The annual Oxfordshire Youth Games involves teams from all five districts in Oxfordshire and sees teams of young people aged 7 to 15 years, from across the County, come together to take part in a multi-sport competition.

KKP was asked to assess the value of the Games from the perspective and, via consultation with key deliverers and partners, to consider the impact since its launch in 2006. In so doing, it assessed the effect it has had in terms of participation, profile and other related partner strategic objectives and subsequently made recommendations for future improvements.

County youth games have existed in various guises across England for 15-20 years. In some areas they are long-standing features of the sporting calendar, in others they emerged from the 2000 Millennium Youth Games, linked to the gestation of the Active Sports programme.

They are generally linked into the sports development work of local partners, including local authorities, CSPs, NGBs and clubs. In practice, the development value and impact can be variable and inconsistent dependent upon the approach of the local authority different NGBs and the school sports partnerships in given areas.

Consultation in Oxfordshire, in part, centred upon considering alternative options. These included a focus on young people that are currently not in school or representative teams and running an event with fewer (rather than more) sports with a good quality, developmentally focused, comprehensive build up. This model was also one which allowed the retention of focus on young coach and volunteer development; as one of the more successful outcomes of the Games as it runs at present.

KKP also examined how the Games could be adapted to better suit the development needs of Oxfordshire local authorities and partners (e.g SSPs, NGBs and clubs, the Oxfordshire Sports Partnership, Sport England etc). An outline for future Games was offered for consideration, based upon a core format of a two stage event run consistently in each district:

• Stage one - each district to run a 'qualifying competition' to determine the top two schools (those with the best composite score across nominated sports). The format to mirror current 'round-robin' competition in team games to ensure plenty of game time.
• Stage two - the main Games event at which district winners compete in five sports including athletics, badminton, girls football, rugby (tag) and fun netball.

A fundamental tenet of the proposal was a focus on:

• Young people in school key stage 3 (in years 7 and 8) - a participation key drop-off point.
• Young people that do not presently play for a school team or are not involved in the club structure.

While challenging, this was considered by delegates to, potentially, offer substantially more value. To support the report, KKP recommended a structure for the Games outlining key stages and processes. Following submission of its findings and recommendations, a stakeholder group will assemble to discuss the revised format for the Games and work through the practicalities.

KKP was perfectly suited to deliver this assignment. It is nationally recognised as the specialist strategic sports development company and as an expert research and evaluation agency. Consultants bring practical experience in the management, delivery and evaluation of youth games, talent pathways and development, NGB whole sport planning and school-club links. KKP is also market leader in assessment of youth participation and the evaluation of the impact of programmes and associated processes.

For more information on KKP's expertise in this area, see the monitoring and evaluation pages of our website.