County School Sport Federations - Case Studies for Change

In 2008 a selected group of Competition Managers from across the country were brought together by the YST to form a number of Expert Groups.

One Expert Group explored School Sports Associations and the work of this group concluded that there was a need to 'create a series of case studies that could demonstrate progress towards a restructure of umbrella and sport specific SSAs in line with 21st century models'.

The Youth Sport Trust commissioned Prospects4Sport to research and write these case studies, explore best practice with regard the changing and modernising of umbrella school sport organisations and SSAs, and make recommendations. 

Six counties were identified by the YST as case studies:

• Bedfordshire and Luton
• Buckinghamshire
• Derbyshire
• Hampshire
• Leeds
• Leicester-Shire and Rutland.

Our study involved:

• An initial telephone consultation with the Chair of the Expert Group on SSAs, to discuss the work undertaken and gather background information.
• Initial telephone consultations with 6 Senior Competition Managers (SCMs) to discuss the approach to working with the umbrella organisation and SSAs and any changes that the SCMs have managed to facilitate.
• Meetings with the SCM and other relevant personnel within the counties to understand the historical position, why the SSAs needed to change i.e. what the issues and challenges were, how these changes were facilitated, and identifying what the key success factors were.
• The production of 6 case studies outlining the above to be distributed across the network by the YST.
• The production of a series of recommendations to be considered by SCMs and Competition Managers going through similar processes of change including: leadership; interpersonal skills; structure, approach to review and implementing changes; and affiliation changes.

To download the Case Studies click here (1.4Mb PDF opens in new window)

To download the full report click here (135Kb PDF opens in new window)