Barriers to participation

In sport there can be certain reasons as to why people are unable to

participate in sport, cultural, social, historical, economic or
educational. These barriers are referred to as barriers to
participation. I will look at three in particular Cultural, Economic and
Educational.

Cultural barriers are linked to different nationalities, beliefs and

religions. There may be rules and views on who
should participate in sport. Some religions do not
allow women to participate in sport altogether,
others allow participation if they wear clothes
that cover the whole body and some allow it if the
person is being taught or observed by the same
sex only. In the UK there is limited knowledge of
sports from certain cultures. Thoda, Kabaddi and Korfball are all
examples of these sports. Due to the lack of knowledge of these
sports there are very few coaches and teachers in turn leading to
the lack of classes provides. Schools often try to accommodate
different cultural beliefs into the syllabus, for example allowing
students to wear clothes to cover their body and separating girls
from boys there may still be issues such as bullying because the
pupils are dressed differently, they may feel segregated and
embarrassed leading to lack of participation in PE classes. Cultural
barriers occur at the introduction and participation stages of the
sports continuum, this means that people are either not taking part
in sports at all or due to the lack of competitive situations are
unable to progress from the participation stage. Ways of overcoming
this barrier can be something as simple as running separate classes
for men and women or setting up more clubs, classes for cultural
sports such as Indian football. Training more coaches in these sports
will also increase the knowledge of these sports and in turn increase
participation.

Economic barriers link to money. Low incomes, unemployment or just

the cost of the sport itself may limit participation. This barrier can
affect all ages and abilities. Sport
can be expensive and can involve
anything from membership to
equipment and even transportation.
The foundation stage of the sports
continuum is usually government
funded and works heavily with
schools, as school is compulsory up
to the age of 16 most children are
involved in sport. Young children
can still be limited due to money, some may show potential but due to
the lack of money at home parents are unable to afford after school
activities. Another example may be over 50’s, they are likely to have
retired therefore a living on less money that when they were
working, they may no longer be able to afford the classes and club
membership fees. Economic factors not only affect the participation
stage of the continuum but also the performance stage, this stage
will require more money for training camps, competition transport
fees or even kit and equipment. Excellence level is linked to national
and international opportunities, at this stage of the continuum
sponsorship deals usually ensure that expenses are covered but this
only happens in some sports. Sports such as football, rugby and
swimming are all provided with excellent sponsorships whereas
sports such as water polo, hockey or basketball in the UK have very
little money. Overcoming these barriers can be difficult due to
different situations and reasons as to the lack of money, free
sessions can be provided to help involve people who cannot afford
the costs. Reduced rates and fundraising may also encourage
participation at the lower levels of sport. Sponsorship deals are the
best way of ensuring top athletes don’t have to worry about covering
costs of training, equipment and transport.

Educational barriers can be due to the lack of teachers able to

teach sports in schools, lack of facilities available or even lack of
government funding. This barrier can also link to individuals in the
school. Many children don’t like to participate in school, they may be
embarrassed as they have had a bad
experience (injury) or they may have body
issues. Schools tend to focus on only a few
sports, netball, hockey, football and rugby. If
someone struggles to play one of the sports it
doesn’t mean that the individual can’t do sports
at all but that they just haven’t found the right sport for them as
the school is unable to provide sports for everyone. Facilities
contribute to this barrier. If the school doesn’t have a swimming
pool on site or near by the chances are that the PE department will
not teach swimming. Lack of government funding may mean that
equipment is limited. This barrier is mainly linked to the introduction
and participation stages of the continuum but if someone has not
been involved in sport at a young age and in school they may have
undiscovered potential and never reach the performance and
excellence level. Educational barriers are linked mainly with under
16’s. To overcome this barrier schemes have been introduced (5 x
60) and government funding has been increased mainly to tackle
obesity but also to involve as many people in sport to hopefully
encourage involvement into out of school teams and clubs. Girls and
boys classes have been separated to reduce embarrassment. More
can be done by introducing new sports into schools to try to provide
a sport for everyone from dance classes to boxing.

Target groups include women, young people, over 50’s, disabled

people and the black or ethnic minority groups (BMEs). These groups
of people are the groups that generally have the most barriers to
participation. They are focused on heavily to increase opportunity in
sport as they are likely to benefit the most. I will focus on three
target groups in particular, Women, over 50’s and young people.

Women have always had less involvement in sport than men. There
may be many reasons as to why women have less involvement. They
may stop sport to focus on other thing like having children or a
family. Limited classes specific for women means those women who
feel embarrassed or
body conscious
exercising with men
decide not to
exercise at all.
Women with family
may also find it
difficult due to a
lack of money and
time. These barriers can occur at any level of the sports continuum
from someone who may just want to exercise to keep fit
(participation stage) but feels they can’t as the only classes available
to them are mixed sex classes which they are not comfortable with.
Other example of the barriers to women may be that at the
performance or excellence stage but lack sponsorship, media
coverage and government funding in women’s sport. This in turn
means women are unable to continue sport as a career and are
limited to the level they are able to achieve as they can’t live by only
playing sports and must get jobs. There has been a large
improvement in the amount of women involved in sport since schemes
and other government funded activities have been put in place to
increase numbers of women’s only classes, competitive clubs and
female teams in traditional male sports (rugby, football, and
cricket). Although many things have changed in the way women are
seen in sport an imbalance is still present and in time this balance
will hopefully level out.

The next target group I will look at is the over 50’s. People are
living much longer and need to keep
healthy to keep up with demands.
Pension schemes are very small
amounts of money to live off and will
only cover basic needs. Many over
50’s can’t afford classes and sports
fees. This involves the participation
stage of the sports continuum. They
may begin to have injury and pain
which limits which sports they are able to do. Transport may also be
another factor reducing the amount of people able to continue in
sport. Some over 50’s cannot drive and require friends, family and
public transport to get around. Over 50’s can now get into sports
facilities at a reduced price or even free. These government funded
schemes help to encourage sports at any age and provide everyone
with the opportunity to participate in lifelong sport.

The last target group I will look at is disabled people. Barriers may
include discrimination, limited facilities and lack of equipment.
Disabled people have limited classes and clubs available to suit their
needs. They also have a lack of coaches that know how to adapt to
suit each individuals needs. Most equipment, that may be compulsory
in order to take part in sport, is extremely expensive. Over the last
decade lots has been done to raise awareness of disability. Media
attention and funding has increased numbers of the classes and
clubs run over the UK. Schemes and acts
have been put in place to ensure equally
opportunity; public facilities have been
updated with the latest equipment such as
lifts, suitable changing areas and easy
access to the facilities itself.

Although lots has been done to overcome

barriers and try to involve everyone in sport
no matter how old they are, what level they are and what gender
they are there are still many people who are not involved in sport.
Obesity is increasing and women’s sport still lacks the support from
the UK. More needs to be done to raise awareness of sports and the
target groups. There are some fantastic facilities available for
people to us. Advertising these may be a very simple way to involve
people on sport.