RiC Case Study - Tees Valley

Good Practice Case Study Tees Valley Sport County Sports Partnership How Tees Valley Engage Recruits

Background Tees Valley Sport Community Sports Partnership (CSP) was a pilot for the Recruit into Coaching (RiC) Programme in the period January – March 2009. A steering group was established, involving representatives from Tees Valley Sport and three local authority leads, who decided that the RiC programme would be rolled out through a Community Sport Network (CSN) in the three RiC-eligible areas (Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland). The CSN had been established to help develop sport and physical activity and support clubs with funding ideas. The CSP and the school sport partnership (SSP) in Tees Valley were part of this network and were able to work closely on the delivery of the RiC programme.

The steering group met to discuss the progress of the RiC programme, share good practice from across the three RiC areas and discuss any problems or issues that had arisen and potential solutions.

The delivery of training and qualifications was straightforward as the SSP and the sports development team both had accredited tutors that could provide RiC-related workshops (Community Sports Leaders Award [CSLA] and Level 1) for recruits. This arrangement proved to be mutually beneficial as potential employers, including the SSP and local authority, could see the recruits coming through the programme and identify who they could employ to deliver sessions and had the ability to progress to further qualifications.

Target Groups Tees Valley Sport decided to target the following groups for the RiC programme: •

unemployed young people

•

individuals aged 16 years and over

•

individuals with no prior coaching experience or awards

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individuals who lived in the three RiC-eligible areas: Hartlepool; Middlesbrough; Redcar and Cleveland.

In August 2008 there were 16,478 people claiming unemployment benefit in the Tees Valley – 4.1% compared with the national average of 2.4%. The table below provides a breakdown of unemployment statistics in the three RiC-eligible areas of Tees Valley, compared with national figures.

Good Practice Case Study

Men

Women

Total

Number of unemployed

%

Number of unemployed

%

Number of unemployed

%

Hartlepool

2043

7.2

625

2.3

2668

4.8

Middlesbrough

3428

7.7

999

2.4

4427

5.1

Redcar and Cleveland

2567

6.0

854

2.1

3421

4.1

Great Britain

644,788

3.4

249,890

1.4

894,678

2.4

Source: Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit (2008), ʻUnemployment in the Tees Valley – August 2008ʼ.

To filter the recruits who were serious about developing as a coach from those who were simply collecting coaching qualifications, the CSP put all candidates through CSLA training. They subsequently undertook 10 hours of volunteer coaching before finally progressing to a governing body of sport Level 1 qualification in a sport of their choice. Local authority leads in each of the boroughs established placements for RiC recruits in a variety of settings, working directly with sports clubs, youth clubs and community centres. They also linked with activities and projects that were already taking place, such as the Links Project that provides activities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Recruitment Approaches The Tees Valley RiC project used various methods to recruit people to the programme. To attract recruits from a range of backgrounds and ensure maximum coverage and outreach to target groups, it utilised a network approach that involved making use of YMCA services, the local Youth Service, Connexions, SSPs, volunteer parents from local schools, Further Education establishments and Safe in Tees Valley (a scheme that works with young people). Each of the three local authorities involved also engaged with appropriate partners in their own areas to recruit candidates. They met with

partners and, using descriptions provided

by Tees Valley Sport, explained the programme and how partners could contribute through the referral of recruits.

The partners sent lists of interested individuals to Tees Valley Sport who contacted each of them to talk more about the programme.

The team placed adverts in local newspapers, on the Tees Valley Sport website and on those of the various partner organisations mentioned above.

Although some of the partners were excellent at referring clients, the task of actually converting these referrals into recruits was not always successful; difficulties remain in accessing those who are ‘hard to reach’ or ‘hard to engage’ and development work in this area is ongoing.

For example, fewer females than males took up the Tees Valley RiC offer and, as a result, they are considering putting on a female-only CSLA to reach harder-to-engage groups.

However, due to the success of the RiC programme in the Tees Valley (there is currently a waiting list of people to start the programme), Tees Valley Sport does not feel that access to recruits is a problem. As the programme progresses, they are exploring the idea of providing CSLA courses for specific target groups in the community, such as young mums, and work with them intensively – looking at what coaching needs exist and where the gaps are.

