Our “sports nation” is a myth. So how do we get youthful people back on the pitch?

Sport is seen as a key part of Australia’s identity. However, woefully neglected facilities and antiquated sports provision create significant barriers to youth participation.

In cooperation with Cooks River Sports AllianceCanterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club and 12 public and private schools from Western Sydney will work with youthful people to co-design an creative program that will reverse the decline in youth sport participation.

Our Design for Youth programme will include up-to-date sports offerings, advertising materials and redesigned facilities.

Tests shows that environmental design works best when it takes into account many factors. So the first phase of our project is a study to identify the psychological and social barriers in addition to environmental factors that affect youth participation in sports.

Barriers to participation

The Australian sports landscape offers more barriers than motivation for youth, and the effects are obvious. The World Health Organization recommends 60 minutes of physical activity every day. In Australia, only one in ten youthful adults do this.

Despite many programs aimed at increasing youth physical activity and participation in sports, the results are inconsistent. Maybe these programs don’t have lasting impact the exercise habits of youthful people are a result of their highly structured nature and lack of leadership among youth.

Youth Report their reasons for playing sports include enjoyment, development of physical and motor skills, self-esteem, and interaction with peers, among other factors. The hypothesis is that better interventions emphasize the fun factor and include peer-directed, unstructured play. This should produce long-lasting changes in attitudes toward physical activity.

Most organized sports promote practice and winning over fun, are run primarily by coaches, and do not encourage the development of physical and motor skills. factors are barriers for youth participation in sports.

This is partly due to poorly designed facilities. Few facilities promote both social participation and competition, focus on peer leadership, or offer a wide range of sports in one location.

Neglect of universal sports

In Fresh South Wales, the divide between elite and grassroots sport is huge. Most youth participate in grassroots sport, but funding mainly goes to elite clubs.

Grassroots sports fields are usually built as an add-on, usually on leftover land. In Fresh South Wales, they can be seen along the Cooks River in the suburbs of Hurlstone Park and Canterbury. Here, sports events and training are regularly cancelled due to flooding.

Worse still, many of the pitches are not designed for sports and are poorly maintained. Uneven, potholed surfaces are bad for play.

In these fields, toilets are scarce, grubby and often falling apart. There are usually no changing rooms or showers. Many fields have few, if any, benches to sit on and no access to food or drink vendors.

In addition, facilities are usually designed for just one sport. This leaves parents or siblings with nothing else to do while they wait.

In other countries, such as the Netherlands, facilities for local sports clubs act as community centers. Their pitches are designed for various sports, and there are playgrounds and catering centers nearby.

Why is participation critical?

The decline in sports participation may be a factor in the rise in penniless mental health. Despite declines in substance abuse such as smoking and binge drinking, rates of self-harm, depression, anxiety and suicide are on the rise among Australian youth.

Many studies found that regular exercise is an effective way to improve mental health. Other health benefits include reducing obesity and blood pressure. A 2010 report, Australian Sport: The Path to Successrecognised that increasing youth participation in sport and supporting local clubs is crucial to improving both public health and the country’s sporting success.

Despite all this evidence of numerous benefits, studies have shown steady global decline in sports participation between the ages of 11 and 16. The percentage of people aged 11 to 16 is particularly low. older girls.

Studies conducted in the past have shown that some barriers were identified to participate. These include: reduced parental influence on the choice of activity, boredom with available sports and time challenges caused by increased academic workload.

Other possible barriers, such as poorly designed and maintained public parks, have not been well studied. It is likely that penniless condition of facilities and lack of variety in sports and other non-sporting facilities also discourage participation.

A up-to-date approach to youth engagement

If we want to boost youth engagement, we need to include their views in the change process to ensure that sport remains attractive to them.

Most programs around the world have focused solely on promoting overall increases in physical activity. However, regular and intensive participation in sports has greater long-term benefits, including improved children’s learning.

We hope that Designing in Youth will facilitate create a whole up-to-date landscape for sport in Western Sydney. If successful, our communities and the way we apply public outdoor spaces will change for the better.

We should see the youth out there again. And maybe, just maybe, we can restore our status as a sporting nation.

Deborah Ascher Barnstone receives funding from Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL.

Fiona Brooks receives funding from Hurlstone Park and Canterbury RSL

Job Fransen receives funding from Hurlstone Park/Canterbury RSL