The Institutional Framework for Mass Participation and Elite Sport Development: the Case of the United Kingdom

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology 2322-3537 www.ijaep.com Vol.8 No.3

The Institutional Framework for Mass Participation and Elite Sport Development: The Case of the United Kingdom

Tamara Dolmatova

PhD in Political Science, Leading researcher,All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Physical Culture and Sport (VNIIFK) Moscow, Russian Federation

ARTICLE INFORMATION ABSTRACT Original Research Paper The problem of the balancing of both mass participation and elite Doi: 10.26655/IJAEP.2019.9.8 sport development appears to be one of the most significant Received May. 2019 problems in the present sport system. The analysis of the Accepted September. 2019 institutional framework of sport governance in the United Kingdom Keywords: including both mass participation and elite sport development mass sport participation, represents one of the extremely important and working models of high-performance sport, sport governance, balancing mass and elite sport. The United Kingdom was not chosen the United Kingdom. by chance. While being one of the world leading sporting powers, the UK is developing effective model of sport governance providing strong balance between mass participation and elite sport development. The institutional structure for the both UK sport priorities is observed. Meanwhile within the institutional framework of sport governance in the United Kingdom one of the central roles play national governing bodies. Collaboration between national sport agencies at the state level and active partnerships at the local level provide national governing bodies to play a significant role both in mass sport participation and elite sport development system as well. Such a partnership at the local level attracts various social groups of the British population to physical activity and mass sport participation meanwhile providing a strong link to the talent pathway system and high performance sport development in the United Kingdom.

Introduction The problem of the balancing of both mass participation and elite sport development appears to be one of the most significant problems in the present sport. Taking into account the fact that physical activity and sport include various social groups it determines the extreme importance of the developing effective model of sport governance providing strong balance between mass participation and elite sport. However, the absence of full-fledged editions and materials dedicated to the comparative analysis of governance framework for mass participation and elite sport development indicates a continuing gap in this field of sport science. In this regard the study of the effective practice of mass participation and elite sport development is of particular importance. The analysis of the state system organization in the field of physical culture and sports given in this paper on the example of the United Kingdom, one of the leading world nations in sport appears to be extremely important and relevant.

Methods In the majority of sport science researches the central role is assigned to the issues of the elite sport system development and talent pathway system meanwhile the problems of mass sport participation are left aside. There has

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology www.ijaep.com VOL.8 (3) been a great amount of studies dedicated to the sport policy, sociology, high-performance sport as well and a few articles have contributed to understanding of the grassroots-level sport organization. Meanwhile the problem of mass sport participation is being extremely relevant, we take into consideration the case of the United Kingdom as one of the world leading sporting nations to study both mass participation and elite sport system. A significant contribution to the study of mass participation have made the Daniels, Bell and Horrocks’ researches. The authors overarched sport and physical activity strategy within an English local authority area [1]. Other British scientists Bolton, Martin, Grace and Harris report on work undertaken with 11 projects funded through Sport Wales’ ‘Calls for Action’ programme which sought to increase participation amongst traditionally hard to reach groups [2]. Based on the researches mentioned above, we used an institutional approach to reveal the organizational structure of the mass participation and elite sport development at the local and national level in the United Kingdom. The experience of organizing the sphere of physical activity at local government level as well as elite sport development at the state level in the UK was considered. In the course of the work, the following research methods were applied: literary sources analysis, generalization, expert evaluation method. Besides, the given research included the methods of analysis, synthesis and comparative analysis.

