Sporting Equals latest case study - Netball

Sports Key is a community interest group which aims to put provision in place for people from disadvantaged communities to excel in sport.

This project was successful in enabling inactive women predominately from BME Black and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds to become more active. 

• 90% of women taking part were from BME backgrounds aged between 19-50 years of age
• Many women were beginners at netball, the majority had not engaged since their school years
• To ensure participants had the best introduction or re-introduction the coach identified a qualified England Netball coach, was able to relate to this community & positively interact

Key Barriers:                                                                                              

• Hesitant to join local clubs                                                                 
• Affordability                                                                                           

 Solutions:

• Use of local community spaces
• Low costs & low commitment 

IMPACT: Project reached over 50 women and girls who were predominantly inactive and attended at least 1 session

30 women and girls were retained over the course of the sessions.

FUTURE PLANS: Feedback from participants highlighted longer session to 1 and ½ hour session was preferred

Sports Key aims to upskill a committed participant from the session & support them to qualify as a netball coach to sustain the delivery of sessions 

Key Learnings:

• Taster sessions before the start of the project provides a good estimate of interest and possible attendances
• Marketing of sessions specific to complete beginners & those who haven't played for many years
•  Key messages around 'Keep Fit' + 'Losing weight' worked well for this particular audience
• Open sessions to attend with friends & family - reinforced with a 'recommend a friend' offer where players received a free T-shirt
• Promotion through a range of social media outlets was positive & simple to interact with those attending