Sport England

And

that's the Home Country Sports Councils, Sport England, Sport Scotland.

Sport Northern Ireland and Sport Wales now recognise obstacle sports as a sport and BOSS as the national governing body in the UK.

Under the sport of obstacle sports, the following disciplines have been recognised.

Sometimes if your name's not down, you're not coming in and that's been the case up to now because we've not been recognised and it can be as small or seemingly small as something like if you're a child doing Duke of Edinburgh, you can't do OCR or Ninja as a sport within your kind of list a recognized sport if you're doing gcpe you can't have ocr or ninja although there's still a bit more work to do there but you can't have an assessment in that because it's not a recognized sport if you're in the armed services it armsport um it can't be a recognized sport within the armed services because it needs to be recognized as a sport on the home county home nations There's lots and lots of bits like that.

In certain councils that award grants to athletes, again, it will only be for sports that are recognised in some of those locations.

So it unlocks doors at kind of an individual level, but then potentially for us as a sport, we can start to apply to Sport Scotland, to Sport Wales, to Sport England, Sport Northern Ireland for potential funding.

um and that's just one route because another route is through developing the organization commercial sponsors etc who are much more likely to engage with us because we've got that status and that recognition so it's a real unlock it doesn't solve all our problems there's still lots of work ahead but it allows us to open those doors which maybe were locked before but that's kind of the work the next step is one yes to take a bit of a step back and kind of say well done to everyone we'll give some thank yous out in a second but to move to the fact that we can't be a volunteer organization forever because we know there's a job ahead to build the sport and grow the sport we know it's at a bit of a plateau it's kind of i feel like we've done as british obstacle sports with the support of people like yourself alan and other organizations and the sport has stabilized since covid but we want to take it to where it once was pre-covid when it had that huge growth

Today on the conveners, I'm delighted to welcome my friend and colleague and somebody I work with on a regular basis, Duncan Wood-Allum, the founder and MD from SLC Consultancy.

I've known Duncan for far too many years to count, so it was a pleasure a few years ago to commission him and SLC to assist GM Active in collaboration with GM Moving and the GMCA and Sport England as he was our retained consultant on our Pivot to Active Wellbeing project that we touched on during this interview.

Duncan has the pleasure of being the first consultant to come on the programme and I have to say that Duncan did such a great job which makes me think we'll probably invite a few more consultants onto the show and get their unique perspectives if they're kind enough to come on.

Duncan was the author in 2020 of a fascinating article in Health Club Management Magazine that set out a vision for our sector post-COVID called Coronavirus, A New Future.

So it's fascinating to reread the article before I interviewed Duncan and draw comparisons to what Duncan had suggested needed to happen or might happen back then and how we are shaping up in 2025 and whether we've made progress or not.

As you can imagine, we cover a great deal in this episode, as there is lots going on, as ever, including local government reorganisation, the rise or otherwise of LACOs, comprehensive spending reviews, NHS England being disbanded, changes at Sport England and the future of public leisure more generally.

And Duncan's great to interview as he has some challenging views, which is coming from the heart and a real passionate desire to see the sector succeed and to pivot effectively and not miss the opportunity to support health and other social outcomes.

So another fascinating, challenging conversation that will certainly offer food for thought.

And I suppose those fears aren't just unique for women in Ireland.

Just last week, Sport England launched a nationwide campaign highlighting how safety concerns can prevent women from staying active outdoors.

Its research found that 55% of women in Britain feel unsafe exercising outdoors alone after dark, with the darker evenings described as kind of a hidden curfew for women.

So there's that there.

I was literally looking at this again, just because I touched on it and revisited it.

There's some research, I think it was Sport England, that did this and they said, oh, 30% of adults meet their strengthening needs.

And then you go, what's strengthening needs? It's like, oh, gardening.

Gardening strengthening needs.

I follow a professional practice background.

Having worked across the UK sport leisure sector, sector and within that context I've worked across the public private sector commercial sector and the voluntary sector so in terms of working across boundaries and sectors and complexities I've kind of got some experience and insights in terms of you know collaborations but also leading system change I'm working for like national agencies like Sport England sector skills councils and and collaborating locally through local authorities and local partnerships with employers and providers, particularly in the education and skills sector.

So my kind of lead into higher education was

not planned, I guess.

So yeah, I guess the headline is quality over quantity and that's probably like the most effective way of channeling it.

One of the things that Kate Dale, who's the director of marketing at Sport England, her quote was, the right voice is almost always more powerful than the biggest audience.

So it really was about, for her anyway, it was about working with sort of creators who are in the communities that they're trying to target.

That came through, whether that was someone at Sport England or Sarah Holt from Centre Parcs, that authenticity being where the communities are, that really came through as a sort of theme.

Okay, well, I feel like we should take the same challenge on that you gave to the marketers, Paul.

So can you tell us about a book that has inspired you?