greatest dips in physical, mental and emotional health.
Supporting this engagement with consistent and easily accessible enrichment, physical activity, and even free play is essential for creating better opportunities for engaging your local community with your services. The more they use the services, the better their overall engagement will be.
3. Opening career pathways in the sports industry
HAF-funded programmes can expose participants to how the sports companies work and how wide-ranging the sector is. The sports sector offers diverse opportunities, from coaching, sports management, and marketing to physical therapy and event management.
Remember you’re not just running a programme, but you’re helping young people to discover potential interests, hobbies, and career paths, offering them new aspirations and ambitions. In the long run, this can create access to new talent in your sector that will continue to enrich and expand your programmes.
4. Fostering community engagement and leadership
Sports programmes can foster a sense of belonging and community involvement for young people. This helps build a supportive network and encourages leadership and civic responsibility. Young people who participate in sports are often given roles that develop leadership skills, such as team captain or assistant coach, providing them with experience in managing groups, solving conflicts, and inspiring peers.
HAF-funded programmes provide more opportunities for you to advertise your services and the value of them to a wider audience. For example, the London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark have an existing Kitchen Social Programme incorporated into their HAF programme.
This has allowed them to support healthy eating in their communities, encourage home-cooked meals and partner with local services for a joined-up approach to HAF-funded services.
5. Reducing crime and substance abuse
Sports programmes offer a healthy, structured environment where young people can channel their energy positively. Studies have shown that participation in sports is associated with lower rates of substance abuse and criminal activity, as sports provide both physical outlets and emotional support networks.
HAF-funded programmes help young people to use their holiday time more constructively. Your programmes offer stigma-free opportunities for better lifestyle choices. The more consistent those opportunities, the more often you’ll see increases in their use. To enhance your standing, consider covering subjects such as addiction or use of vapes, cigarettes or other substances, as well as supporting healthy eating at mealtimes.
6. Promoting health and wellbeing
Sports programmes promote physical fitness, mental resilience, and health education, which can lead to better long-term health outcomes. By engaging in sports, young people are more likely to adopt healthy habits that they can carry with them into adulthood, improving their overall quality of life.
Investing in sports programmes as a tool for social change
Governments, nonprofits, and the private sector all have roles to play in supporting these programmes, whether through funding, volunteerism, or creating partnerships. Ultimately, when we empower young people through sports, we invest in a future where they can rise above the constraints of poverty, becoming leaders, role models, and agents of positive change in their communities and beyond.