Discussion Historically and politically determined differences in the forms of government in general define the specifics in the regulation in physical culture and sports. Since the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a constitutional monarchy uniting four nations it provides a quite limited control on territories within the monarchy. The model of sport financing in the UK is based mainly on indirect financing through the national agencies – the UK Sport and the national sport agencies (Sport England, Sport Scotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland), which in turn receive the main revenues from the national lottery. Apart from that, an important source of income for British national governing bodies is made up from athlete’s membership fees as well as athlete’s fees for participation in competitions, sponsorship and donations. It is the UK Sport providing support for high performance sport development, while the national sport councils in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland focus more on the development of mass sports and the involvement of the population in physical activity. Thus, Sport England pays the main attention to the grassroots-level sport at the local government level while the UK Sport supports the system of the elite sport. The UK Sport provides the World Class Programme (WCP), supported and funded by the National Lottery via UK Sport [3, Houlihan, p.22]. Initiated since 1997 with the aim of delivering success at the Olympic Games the WCP plays the central role in the British elite sport system [4, P. 80]. The World Class Programme covers basic summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, providing two main levels reflecting the actual and potential performance results of athletes. The first level is called “Podium” aimed at supporting athletes with realistic medal winning capabilities at the next Olympic/Paralympic Games for the next Olympic cycle. The second level is called “Podium Potential” aimed at supporting of athletes whose performances suggest that they have realistic medal winning capabilities at the subsequent Olympic and Paralympic Games for the two next Olympic cycles, i.e. a maximum of eight years [5]. Thus around 1,300 of the nation’s leading sportsmen and women both at the Podium and Podium Potential levels currently benefit from UK Sport’s annual investment [6]. Although the issues of elite sport development refer to the competences of the UK Sport, the United Kingdom of Great Britain traditionally stands out by a significant independence of the national territories of the UK. Thus, British top level athletes as members of national GB team get support from the English Institute of Sport (EIS), including

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology www.ijaep.com VOL.8 (3) sports science, sports medicine, performance analysis and performance lifestyle, at the last Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang in 2018, Scottish athletes kept quite apart from the UK sports team, bringing to the Olympics a significant staff of SportScotland Institute of Sport specialists to provide scientific and medical support to the Scottish athletes [7]. Providing the systems of talent pathways to elite sport system, national sport agencies, for instance, Sport Scotland seeks to carry out its own policy on elite sport development. Thus, the question of a national identity of top level athletes still remains quite relevant in the UK. It should also be noted that the number of places in the Programme for each national governing body is annually determined by UK Sport proceeding from the number of medals gained at the World Championships or the Olympic Games. The largest number of places in the Programme is allocated for the sport where athletes got the best results and won the largest number of medals. Setting the tone for some competition among national governing bodies, such approach may be considered as rather effective as well as equitable. So, the World Class Programme appears to be one of the best examples of a targeted approach, which supports the elite athletes with the chance to realize their full medal winning potential. In the United Kingdom also a strong social support is provided to the top level athletes due to the Dual career support in order to pursue a sporting career at the highest level and achieve a strong academic performance at the same time [8]. The Dual career support is aimed at personal development of the athlete off the field of play by obtaining additional education and assistance in subsequent employment. Meanwhile British sport organizations must meet some stringent requirements for the obtaining any financial support. Great attention in the British sport today is given to the effective management. In recent years, the UK’s sports sector has shown measurable and substantial improvement in its governance. Many sports organizations have shown a desire and commitment to own their own governance and ensure that it is fit for purpose. All that became possible thanks to the introduction of the Code for Sports Governance in 2016. The Code has been jointly produced by Sport England and UK Sport, and it applies to all organizations within the United Kingdom to whom they provide grant funding. The Code for Sports Governance was implemented in the UK’s sports sector in order to provide a range of mandatory requirements to sports organizations, i.e. setting up an appropriate governance structure with minimum of 30% of each gender on its Board demonstrate a strong and public commitment to progressing towards achieving gender parity and greater diversity generally on its Board, including, but not limited to, Black, Asian, minority ethnic (BAME) diversity, and disability. More than that at least 25% of the Board shall be independent non-executive directors [9]. According to the Code the appointment of the Chair and independent non-executive directors must be via an open, publicly advertised recruitment process. At the same time, British national governing bodies have to provide an open access to annual financial reports as well as minutes of the Board meetings, openly publish financial reports, including information on the income of employees and board staff, that provides a transparency of the financial activity. It should be noticed that, in accordance with the requirements of the Code for Sports Government, the sport organizations set themselves a range of key performance indicators (KPIs) on implementation of which they annually report at meetings within the UK Sport. Thus, the Code for Sports Governance implemented in the UK’s sports sector provides a strong public progressing towards achieving British sport sector’s governance standards among one of the best in the world. As a result, the UK Code for Sports Governance definitely contributes to the competitiveness of British sport in the international arena. Besides, the UK Sport initiated a special “International Leadership Program” (ILP) [10], to select and educate potential applicants from the elite athletes after finishing their competitive activity to complete their work within the board of international sports organizations in order to promote the interests of the UK. The ILP, first established in 2006, is UK Sport’s flagship international leadership programme to develop highly professional sports administrators among retired British athletes to represent the UK in international sports organizations. The ILP demonstrates the UK

