A New Strategy for an Active Nation

This article discusses the importance of sports for a nation and how to develop a national sports strategy. It covers topics such as identifying target groups, funding the strategy, and setting objectives. The article also includes references to reports and statements from the United Nations, the UK government, and other sources.

A New Strategy for an Active Nation
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Table of Contents
Answer to Question No. 1...........................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question No. 2...........................................................................................................................4
Answer to Question No. 3...........................................................................................................................7
Answer to Question No. 4...........................................................................................................................9
References:................................................................................................................................................11
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Answer to Question No. 1
To understand the role of sports in the development of any nation, we have to understand what
sports are. Sports are defined in the Oxford Dictionary as such activities, which attract physical
exertion with inherent or trained skills; through which an individual or a team of individuals use
to compete against others for entertainment to prove their supremacy. This term sports are also
governed by several ethical guidelines which are known as rules. (University)
There are different reasons for any nation to make sports strategy. In present global scenario,
sports are considered as one of the basic prides of the nation. Moreover, sports are contributing
to the GDP of any nation. Specialization on the excellence of sports attracts different level of
funds from the corporate. As per report of United Nations Inter Agency Task Force on Sport for
development and peace, different areas are identified for the purpose of excellence in sport for
any nation. UN has fixed Millennium Development Goals or MDG for the nations in the area of
sports with the purpose to make the nation understand the importance of sports along with its
role to build a nation. The direct contribution of sports to the nation is to make the nation
disciplined with the added qualities of learning skills, excel confidence, promotion of leadership
and the building of strong national character of tolerance, cooperation and mutual respect.
Sports are instrumental to contribute to the nation by adding value in the fields of sustainable
human, social and economic development in micro level; with the macro level contribution of
global peace, human health and escalation of human right of the community. (Nations, 2003)
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The above discussion amply puts light on the importance of sports for the nation. A nation
should adopt proper strategy in order to perform satisfactorily in the sports arena of global
scenario. The adoption of proper national sports strategy will help the nation to excel in the
specific type of sports and thus can emerge the feeling of national identity and pride within the
community of the nation. The need of proper strategy should be highlighted with the objective of
selection of Key Performance Indicator by deriving the strength, weakness, opportunities and
threat analysis of the nation. Hence a good strategy can only be formed in national level by
prioritizing the fields of sports, which can have the scope of excellence for the nation. As sports
are marked as the identity of the nation, a good strategy can make the nation rich with its global
performance and acknowledgment of the same through global recognition.
Answer to Question No. 2
Identification of the target groups for sports can be derived from different segment of people of
the nation with interest in sports. Main objective of any nation is to engage the entire population
in sports, ideally. To ensure identification of the target groups, the nation has to identify who are
directly or indirectly involve in the sports activities. There are participators, the followers and
spectators and the volunteers, in nut shell, who are identified as the target groups related to
sports. Then the divisions of target groups are made with the factors of ages, institutions and
genders.
The participators are the key target groups for this activity. The participators take part in the
sporting events which gives entertainment for the spectators. The participators pass through
different level of training to enhance their skills with the effective knowledge sharing of ethical
practice of sports. The participators are divided in different age groups and genders as per the
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demand of the sporting events. Any nation wishes to groom the aspirant participators from the
childhood enabling them to cope up with the training programs with set objectives of their
sporting career. The parameter fixed for the participators are well defined and the objectives are
also well set in advance which can be modified as per the changed scenario of the sporting
events. Hence the target groups related to participation is identified by the specific age group and
gender. The training process is taken place for the target groups to enhance their skills by the
professional trainers. As participators are the main factors for sporting activities, they are the
basic or key groups of target for any sporting events. The other groups assisting them to
accomplish their objectives are the secondary target groups for sporting activities.
As per John Whittingdale, MP, OBE Secretary of State- Department for Culture, media and
Sports of UK, the theme of participation in sports is defined with the objective of providing the
feeling to everyone that sports is for them irrespective of their status of athleticism as
experienced or beginner. Although the main objective of participation in sports is to feel the thrill
of competition with the accomplishment of winning, the only scope of participation is also
encouraged by providing the chance to participate for one and all. (Department of Culture, 2015)
The spectators are the next target groups for any sporting activities. It is often observed that the
spectators are not inclined to any specific sporting event, in general. One spectator may have
interests in different sports, which can provide the expected level of mental entertainment or
accomplishment of national pride for the individual. The spectators may form a group named
supporters for a specific community, who can have the earnest desire for observing the coveted
level of achievement of the team for which they watch the sporting event.
