Sporting Chance

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An update from sportscotland on their 2023 social impact pledge, showing the positive impact their commitments have been having on schools, charities and physical activity.


Progress under commitment 1

Through the sportscotland National Sports training Centre Inverclyde, we will provide free access to available facilities and green spaces for local schools, as well as identified local charities, over the next 6-12 months (from Barry Fleeting). 

·  Access for local schools - The centre has provided access and safe walking routes to the local community in Largs in addition to support for Largs Academy, Largs Primary, St Mary's Primary and Largs Early Years Centre.  This has included access to the hill walk, outdoor classroom and nursery spaces, nature walks and well-being walks.

·   We provided access to the Golf Training Centre for some pupils who find it difficult to mainstream education and support the school golf after school club.  We also provided the full sized synthetic pitch for Largs Primary and St Mary's Primary Sports Days.

·   Local charities - The centre provides access for some local clubs and charities to meet and conduct training or business.  This supports these organisations with running costs while using available space within the centre. This year we have supported:

·        Dementia Friendly Largs

·        Largs Walking Football Club

·        Largs First Responders

·        Largs Fire and Rescue (fitness testing facilities)

·        Largs Tennis Club

·        To support and further develop our path network, we created a SAMH 5 ways walk which encourages people to walk the route where they scan QR codes at 5 viewing points to receive a wellbeing message.  This is currently in place within our upper woodland area.  We are at the planning stage of developing an accessible 5 ways walk within the lower woodland to suit people with accessibility challenges.

Progress under commitment 2.       

We will support the sportscotland Young People’s Sport Panel to extend the “Kit for All” initiative across the country and promote ‘Euan’s Guide’ to local and national partners to increase the number of sporting venues on the app/website, providing valuable accessibility information to people with a disability.

·  Kit for All is about offering recycled and pre-loved sports kit to individuals and families who need it, for free. Why? To make sport and physical activity more accessible for more people and to help the environment. We supported our Young People's Sport Panel to share guidance for anyone interested in setting up a project, even on a small scale. The Panel also developed an FAQs and created a video to share some initial tips. See here for more information: Kit for All – sportscotland.org.uk. We have seen some fantastic examples of partners across the country setting up their own projects:

o   Shetland

o   Dundee

o   North Lanarkshire

o   East Lothian

Progress under commitment 3.

We will explore how we can repurpose / gift office equipment and supplies to local community groups or schools (12–24-month timeframe). 

· We made the decision to close our Caledonia House office in Edinburgh. We are currently in the process of offering furniture and office goods to the local community, school and community groups in the area. We have received a fantastic response so far and look forward to sharing more details on who has benefitted from this.

More information