‘Play Their Way’, a new Sport England and National Lottery funded initiative led by the Children’s Coaching Collaborative, was launched in late May at Peckham BMX Club in South London with an integrated campaign that brought to life the project’s aims of transforming the way children and young people are coached in sport and physical activity.
This ‘child-first’ coaching approach revolves around championing each and every kids’ voice, choice and journey in sport and physical activity and it was designed and developed with a network of grassroots sports coaches, plus children and young people through a series of research studies, focus groups and workshops.
The ‘Play Their Way’ campaign sets out to level the playing field by putting children first and helping them all enjoy being active in their own way so that coaching can inspire a child to stay active for life.
The Children’s Coaching Collaborative – a collective of like-minded organisations who want to create a nation of ‘child-first’ coaches – spearheads the project which will work with the UK’s 2.6 million coaches to build a grassroots movement to increase and improve child-first coaching – an evidence-informed approach backed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: ‘The Right to Play, The Right to Develop and The Right to be Heard’.
The multi-agency marketing pillar of the project was conceived and created by a team drawn from creative agency FCB London, digital-first media agency Brainlabs, digital media planning and buying shop Bluestate, researcher Insight Angels, plus media and PR agency Run Communications.
The marketing campaign began with an in-person, physical launch event held at Peckham BMX Club (in South London): which, since it was opened in 2003, has coached and supported more than 2000 young people – including Olympic silver medallist Kye Whyte.
Seeking to drive long-term behavioural change amongst the UK coaching community by providing a range of resources and starting a national conversation on how children and young people are coached in sport, the promotional campaign was spearheaded by an anchor video titled ‘Play Their Way: Official Video’ which dropped online on 24 May.
The spearhead spot urged viewers to ‘take charge’ and ‘get your game on, your way’. It highlights that only 47% of UK kids who regularly exercise strongly agree that they enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity (a figure that’s still down on pre-pandemic levels of 51%) and so aims to inspire and help coaches ‘change the game’ through #PlayTheirWay and give children ‘the chance to shape their own sporting experience’.
The lead film and its supporting social content pieces all encourage viewers to ‘join the movement’ at the project’s web hub at www.playtheirway.org
An additional campaign encourages coaches to use and download the project’s resources and tools created by coaching experts.
“Positive experiences for children and young people are at the heart of Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy – and child-first coaching is an important part of this,” commented Sport England Chief Executive Tim Hollingsworth. “Our research tells us that for children, ‘fun’ is the primary reason for taking part in sport and activity. They will want to take part if they enjoy it. It’s vital that we put fun and enjoyment at the centre of sport and activity, and give our children and young people the chance to shape their sporting experiences to boost activity levels.”
Heather Douglas, head of coaching and policy at UK Coaching, added: “Coaches play such an important role in the development of children and young people’s lives, often in difficult circumstances, and can have a profound effect on the positive experiences they have in sport and physical activity. Our goal is for all children and young people, regardless of age, background or ability, to have a voice, choice and decide their journey when participating in sport and physical activity, so they develop a genuine and lifelong love for being active.”
The team at creative agency FCB London which worked on the project included Creative Director Al Young, Art Director Richard Peretti, Copywriter Simon Mannion, Business Director Emily Whiteaway, Strategy Director Laura Pirkis, Account Director Mikey Freeman and Account Lead Pooja Daswani.
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The project is partly built upon insights derived from Sport England research into youth activity levels and experiences – including its 2021/22 ‘Active Lives’ survey – which have found that child-first coaching approaches are key to helping young people develop a genuine and lifelong love for being active and staying in sport longer.
The survey found that only 47% of kids who regularly exercise ‘strongly agree’ that they enjoy taking part in sport and physical activity. Which is lower than the pre-pandemic level of 51%. It also showed that more than half (55%) do not get enough exercise.
The non-profit organisation’s research also found that enjoyment is one of the biggest motivators for children and young people to get active, so ‘Play Their Way’ has been designed to ensure kids have the best possible experience in sport and activity.
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