Background
One of the English Lacrosse Association’s (ELA) priorities is to grow the sport of lacrosse within Liverpool. Key to our role as Merseyside Sports Partnership is supporting National Governing Bodies of Sport at a local level, helping them to develop and implement their projects.
Challenge
Could we pilot a way of working between a National Governing Body and a Higher Education Institution that was mutually beneficial for both organisations and directly contributed to the development of a sport at a local level?
And in doing so could we demonstrate the specific benefits that can arise when a National Governing Body and a Higher Education Institution work closely together?
Merseyside Sport Support
- Collaborating with ELA to identify developing sport participation opportunities for young people within Liverpool as a priority, plus workforce availability as a barrier.
- Brokering a relationship with Liverpool John Moores University and ELA to discuss collaborative working, with 3-way discussions identifying the potential for students to act as a workforce to support lacrosse delivery.
- Getting partner agreement to pilot a project to up-skill and deploy Coaching Development degree students to work alongside ELA’s dedicated community coach.
- Meeting some of the costs to develop the students directly.
- Initiating a project to demonstrate the benefit of developing and deploying the Coaching Development Degree students, including illustrating the opportunity to maximise links with other students. The project subsequently provided an opportunity for a 3rd-year Sport Development student to manage the project as part of their degree coursework.
The Active Difference
LJMU Student Projects Manager: “[The project] provided our students with exceptional opportunities, to upskill their sport and coaching knowledge and develop their confidence.”
School, PE Teacher: “We have found the project to be really useful and our mixed ability school group all had a positive experience.”
Sport Coaching student: “[The project] helped me to gain a great deal of confidence and skills in coaching. I have learnt a new sport I knew nothing about and I now feel confident enough to deliver in schools.”