It was a morning to learn, engage, and be inspired. Our Children and Sport conference, held on Thursday in the foothills of the Dublin mountains, drew an audience of those working in the space and those who are attracted to helping and making a difference.

Dr Fiona Chambers was perhaps the most uncomplicated interview I have ever done on stage, brimming with enthusiasm and ideas on subjects as diverse and yet related as digital nativism, values fluency and the superpower that can come from engaging with future generations on their terms.

It was a barnstormer of a performance to wrap up the morning, and we will release highlights of the interview in a podcast next week to wrap up the morning.

“We need to engage in a thing called design fiction,” she told us, “and that essentially is, if science fiction and design thinking had a child, that’s what it would look like. And design fiction is a really crazy thing. It’s like, I call it looking around corners. It’s like imagining the crazy future that could be.”

The audience went back out into the sunshine imbued with a sense of the possible and fired up for what we can do next.

This was billed as the start of a movement, something that can grow through collaboration across the many great ideas being tested and implemented across the sector.

The stakes are high. Children start out as naturally active but the drop off through secondary school and into young adulthood is alarming.

Healthy

To be a healthy society in mind and body, we need to be active, and it is in childhood that we form the habits of a lifetime.

See below how you can make a difference in your own area.

Mark Brennan of Allianz Ireland and John Foley of Sport Ireland opened up the sg=how with words of welcome. Their backing of the event made it possible.

The key to knowing where you are going is to know where you are and Benny Cullen of Sport Ireland kicked us off with a prescient look at the latest research in this area, at the bumps in population that we need to be aware of and so much more.

Nora Stapleton showed us the way to designing programmes that take into account what children are looking for rather than what we think they might be. Giving agency to those who have a choice on whether to truly engage is so simple as to be self-evident, but it is so often ignored in the design process.

We heard from Mark Brennan of Allianz and Joe Mooney of Aldi about their work, the lessons they are learning, and their plans to keep engaging with children as a core part of their overall sponsorship and marketing.

Michael McGeehin and Declan O’Leary brought us into the work of iCoach Kids, reminding us not to treat children as min adults but to think and plan to walk in their shoes and keep the fun in the physical activity.

Knowledge

A feature of our larger sport for Business events is the Knowledge Burst where we open the floor to hear snapshot presentations of programmes and ideas.

They are always a winner even if they do make for a sometimes head wrecking table of fare but when you take the time to focus on one area as we do with Women in Sport, Sport for Social Good, Sustainable Sport in 2025 and more, ideas are the sprinkle of magic that we are looking for.

We were unapologetically Parisian in our selection of sports to feature for the Children and Sport conference.

Kate Hills of Swim Ireland, Mairead Kavanagh of Gymnastics Ireland, Frank Greally of Athletics Ireland and his emotional telling of the power of one were all brilliant. Roisin McGettigan-Dumas told us the origin story of Dare to Believe and the Olympic Federation of Ireland and inspired with what they are doing to inspire 1,300 school teachers in the latest wave.

Inclusion is also a vital part of what we like to build. Stephanie McSweeney of Active Disability Ireland and Louise Grant of Special olympics Ireland opened our eyes to what we need to do for all the children, not just those on the first team.

And lest we fear for how engaged the future generations are, that was blown away by Pauline, Knusco and Muireann, now fifth year students of Sutton Park School and winners of the Sport for Business Award at the PE Expo with their StrikeSock idea, brought from idea to prototype in 100 days. Simply brilliant.

Explorium was a great venue to encourage thoughts of a better future, built on the foundations of hard work being done.

This is just the start. We need to engage more with teachers, with Government and with everyone in this space. There are no boundaries, no rules, and no restrictions on imagination to get us to a point where we can then run the rule of possibility, investment and more.

Email me at rob@sportforbusiness.com if you can see yourself as part of the next stage.

Fiona Chambers has challenged us to be a global leader in this space. That is when we say, “Why not?” and put our collective strength of thought and inspiration to the test.

Are you coming with us?

 

 

 

 

 

 

In partnership with Allianz, Sport for Business will hold the 2024 Sport for Business Sport for Social Good Conference on Thursday, October 24th. This is one of several events currently planned for the remainder of 2024.

Register your interest to attend a Sport for Business event here.

 

The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, commercial and state agencies, media companies, universities, and suppliers to the sports sector.

Find out more about joining us today.