Allianz have launched a powerful new campaign to arrest the fact that one in five children drop out of playing sport by the time they have got to secondary school.

 

 

Allianz has skin in the game, insuring over 500,000 children through its school’s insurance programme and being one of the largest sponsors of sport through the GAA, Paralympics Ireland, the Olympic Federation of Ireland, the Camogie Association and more.

It is the partner of our coverage of Sport for Social Good and this campaign is right at the heart of that.

Allianz supports the children of Ireland through Allianz Cummann na mBunscol , GAA Go Games, Allianz Post Primary Competition, Camán 2 Croker and the Sport Ireland Campus Kids Camps. Through their partnerships, they enable over 60,000 children annually to engage with sport at a national grassroots level.

That is a start but data from the Children’s Sport and Physical Activity Survey reveals that only 15 percent of school children are meeting the recommended physical activity guidelines of one hour of moderate to vigorous activity each day.

This #StopTheDrop resource hub has been created in partnership with Move2B, a movement founded by Niamh and Orna Murray who last year featured among the Sport for Business / PwC 30 Under 30.

At the time we wrote about them:

Niamh and Orna Murray are something of a force of nature and while half the world separates them at the moment they remain together as co-founders of the Social Enterprise Move2B.

Moved to action by a love of sport and shock at the number of young teenage girls dropping out they established Move2B as a project to “address the barriers to sport and physical activity for girls.” This includes online sessions, groups, and training around issues specific to young girls such as the onset of menstruation, peer pressure, lack of encouragement, subconscious gender stereotyping, school work being perceived as being more important, and playing sports not being seen as feminine.

Covid threw a curveball but a move together to the Kerry coast enabled them to live their dream.

Niamh is a qualified teacher and is also a project manager on The Big Idea, while Orna is currently following the Ocean and is in New Zealand working on a number of physical and remote projects.

They have Masters’s Degrees in Education and Health Psychology and energy the like of which is rare but infectious.

#StopTheDrop aims to provide practical support to arm teachers, coaches and parents with the knowledge to help support the next generation. The hub resources will allow young people to navigate the hidden barriers that can often result in them dropping out of sports.

The campaign offers a logical approach to understanding sport participation by looking at the intricate relationship of biological, psychological, and social factors; giving insight into how participation and performance outcomes are often impacted by the interaction between these three factors.

As young people transition from primary to secondary school, they experience a lot of social and psychological shifts. And that’s on top of all the biological changes that are happening.

The main driver of this is, of course, the onset of puberty, with most girls starting puberty between the ages of 8 to 13 years old, and most boys starting between 9 and 14 years old. As a coach, you don’t need to be an expert on these changes, however, it is important to have an awareness that the young people you are coaching might be turning up to training in a body that feels very different to how it felt a few months ago. Your role as a coach is to help young players get the basics right. These are the good habits that will stand to them throughout their sporting journey.

There are any number of psychological factors that can impact a young player’s involvement in sport, however, the factor that has one of the biggest impacts on young players is psychological safety.

Put simply, this means creating a supportive and positive environment for players – where they feel comfortable being themselves, developing new skills, and finding support if faced with a challenge. This is a cornerstone to keeping young people in sport long-term.

Social factors can be both useful and supportive, or negative and stressful when it comes to young people’s participation in sport. The social factor encompasses environmental, cultural, and relational influences. Teammates, coaches, and club environments hugely influence a young person’s experience of sport and physical activity. As adolescents transition from their parents and immediate family as primary influencers, the sway of friends and peers becomes increasingly significant.

We will be following and featuring this campaign over the coming months.

Allianz, the GAA, the Camogie Association, the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Paralympics Ireland and Sport Ireland are among the nearly 300 organisations that are members of the Sport for Business community.

 

 

 

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