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The volunteers are key target groups who can ensure systematic procedure to conduct the
sporting event with the objective of accomplishment of goals for the participators. They may be
in the forms of judges or referees, the group of people who can ensure proper and systematic
procedure of the sporting event from start till end, or the people who are attached to the event on
regular basis as a continuous process to ensure regular follow up and provision of necessary
guidance to excel performance in the events. They are in the class of statisticians, sports
medicine professionals and the coaches related to specific sporting event. As per Nick Boles, MP
and Minister for Skills Department for Business, Innovation and Skills: Department of Education
UK, skills related to coaching, workforce and good governance are basic driver towards balanced
growth strategy along with globally acclaimed apprenticeship as main motivator for
Government’s skill strategy. These facilities can enhance the scope of the young generation to
accomplish their objective by reaching their ability to deliver the expected level of skills the
employers and the industry look for growth. This facility was extended during the last Parliament
period to 2.3 million apprenticeships with the objective of extending the same facility to 3
million empowered by comprehensive growth plan followed by engagement with more work of
large employers, and promoting support to the SMEs with renewed importance on
communication. With this extended service to the population, sports industry is also one of the
beneficiaries with the application of latest technological involvement in the field of sports skills.
(Department of Culture, 2015)
Amongst the above, the participators can be included through proper selection process as per the
requirement of the sporting event specification. The selection of spectators can be done through
proper creation of encouragement related to any specific sporting event. The volunteers are
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present in the sporting system of any nation and they can be included as per the requirement of
the nation with specification of objective fixed by the nation.
Answer to Question No. 3
It is obvious for implementation of new strategy to fund it- be it the nation or the corporate. The
main objective of funding is to ensure the coveted or anticipated return. For this purpose,
identification of objective is prime necessity. For any new sports strategy for the nation, scope of
two basic resources is there. One is public sector or government and the other is private sector or
corporate. All strategies are term-specific- short-term, middle-term or long-term and national
sports strategies are no exception to this concept.
To fund any national sports strategy through public sector is to ensure its return for the
development of the nation. It may not be identified with the significance of monetary return. The
public sector funding can be well assessed with the coveted result the strategy had focused.
Normally, irrespective of the duration of the strategy, the nation opts for public sector funding
when the outcome presumed to be applicable by enhancing national pride.
Private sector funding comes through the mode of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
program for national sports strategy, in general. Private sector funding always looks for return in
monetary form- either in the form of tax benefit or in the form of direct return of the funding
through ensuring Return on Investment (ROI). Tax benefit can be identified easily while ROI is
not easy to be determined in case of funding for national sports strategy.
It is not possible for the nation to fund sports strategy fully. Hence proper identification of sports
strategies is to be determined to fund it through public or private sector. To identify the fund
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providers for implementation of national sports strategy, a good analysis is to be made to derive
the result providing strategy as per specific time frame. For short-term sports strategies, private
sector can be approached; while for long- term sports strategies, public sector may be opted
ensuring that the public sector should have the ability to provide fund for this purpose for the
stipulated time period.
The diagram, as projected in Sports England: Towards and Active Nation- 2016-2021 to justify
the investment plan for sports strategy of UK is given below to understand the concept:
It is really tough to ensure increasing engagement in sporting activities. There are only few
delivery models which can ensure proven track record of return and that can be welcomed by the
fund providers with confidence. For further enhancement of this scope of fund raising, provision
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of proper and proven supply chain management is to be done with reliance. The required level of
expectation from the strategy can only be ensured through different innovative projects. Hence
the lessons from different organizations like Wellcome Trust can help the nation of UK to derive
the successful strategies which can deliver 80% of the investment, with the risk management of
balance 20% to promote new ideas. It is assumed that all these new ideas cannot be successful,
but the same can be able to produce solutions which can be able to deliver expected results. (UK,
2016)
Answer to Question No. 4
A strategy for any field is derived from the objective of the issue. National sports strategies are
no exception to this concept. It is often found that lack of proper identification of objective can
lead to failure of strategy. Hence the objective set should be clearly identified with the criterion
of its accomplishment.
For any national sports strategy, identification of objective is to be done with specific sporting
events considering the ability of human resources available within the nation for this purpose. It
is often found that human resources of any nation may not be compatible to the coveted sports
strategy due to its physical or mental setup. Hence, strategy should be fixed with logical and
justifiable attitude to ensure its accomplishment for the said objective. (Beech & Chadwick,
2013)
For monitoring a sports strategy, specific time frame is to be fixed to assess its success for any
nation. Proper implementation of strategy with specific result oriented objective should be
successful provided proper infrastructural support is provided for the stakeholders. For this
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purpose, the government has to fix proper targeted benchmark with the time frame and should
monitor the sporting activity to ensure its success so far implementation is concerned.
References:
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Beech, J., & Chadwick, S. (2013). The Business of Sport Management (2nd ed.). Essex, England: Pearson
Education Ltd.
Department for Digital, c. m. (2015). New strategy to strengthen sport from the grassroots to the elite.
Government of UK.
Department of Culture, M. a. (2015). A New Strategy for Sport:Consultation Paper. Government of UK.
Nations, U. (2003). Report from the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Sports for Development and peace.
United nations.
UK, G. o. (2016). Sport England: Toward an Active Nation- Strategy 2016-2021. Deaprtment of Sports,
Tourism and Heritage. Sports England.
University, O. (n.d.). British and World English. (O. University, Producer) Retrieved 04 17, 2018, from
English Oxford Living Dictionaries: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/sport
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