The Sports Council for Wales (welsh: Cyngor Chwaraeon Cymru) is responsible for sport – both community and elite – and is the main adviser to Welsh Assembly Government [1] on sporting matters. It operates a number of programmes and schemes, through its partners, to encourage young people, adults and communities to become more active and excel.

These include:

Active Young People

Dragon Sport[2] is Wales’ biggest campaign to get primary school children hooked on out-of-school-hours sport. One of the main aims of the lottery funded scheme is to recruit and train volunteer sports organisers, leaders and coaches to spend time introducing youngsters to eight sports.

• 95% of primary schools are signed up to Dragon Sport.

5x60 [3]is designed to get more secondary school pupils taking part in 60 minutes of physical activity five times a week. Officers arrange extra-curricular activity before and after school and during the lunch break. Activities range from mainstream sports like football and netball to more alternative options like dodgeball and cheerleading to tempt the more reluctant pupils off the sidelines. Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government [http://www.wales.gov.uk), it is supported at ground level by local authorities.

• 99% of mainstream secondary schools signed up to 5x60.

Research has demonstrated that 5 x60 is not only increasing participation in sport but it is also increasing self-esteem, improving behaviour and raising awareness of the importance of exercise.

PE & School Sport Scheme (PESS) is a WAG scheme managed by SCW to improve standards in PE lessons in Welsh schools. This is done by ensuring that schools manage the subject effectively within the curriculum and by setting challenging targets for raising standards in its delivery. The scheme builds teacher confidence through training and improved resources.

• Estyn[4] has recognised the success of the PESS scheme and found that the attitude and behaviour of pupils has improved.

Free Swimming, funded by WAG, targets 16s and under in local authority leisure centres during school holidays and free swimming sessions for the 60s and over during term-time. The emphasis is on structured activity and introduces a range of aquatic activity such as waterpolo, snorkelling as well as swimming lessons. The Learn to Swim Improvement Fund also supports small-scale projects aimed at encouraging existing and new users to be more active, more often.

Active Adults

Schemes such as Community Chest, Development Grant and Sportsmatch Cymru are designed to encourage more people to become more physically active, more often. Community Chest devolves decision making to panels in the 22 local authorities. The aim is to create new, additional or improved opportunities to play sport. These schemes also impact positively on young people.

Since 1999, the Sports Council’s small scale National Lottery grant, Community Chest, has injected more than £9 million into more than 12,000 community projects. A large emphasis of the programme is training volunteers so that clubs do not have to pay for coaching courses.

Let’s Walk Cymru is a Wales-wide initiative developed in partnership with SCW, WAG and the Countryside Council for Wales. It aims to increase the number of people participating in walking.

Mentro Allan is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Sports Council that awards funding to physical activity projects that utilise the nation’s parks, trails, coasts and countryside.

Developing People

The Disability Sport Wales Community programme receives lottery funding from SCW. The scheme is aimed at developing community sporting and recreational opportunities for disabled people. It is delivered through a network of Development Officers located in every local authority in Wales.

The number of sporting opportunities available to people with disabilities has massively increased since the launch of the Disability Sport Wales community programme in 2000.

SCW aims to develop more coaches and offers support for existing coaches. This is achieved primarily through National Governing Bodies and Local Authorities, and supported thorough other agencies. Performance coaches are funded via the Coach Cymru programme.

Delivering Performance

Élite Cymru is a lottery funded programme aimed at providing élite and identified aspiring athletes to fully develop their potential (in non-Olympic/Paralympic sports). That includes financial support; medical support; sports science; strength and conditioning; performance lifestyleTM, performance analysis and coaching.

Talent Cymru has been set up to maximise opportunities for Welsh athletes to gain entry onto UK Sport’s Performance Pathway (Olympic/Paralympic sports) or Élite Cymru (non-Olympic/Paralympic sports). It provides financial support to enable athletes to benefit from additional coaching and competition opportunities whilst some sports also benefit from a programme of support services.

Sports Science and Medicine experts work with some of Wales’ and the UK’s most successful sportsmen and women. Their expertise includes: physiology, psychology, physiotherapy, medical, strength and conditioning, nutrition, performance lifestyleTM and performance analysis. Olympic triathlete Helen Jenkins (nee Tucker) benefitted from intense rehabilitation with the Sports Council’s experts to recover from injury in 2007.

The Welsh Institute of Sport [http://www.welsh-institue-sport.co.uk)is the national sports centre for Wales and is part of a network of facilities aiming to ensure Wales is able to compete on the international stage. Owned and operated by the Sports Council, it supports national governing bodies of sport and acts as a training base to elite athletes.

Plas Menai (www.plasmenai.co.uk) is the National Watersports Centre for Wales. The Welsh Yachting Association – the National Governing Body for the sports of sailing, windsurfing and powerboating in Wales – has its HQ there. The centre is owned by the Sports Council.

Key national and regional facilities include the Welsh Rugby Union Centre of Excellence at the Vale Resort, the Wales National Velodrome in Newport and the National Whitewater Centre in Bala and regional centres abound across a number of sports. National Lottery funding has been invested into these facilities.

• The 2008 Olympic Games was the most successful for any Welsh contingent in 100 years. • More than 25% of Paralympic GB’s gold medal haul in Beijing came from Welsh sportsmen and women. • Since the advent of the National Lottery, the Sports Council has invested in key landmark facilities – the Wales National Velodrome, Wales National Pool, national and regional centres across a number of sports such as athletics, swimming and golf. The latest piece of the jigsaw is a National Centre of Excellence for rugby.

Strong SCW

Welsh Language: SCW wants to ensure that language isn’t a barrier when it comes to playing sport. As part of its work in this area, a partnership has been struck with Urdd Gobaith Cymru to create more bilingual sporting opportunities.

Child Protection: SCW has developed a framework to help provide guidance and best practice in this area to sporting organisations, in conjunction with NSPCC Cymru and the Child Protection in Sport Unit.

Regions: To make sure that local solutions meet local needs, SCW works closely with local authorities. Each local authority has been tasked to produce a plan (Local Authority Partnership Agreement) which seeks to use the programme and support available from SCW. Targets are now more robust than ever before which will drive towards increasing participation and improving performance. ref>http://www.sports-council-wales.org.uk/contact</ref>

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Sports Council for Wales (official site)

(http://www.plasmenai.co.uk) (http://welsh-institute-sport.co.uk)

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