The brain child of Linford Christie and Darren Campbell,
Street Athletics is a very simple and highly effective
grass roots youth engagement programme for young people
aged 11-20 living in deprived areas. There are very
few opportunities to participate in structured athletics
on deprived estates so this programme targets young
people who are denied easy access to sport and can now
benefit from the confidence and motivation that comes
from taking part.
The programme was successfully launched in Manchester
in 2005 and in 2006 a larger programme ensued that ran
in Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and London. The SAZ
was chosen by Linford Christie’s company ‘Nuff
Respect’ and the Government ‘RESPECT’
task force to stage the London heats of their National
60 meter sprint competition. The event saw over 300
young people from Lambeth and Southwark take part with
19 qualifying for the finals in Manchester, 2 of the
finalists winning gold medals, 5 taking home silver
and 1 bronze. The gold and silver finalists also won
sponsorship from Reebok for a year and ongoing support
from Linford and Darren in terms of training and advice.
Street Athletics is a developmental programme that
will leave behind a sustainable legacy of easy to run
successful athletics events, new athletics community
networks at local level and an increase in the membership
of athletics clubs by young people from deprived areas.
Basketball is now run on 10 estates in Lambeth
and Southwark as well as on estates in Brent.
Working with a range of partners including Limelight,
NIKE, London South Bank University, Positive Futures
and Reach and Teach as well as Community Coaches,
the main outcome of this programme is to increase
participation from hard to reach groups as well
as capacity building within the local community
via coaching, education and vocational training.
The development of a grass roots structure has
led to the establishment of inner city clubs that
feed into both mainstream provision and gifted
and talented programmes.
The programme on Larkhall Park is delivered by local
coaches who are trained via local vocational training
programmes and have a great rapport with the young people
attending. We are now attracting over 130 local young
people weekly and may soon need to extend the programme
to accommodate growing numbers. Once those involved
have had more training teams will be developed that
will eventually participate in the SE1 Premiership and
the league.
Implemented by Sport England, the Community Sports
Coach scheme was established to develop a pool of high
quality Community Sports Coaches in order to ensure
a high standard of delivery, increased participation
across their assigned geographical area and to provide
suitable exit routes for participants.
The SAZ has co-ordinated the employment of 14 Community
Coaches across Lambeth and Southwark who deliver the
following sports sessions: football, athletics, netball,
basketball, multi-skills, tennis and BMXing.
For a list of our free activities please click on the link below
