Most of us would agree that young kids (at least until the age of 14) should try out lots of different sports and activities.
Yet the sporting system in the UK is not designed that way.
Sports national governing bodies don’t tell their kids not to come to a tournament because they want them to go climb in the woods.
A professional tennis coach won’t turn down a lesson so your kid can practise their tumbles.
We are working in a background of fear. How did we arrive at a system that works against us, not for us?
The funding system for sport in this country was until recently biased towards participation. The more people participate in a given sport the more money and power a sport gets. The more people are active in a sport, the more likely it is that the sport will uncover a medal winner.
If it sounds simple it is. A child picks up a squash racket, enjoys the sport, and starts to take part on a regular basis. One notch up on the participation totaliser, and the funding distributors can point to money well spent. Working for you, not against you, right?
Wrong. Manipulating their behaviours to affect the measure. National governing bodies and many others fall foul of Goodhart’s Law “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” When you are paid to bark, you bark. The measure and the money bring compliance.
Nothing changes until the system changes. Moving from participation towards measures of inclusion and diversity is not changing the system, it is changing the measure. Much like moving a deck chair on the Titanic.
The question remains.
How do we get a system that works for us not against us?
It seems obvious to me that replacing measures with trust would see the need for compliance fall away. And with it, the competition for resources. And it is this competition for resources that keeps us in place.
To change the system. Roles need to reverse. The government and central agencies need to become passive to get out of our way. Telling us how we’re doing, not how to do it.
Passive parents, teachers, and coaches we need you to lead. You don’t need to be told how to do it. Instead, you need to be told how you are doing.
Needing more is a narrative that is holding us back. Competition for resources makes them seem more precious, in demand. And so compliantly we before more.
But, never have we had so much. Stop asking. How do we do this? And instead, try. How are we doing?