Linking Community Sport Initiatives

The more I watch the World Cup (the less work I do….), the more I see fans coming together, and I wonder more about how we can create a similar collective vibe across different community sports.

Amazing initiatives like parkrun create an incredible sense of community across their participants, as do football foundations - including when they join together with their regional counterparts.

Sport initiatives rooted in counties and cities (like Active Leeds to name check but one) are also brilliant at creating a sense of identity and belonging, whilst bringing together a range of community actors.

But I do feel there’s still a piece missing. I think it has something to do with coming together across initiatives.

I had a brilliant visit to New York last week, to watch the England Panama match and to hang out with my German and Canadian friends. We all wanted to share the experience of supporting our teams with each other. We met brilliant Ecuadorian, Panamanian and US fans along the way which led me to think that much of the brilliance of being at the World Cup is not just the football, but experiencing new people, new cultures and new ideas.

Like fans at a World Cup, people involved in community sport tend to share a common goal, but I feel that we could find better ways to celebrate and cross over into each other’s worlds.

Tom Williams and I think that The Leeds Summit from last September was a good start and we’ll keep working with our friends at Leeds Beckett University to figure out how best to build on that. Interested in your thoughts too!

In the meantime, I’ll keep musing as I continue to immerse myself in the World Cup and justify my three game a day habit as research!