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How not to lose coaches and alienate children

Play Their Way is turning one and our workforce partnerships manager explains why it’s time to switch up the tactics and empower this child-first coaching movement.

23rd May 2024

by Alex Darbon-Cole
Workforce partnerships manager, Sport England

On this day one year ago, we launched Play Their Way.

Our aim with this campaign was simple, but not small: to play a major part in creating positive experiences for children and young people by steering the future direction of children’s coaching in sport and physical activity.

This is to ensure that all children and young people – regardless of age, gender, background or ability – have equal opportunities to develop a life-long love for being active, based around the rights-based principles of voice, choice and journey.  

Driven by the Play Their Way team, who sit within UK Coaching with the expert guidance of the Children’s Coaching Collaborative, the movement has had a significant impact on the conversation around how children and young people should experience being active. 

Using its child-first, rights-based approach, Play Their Way has gained significant traction through digital channels – Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) – and within the mainstream media, with over 10 million social media engagements.

Blue-background graphic that shows a number one with a crown to celebrate the first anniversary of Play Their Way. There's also a quote that says: "It's been a real turning point for me to understand that kids can have fun and still develop the core skills they need. Focus on the fun, the rest will follow." The quote is signed by Sophie and on the bottom right we see the Play Their Way logo in white.

The campaign has also demonstrated that there is significant appetite for an alternative conceptualisation of the sport experience for children and that people are willing to engage others in this discussion, with over 34,000 resource downloads and event attendances.

A movement for coaches by coaches

The above figures paint a very positive story, so why am I struggling to accept this as a success?

The film 'How To Lose Friends & Alienate People' inspired me on the provocative title of this blog today.

Play Their Way aspires to be a coach-led movement that respects the rights of the child but, I wonder, have we really made coaches feel this way?

To date, the movement has needed to be launched mainly by organisations.

These organisations are the experts within the Children’s Coaching Collaborative and have acted as the voice for coaches.

They’ve also conducted thorough research with coaches, so it's not as if these have been ignored, but I’m still not sure whether coches feel like they fully 'own' the movement.

The question we are therefore asking ourselves now is: how are we going to create environments for Play Their Way to become coach-led?

Play Their Way aspires to be a coach-led movement that respects the rights of the child but, I wonder, have we made coaches feel this way?

I have to say that whilst I’m the one signing this blog, many colleagues have been involved in planning for the next phase of the movement, like Stuart Armstrong – Sport England’s strategic lead for workforce transformation – who succinctly captured our ambitions:

  • Start small and local: a movement is more effective through smaller local groups rather than large crowds, as people are more easily mobilised when connecting at a local level. So we aim to operate in a ‘hyper-local’ way using methods that work at the level of locally-trusted organisations such as community groups, sports clubs or local youth services. We need to start with them, leveraging their passion and equipping them with the tools to spread the message and attract others to join the movement.
     
  • Leveraging intention signalling: avoiding ‘slacktivism’ (following a movement because you agree with the principles but then do nothing about it). In our case this would be someone agreeing that child-first coaching is good, but not taking any actions such as advocating for it in their networks. We need to give supporters an opportunity to show their commitment to a shared mission and demonstrate their willingness to step up when it really counts.
     
  • Social signifiers: think Rainbow Laces or the Poppy Appeal. They both have unique and instantly recognised physical symbols to identify supporters. We feel that Play Their Way could benefit from these symbols too, as being able to recognise a child-first coach – on the field, at an event or in school – is a powerful mechanism to build movements. A badge or emblem can also raise awareness for the movement and can start a conversation on the field, as well as help create a sense of identity and pride for those already involved.
     
  • Activate the advocates: engaging the existing child-first advocates already campaigning for a more progressive view on coaching.

Looking at the future of our campaign

These tactics show that Play Their Way has to be more than a coach-only movement.

It must address structural and systemic barriers stopping many coaches to move the mission forward.

What is needed is an effectively distributed model that uses a centralised framework of resources, support and messaging combined with enabling approaches to connect people together. 

I am hopeful that if we follow through this approach we will see an empowered and inclusive workforce that feels part of something special, so more children receive incredible experiences while being active.

Find out more

Play Their Way

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