A Host of new sporting opportunities for Scottish Youngsters

Wednesday 6 August 2003

Youngsters across Scotland are set to benefit from a range of sport based out of school hours learning opportunities (OSHL) thanks to a new partnership between sportscotland and the New Opportunities Fund.

The New Opportunities Fund has awarded £2.8M to sportscotland to invest in innovate extra-curricular sporting activity programmes put forward by local authorities who are already part of the Active Schools Programme. The aim is to increase the number of opportunities available for young people to take part in sport and physical activity outside of normal school hours, helping to set them on the road to an active healthy lifestyle.

The first tranche of awards announced this week, totalling more than £2.1M over three years, went to 26 out of Scotland's 32 local authorities for a range of exciting projects.

All of the programmes put forward provide a range of innovative activities targeted at traditional non-participants to encourage an interest in sport and physical activity. As well as tackling exclusion issues for pupils with behavioural difficulties and those with special educational needs, local authorities such as Aberdeenshire and Shetland are also addressing rural and transport disadvantages.

Teenage girls are the key focus of many projects including Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and East Renfrewshire where there will be an emphasis on delivering 'aesthetic activities', which research has proven to be of interest to this target group. Health related fitness, aerobics, yoga, body combat and dance are amongst the activities which will be on offer.

Some of the projects will give young people the opportunity to train as sports leaders who can then go on to support and mentor their younger colleagues taking part in the after school activities, whilst projects in West Lothian and the Western Isles will support the transition of youngsters from primary into secondary PE and sport opportunities.

Outdoor education activities delivered in a non-competitive environment have proved a popular option to tackle the issue of low-self esteem, helping to build confidence. This will be the main focus of Glasgow's OSHL programme, where a wide variety of activities are proposed to ensure that children who have little or no experience of physical activity outside of the formal PE curriculum can experience the challenges presented by the great outdoors.

Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland said: "Sport shouldn't just be seen as a formal part of the school curriculum. By encouraging youngsters to take part in fun sporting activities after school, as a normal part of their social life, there is real hope of ensuring that they carry this on throughout adolescence and into adulthood. Only by influencing the young, do we have a realistic prospect of tackling some of our nation's health and obesity problems.

"I am delighted that we are working in partnership with the New Opportunities Fund on this key initiative. This money has enabled us to introduce a new strand into our Active Schools Programme which is already demonstrating positive results in terms of participation in and attitudes towards sport."

New Opportunities Fund Board Member for Scotland David Campbell welcomed this week's awards he said: "The New Opportunities Fund is a major funder of community sport, through a range of programmes throughout the UK and Scotland. Encouraging an active and healthy lifestyle among young people is essential for health and wellbeing and this is what this initiative is all about. We are delighted to be working in partnership with sportscotland to offer children and young people a chance to try out a sport that suits them and their lifestyle and in many cases offers an alternative to traditional school sports.

• The Active Schools Programme is made up of four strands: Schools Sport Co-ordinators; Active Primary School Co-ordinators; TOP programmes and New Opportunities Fund Out of School Hours Learning School Sports Co-ordinators Programme.