Tees Valley has been innovative in the way it has used the RiC programme to develop its coaches and provide local sporting opportunities. Currently, work is

© Action Images Limited

Filtering

underway with a group of girls who are interested in street dance classes. Using Sport Unlimited funding, street dance classes were set up by the sports development officer and some of the older participants have been encouraged to take the CSLA course in order to coach younger members. This will ensure that the group becomes sustainable through investment in their skills and capacity.

The Further Education Sport Coordinator (FESCo) for the area has also recruited participants by ‘selling’ the programme to his students. This has worked well because the students personally know the tutor delivering the CSLA, thus making it less daunting. The impact of this face-to-face recruitment can be seen in more detail in the example below.

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Sustaining Interest Tees Valley Sport has piloted a number of ideas to sustain recruits’ interest in the programme. For example, the CSP, in collaboration with the tutors from the SSP and the Sport Development Team, delivered CSLA courses at different times of the day, provided either intensively or stretched over a number of weeks.

Notably, a CSLA workshop was delivered in Hartlepool once a week over six weeks, but the tutor found that the drop-off rate was high. Therefore the same workshop was delivered intensively with three sessions per week for two weeks and the retention rate was 100%.

Of course, the delivery approach would depend upon the needs of the client and how it fits around their current situation as most students appear to work quite well with a programme that is run once a week over six weeks, but those who are parents find it harder to attend workshops in the evenings because of childcare responsibilities.

The CSN has now introduced a refundable deposit policy, which means that each individual who applies to go on a workshop pays a deposit of £10 and receives their money back when they turn up for the first session. So far this has proved successful; on the last course only one person did not turn up.

© Action Images Limited/Reuters

Not only do the recruits attend a CSLA course, undertake volunteering and complete their Level 1 qualification, they also receive information about the CSP and SSP, what sports development is, and who is involved. This has made the recruits much more aware of what

coaching involves; namely, who they can coach and the different opportunities available. Many people have come into the programme with an idea that to be a coach you need to be coaching elite athletes – an assumption that clearly needs to be challenged.

Dormanstown The RiC Programme has achieved significant results with a group of young men (aged 16–30) from one of the most deprived areas in Tees Valley, Dormanstown. This particular group had been engaging in anti-social behaviour but started working with a local Police Community Support Officer and their Sports Development Officer, Michelle, back in 2008.

Through discussions it was identified that there were no sporting activities in the local area for the young people to engage in, and what they really wanted were some goalposts on a piece of land so they could play football. Michelle was keen for the group to be involved in securing the funding so they attended local meetings to appreciate the amount of work involved in getting the goalposts. They also helped to organise a public consultation meeting where they could speak to residents and put their case forward.

The RiC programme seemed like an ideal opportunity to provide the young men with the necessary skills and experience to volunteer within a local football club. This encouraged them to engage with other members from the community, particularly the younger age groups, and ‘give something back’ to the local organisations and partners who had supported them. It was commented that the group’s commitment to RiC has been ‘fantastic’ and that ‘they always turned up to their workshops whatever the weather!’ This group are now in the process of completing 10 hours of voluntary coaching with local clubs and will be attending their Level 1 Football qualification in the new year, which is

being delivered in partnership with the local SSP. Not only are they working their way through the RiC programme, but they are also taking advantage of other opportunities, including contributing to the Youth Games as volunteers.

Key Success Factors and Top Tips for Recruitment •

Target specific groups – the work you do with the group can be tailored specifically for them, which can improve retention and enthusiasm to continue. If you engage the ‘ring leader’, usually the rest will follow.

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Selling the programme face-to-face improves take-up – local partner organisations can also act as a referral agency for recruits.

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Run courses locally with local tutors who have the right skills to work with the groups involved – this will ensure that it is easy for recruits to attend and the tutors are aware of locally available training and coaching opportunities.

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Think about how you determine a coach’s commitment to the RiC programme; consider using CSLA as screening approach and use refundable deposits to encourage attendance on courses.

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Think about the types of coaches you need in your area. In Tees Valley, the CSN identified the need for coaches to work with young children so, in the future, they hope to target young mums and other parents to help fill this gap – turning people who are already good with children into coaches, rather than teaching coaches to be good with children.

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Working together, using an integrated approach between school and community settings and partner organisations, means that a partnership can offer a recruit whatever is best for him or her, and the partners can share their time and resources, avoiding duplication.

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