Brent Eastwood: Keeping our young people interested in sport

We are seeing a nationwide push for all sports organisations to truly listen to the voice of our rangatahi. Photo / 123rf

OPINION

In December 2020, Sport Northland brought together key sports codes in Northland to discuss the Balance is Better concept, something that was being touted by Sport NZ as a way of counteracting the dramatic drop-off in sport participation of our young people in their early teenage years.

As a result of that hui, the Northland Sports Coalition developed the Te Tai Tokerau Balance is Better commitment document, with nine codes signing to indicate their commitment — Basketball Northland, Bowls Northland, Hockey Northland, Netball Northern Zone, Northern Region Football, Northland Cricket, Northland Rugby Union, Te Tai Tokerau Touch and Volleyball Northland.

During the past couple of months, Sport Northland has been catching up with these sports codes on the progress they have been making for the past couple of years towards aligning with the Balance is Better philosophy.

One of the themes coming through is that implementing change in sport at a systemic level takes time, and that even with changes to the way the sport operates, the actual impact of those changes takes a lot longer.

One of the biggest challenges these codes face is educating whānau, coaches, referees, administrators and the community about Balance is Better to ensure they understand the reasoning and research that have led the sector to adopt the philosophy.

This year in particular, we are seeing a nationwide push for all sports organisations to truly listen to the voice of our rangatahi (young people), which could come in the form of, for example, youth advisory groups, surveys or even live feedback straight from youth on game day.

The reason for this is when about 14 years of age, we start to see a dramatic drop-off in sport participation, so the importance of authentic youth feedback cannot be overlooked; as sports codes can then begin to understand what type of changes would keep youth engaged in sport, and stop making such decisions solely based on adult perspectives.

Many of our Balance is Better sports codes have already taken away representative teams for under-14s, replacing them with development opportunities focusing on fun, participation and skill development for all. Although representative teams were previously enjoyed by those who were selected, this was not without negative impacts on young players who were not selected, leading them to believe they were not good enough and maybe that sport was not for them.

In reality, those not selected were still many years from reaching maturity to peak in sport, so why would we scare them off our sport before that occurs? The research is also telling us we are seeing more overuse injuries becoming more frequent in younger age groups as they specialise too early, as well as teenage athletes experiencing depression, burnout, and a loss of love for sport.

A common misconception is that removing representative teams is taking away competition; however, in reality that is not the case because we know competitiveness is innate in sport, and so by taking the “selection” pressure away, this early-teenage group can embrace their competitive spirit, learn, grow, improve their skills and develop a lifelong love for play, active recreation and sport. This will then culminate in developing stronger, healthier, more motivated athletes and participants as they mature and realise their potential.

In the next article we will look at specific examples from some of the nine sports codes that have made these changes to the way their sport operates.