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology www.ijaep.com VOL.8 (3) Sport’s commitment to help develop the international sports leaders, providing them with the knowledge, skills and competencies in order to be effective sport administrators at the international sport level. Taking into account the British leadership in the high-performance sport arena in the world its approach to elite sport system development could be determined effective and efficient as well. Meanwhile there couldn’t be reached such a leadership without a strong system of mass participation and physical activity development. The mass participation in Great Britain is based on the dominant role played by the active partnerships and national governing bodies as well. There are 43 active partnerships across England working collaboratively with local authorities and other partners to create conditions for active lifestyles among various social groups at the town and county levels. The mission of the active partnerships is to transform lives of local communities using the power of sport and physical activity [11]. Providing a strong understanding of the needs of the local community active partnerships support the engaging communities and share the practice of what works locally. Active partnerships collaborate with local schools, colleges, national governing bodies and commercial structures to involve various social groups of the local community in physical activity and sports. On the whole, such a practice of physical activity organization might be viewed in the context of a public-private partnership as one of the methods to improve the efficiency of the provision of infrastructure services in sport [12]. There are many examples of the effectiveness of such a work. One of them is the organization of the Total Warrior Great Northern Mud Run in North Yorkshire. This project designed to provide good mental wellbeing to everyone in North Yorkshire, a county in England [13]. The other project “Include Me West Midlands” (IMWM), launched in the West Midlands, designed to deliver more inclusive physical activity among local communities. The project launched in partnership with Sport England is aimed for finding more understanding the needs of disabled people. Sport England is contributing £150,000 towards the overall £179,000 cost of “Include Me West Midlands”, launched at Tipton Sports Academy in Sandwell [14]. Strong cooperation between active partnerships and national governing bodies is implemented in areas such as the development of sports clubs, conducting training programmes for sports coaches, strengthening partnerships with schools, the development of volunteer movement. Thus, among the joint projects being implemented it should be noted the practice of holding annual sports games among the local communities of the counties, in which local residents participate, regardless of their social status, age restrictions, and level of fitness. Games are a sports festival that attracts hundreds of participants, spectators and volunteers who provide assistance in organizing and conducting such events [15]. Active partnerships interact with local schools, implementing a strategy for engaging in sports for young people, the purpose of which is to ensure that children and adolescents engage in physical activity at least 5 hours a week. In addition, in partnership with local schools and colleges with the support of national governing bodies, active partnerships coordinate the implementation of sports programs for children and youth: “Sport without limits”, “Step into sports”, “Become a young coach”, which allows for the involvement in sports significant part of the youth. Although the presented features define much greater autonomy of the British national governing bodies, national governing bodies in the United Kingdom still play a significant role both in mass participation and elite sport development system as well. It should be noted that the budget of the network of active partnerships according to the data for 2018 averaged £ 418, 333, of which £ 380,000 pounds sterling (more than 85% of the budget) were funds from the Sport England delivered as part of subsidies and grants [16]. On the whole, the mechanisms of involving various groups of the population in physical activity and sports at the local UK level are provided by the practices of a number of active partnerships which are public organizations, supported by Sport England. Providing collaboration with local and national partners at the local level active

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology www.ijaep.com VOL.8 (3) partnerships contribute to mass participation and physical activity development as part of the solution and talent pathway programmes as well.

International Journal of Applied Exercise Physiology www.ijaep.com VOL.8 (3) Conclusion To sum up, the institutional framework for sport governance in the United Kingdom is effective while representing its national athletes annually winning the World championships and the Olympic Games and . Although a great attention in Great Britain is paid to the world leadership in elite sport development, mass participation is also a national priority in the UK sport policy. The mass participation at the local level is provided by the active partnerships making collaborations with local and national partners as well as the local authorities. Such a partnership at the local level allows to attract various social groups of the British population to physical activity and mass sports meanwhile providing a link to the development of the talent pathway system for high performance sports in the United Kingdom. So, the mass participation of various social groups at the local level also might be observed as important element, contributing to the elite sport system development in the UK. The institutional framework for mass participation and elite sport development that is in the United Kingdom could be determine as an effective world practice balancing of both mass participation and elite sport development as well.

Conflict Of Interests Statements The author declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement The research is conducted according to the research work of Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation in 2018 «Studying the foreign experience of public administration system in the sphere of physical culture and sports».

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