2009 – 2013 Whole Sport Plan submitted to Sport England

4 November 2008

 

The NRA has submitted its WSP to its major funder, Sport England. A decision on funding for Rounders and the other 45 sports who have been invited to submit plans is expected by the end of December.

 

The Plan has been developed in consultation with the Executive Committee and members, and has been written by the staff team led by Alison Howard. Positive feedback has been obtained from Sport England and the NRA’s major partners: scUK, County Sports Partnerships, the Youth Sport Trust, the Education sector, Sporting Equals, Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation and the English Federation of Disability Sport.

 

The WSP, called ‘Making a Difference’ builds on the existing plan which ends in March 2009, and asks for funding in the areas that the NRA have identified as key to achieving its two strategic priorities of sustaining and increasing participation in Rounders and having sound corporate governance and being fit for purpose.

 

These areas are:

• More people playing more often; achieved by employing new Regional Rounders Officers to support and develop clubs and leagues and to encourage new participants by working closely with our partners. The RRO’s will be the point of contact regionally for all things Rounders related.
• Competition Structure; delivered by a new Competition and Performance Manager who will also develop an inclusive talent system
• Coaching; encouraging new coaches to support the growth in participation, and the development of a Coach Educator workforce to deliver a variety of courses from taster Coaching for Teachers sessions to UKCC L3
• Children and Young Adults; developing this next generation of players by encouraging initiatives to address the drop off of players after they leave school, extending the Rounder Young Leaders Awards and creating new STAR Centres which will link in to the talent system
• Infrastructure Development will underpin all of these areas and we have asked for funding for core staff, IT and a new Marketing and Commercial Manager

 

We do believe that we have a significant role to play in encouraging more people to participate in sport, if the funding is available to help people access Rounders. The vast majority of people who will ever play the ‘major’ sports already do so, because these sports have had the funding, infrastructure and profile which has encouraged and supported these players for many years.

We hope that this new funding round will give Sport England the opportunity to support smaller sports like Rounders, who can help them achieve their aspirations towards more participation in sport at a relatively small cost.

Keep checking the website in December for updates!