Public figures The non-sporty 14-16 year olds tended to cite a much wider range of people that they looked up or saw to be role models. These included people that were highly regarded in an area that the young person had a hobby or interest (eg musicians), but also included: Nelson Mandela Bill Gates Movie stars Stephen Fry David Attenborough Sir Alan Sugar Andy John Cleese Michael Palin Young people spoke a lot about the intelligence of these people, and their ability to new things’ to ‘bring the masses and to do the things that other people couldn’t or wouldn’t do. In some cases it was the dedication of these people, being committed to a cause or to achieve what they set out to achieve. Impressed, but not inspired Interestingly, the 17-21 year old males did not necessarily have anyone that they looked up to or aspired to be like. They reported that, although they could respect the achievements, skills, intelligence and work ethic of people they saw as being at the of their field’, they did not necessarily view them as role ‘top models. Why do young people drop out of sport? Our research suggests that the vast majority of people have a positive experience of sports and PE in their earlier years (i.e. .primary school). Their comments suggest that there was a strong onus on the fun and play aspects of sports and that it was more inclusive, regardless of ability. A bad experience at secondary school The experience of PE and school sports clubs at secondary school had a very strong influence on continued sport participation, with the early years at secondary school being a key point for some in terms of engaging from sports. We describe this further in section 3.5, but a number of non-sporty young people told us that the difference between primary and secondary school sports had put them off, when they had been very sporty up until then. Many of the non-sporty 14-16 year olds reported that they had never tried a sports club outside of school and this was largely influenced by their experience of sports at school. I don’t enjoy doing sports at school so why would I try to find a club to join to do it in my free time? (male, non-sporty, 14-16)
Public figures The non-sporty 14-16 year olds tended to cite a much wider range of people that they looked up or saw to be role models. These included people that were highly regarded in an area that the young person had a hobby or interest (eg musicians), but also included: Nelson Mandela Bill Gates Movie stars Stephen Fry David Attenborough Sir Alan Sugar Andy John Cleese Michael Palin Young people spoke a lot about the intelligence of these people, and their ability to ‘bring new things’ to the masses and to do the things that other people couldn’t or wouldn’t do. In some cases it was the dedication of these people, being committed to a cause or to achieve what they set out to achieve. Impressed, but not inspired Interestingly, the 17-21 year old males did not necessarily have anyone that they looked up to or aspired to be like. They reported that, although they could respect the achievements, skills, intelligence and work ethic of people they saw as being at the ‘top of their field’, they did not necessarily view them as role models. Why do young people drop out of sport? Our research suggests that the vast majority of people have a positive experience of sports and PE in their earlier years (i.e. .primary school). Their comments suggest that there was a strong onus on the fun and play aspects of sports and that it was more inclusive, regardless of ability. A bad experience at secondary school The experience of PE and school sports clubs at secondary school had a very strong influence on continued sport participation, with the early years at secondary school being a key point for some in terms of from sports. We describe this further in section 3.5, but a number of non-sporty young people told us that the difference between primary and secondary school sports had put them off, when they had been very sporty up until then. Many of the non-sporty 14-16 year olds reported that they had never tried a sports club outside of school and this was largely influenced by their experience of sports at school. I don’t enjoy doing sports at school so why would I try to find a club to join to do it in my free time? (male, non-sporty, 14-16) engaging
sc0103-00_-_sports_participation_-_final_report_brightpurpose.docx