The current emphasis on out of school sport (and cultural) provision for young people (aged up to 19) makes understanding how to attract and retain them, and knowing what works (or doesn't) vital.

Much noise has been made, for example, with regard to the assumption that the present out of school sport offer in many localities is not sufficiently varied and claiming that today's young people are not interested in ‘standard provision'.

While there is a thread of validity in such statements, there is also an element of convenience about these claims as they tend to be geared to absolving schools and SSPs from their fundamental role in the ‘CL' of PESSCL.

The bottom line is (based upon our extensive research) that, for example in the North West (based upon a survey of nearly 30,000 young people):

• One third of boys and 40% of girls claim that they ‘don't have anyone to go with'.
• Just under one quarter (nearly 30% of girls) simply claim not to have enough time.
• Approximately 22% of young people do not know where to go, or think that it costs too much to take part.
• Other key barriers include the perception that ‘I'm not very good at sport and ‘doing sport is embarrassing' both of which feature at 14% (more for girls).

The absence of sophistication in our approach to this and the tendency to ignore key drivers is a failing on all sides. We consistently take insufficient account of:

• The influence of parents and siblings - and how we might enhance this.
• The influence of peers and the enhanced confidence that arises from enabling young people to access and take part in club activity ‘en masse'.
• The fact that a young person's actual ability (and related confidence) is key to his/her propensity to take the (often quite considerable) step into a new external sports club environment.
• The key importance of interpersonal communication and guidance for the young person - by agencies on ‘both sides' of the process

We can deliver Clubmark, school-club link contracts, in-school coaching and Facebook notices until we are blue in the face; the key ingredients are individual motivation and confidence, timely guidance (from credible sources), club receptiveness and individual support.

Once they have made the step we are in different territory...

Our overall strata survey data (on 200,000 young people) suggests that nearly 75% are currently, or have been, members of a club. The implication is that many, even by the tender age of 13/14, have passed through club sport (in many cases, potentially never to return). Arguably, if clubs were to hang on to a slightly larger proportion of the young members that pass through their hands they would already be bursting at the seams creating the sort of pressure on facilities, coaches and volunteers that would really have the system creaking.

If the 5-hour offer is to have a serious impact on youth participation, we must also get serious about how we assess success. The performance measurement we put in place cannot be based upon teacher guesswork or assessment of supply. It must in a quantitative context, simply signal outcomes (how many are taking part, where, for how long and how often) and qualitatively inform the process; what works best for young people of different ages, genders and social circumstances. Working backwards from a result is, almost always, the most effective way to learn.

The key differences between boys and girls, young people from culturally active families and not, the impact of family car ownership and the number, breadth and accredited quality of locally available opportunity cannot be allowed to delimit. There are real opportunities to develop and revise processes and structures - but it is vital that all parties are involved and take responsibility; this means having accurate baselines and appropriate measurement devices in place.

John Eady, Chief Executive - john.eady@kkp.co.uk