South London News
25% growth in Clubmark accredited clubs in South London
Sport England recognises and values the commitment made by sports clubs to develop high quality, welcoming environments for young participants. The development of clubs that encourage young people to take-up sport, improve their talents, possibly play a leadership role and give them the option to initiate and maintain life-long participation in sport is an essential part of supporting the sporting infrastructure in England
External verification continues to highlight the importance of accreditation to community sports clubs. The results, this year, indicate strong evidential files for Clubmark clubs run, as ever, by committed volunteers. This is, arguably, a real example of the ‘Big Society’ in action. In general, the numbers are looking even better for Clubmark given the over 50 different sports accredited. Headlines include:
10,000+ Clubmark accredited clubs
Based on a (conservative) average of three school-club links per accredited club this equates to over 30,000 school club links
Increased junior participation with an estimated 1,000,000 young people taking part on a regular sustainable basis in Clubmark clubs.
Raising the number of active qualified coaches and improving the levels of coach qualifications. Assuming a conservative average of eight per club this equates to over 80,000 active coaches driving up standards across the country.
Improving the reliability of sports volunteers. According to the CCPR average of 22 volunteers per sports club, this equates to nearly one quarter of a million people engaged in volunteering within these clubs.
PRO-ACTIVE South London now has 151 Clubmark clubs plus a further 116 ‘working towards’. This equates to approximately 31.5% of the regional accredited total. Pro-Active South has the highest number of accredited clubs in the London Region and has increased its numbers by nearly than 25.0% in the last year.
For more information and assistance on how to become Clubmark accredited, contact David Gentles.
