Colin Gell sets out his own thoughts on 'No Compromise' and the balance between elite and grassroots sport.

As always the views of contributors to our blogs does not necessarily reflect the views of the Think Tank - but they give space for people to debate their viewpoint!

___

As a country our volunteer sector is unparalleled, our interest in sport is immense, and we are buoyed by huge success of an Olympics. This success came as a result of huge public support and effort, and billions of pounds funded by the government,.. Read More »

As the focus of PE in Schools turns to Primary Schools and what model works best we take a look at a scheme introduced by Loughborough College after the demise of the School Sport Partnerships using apprenticeships to get quality teaching and coaching into schools. The scheme has recently received an Outstanding from OFTSED and the College are keen to roll out the scheme nationwide.

Below are extracts from the scheme - a full brochure will follow. What is your reaction? Post your comments

"Loughborough College.. Read More »

The Guardian Newspaper ran a Local Government Cuts Special on Monday 25th March as councils finalised their financial year. Below is the text of that article.

We are also aware that CLOA have done their own research into the level of cuts taking place and their impact. We all know there are further cuts to come in local budgets. The government have responded to criticism of their lack of schools policy and strategy but is there any hope of a central strategy to these problems. Not by the looks of the exchange.. Read More »

So West Ham will be anchor tenants in the deal announced by the LLDC today. You can see the full details of their official announcement elsewhere on this site. You may also want to read some of the coverage on the BBC website and in the print press - including this video over at the Guardian

So Richard Caborn the former Sports Minister describes this as the biggest mistake of the Games and its legacy.

Looking at the comments section of the BBC Site and the Guardian reaction this has caused a great deal of 'disquiet'.

However, here at the Sports Think Tank we hope our discerning readers could have an equally lively debate - based a little more on the facts as presented.

What do you think? Is this the best pragmatic deal on the table that delivered a financial deal as well as fulfilling the athletics promise - or is this a sell out to a Premier Football club?

So the new and long awaited school sport strategy was finally launched by the Prime Minister yesterday.

These are the main headlines and claims made by the Prime Minister;

"London 2012 gave Britain a once in a lifetime opportunity to inspire a nation to enjoy sport and the Government wants to embed that into the school day from an early age. The new sports funding aims to improve the quality of provision in every state primary school in England.This means:

A lump sum for each school, with a per-pupil top-up. A.. Read More »

A thought provoking piece from Jack Lewars the Director of Operations for School of Hard Knocks - both to government policy makers and those in sport development where we claim to #transform lives' all too readily.

'Comfort with Failure'

School of Hard Knocks is a social inclusion charity which runs courses that use sport to tackle the issues surrounding unemployment, antisocial behaviour, crime and health. The charity has an expert team of coaches and mentors and is supported by a wide range of high profile individuals.. Read More »

The announcement this week that the Don Valley stadium in Sheffield is due for closure in September has hardly come as a total surprise to those who have followed the story. But the media and public reaction to the announcement yesterday was much greater because of the iconic status of the stadium and of course the fact that Gold medallist Jess Ennis trains there. The fact that she received her CBE from the Palace the day before added to the strength of the story.

As always the headlines don't tell the whole.. Read More »

The tweet this week about the report on the BBC website about the comparison of elite sports people and their educational background got one of our biggest hits. So it seems there is plenty of interest in the story. So what can we learn from this brief snapshot and what will policy makers do to even out the imbalance (indeed if they think they should!?)

The BBC story:

State schools do not play enough competitive sport at a high level, it has been warned. But do private schools dominate professional sport?

Even.. Read More »

The long-awaited OFSTED report into school sport and PE was finally released this week. Given the speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding its delay and timing you would have been led to believe this was a nightmare bad news story waiting to be buried.

The Full report can be found here and this is what OFSTED said themselves:

Ofsted is publishing its Beyond 2012 – outstanding physical education for all report today. It makes recommendations for schools and the Department for Education to secure the.. Read More »

Today DCMS have formally announced that the merger of Sport Engkand and UK Sport will no longer be taking place and advertised for the two new Chairs to replace Sue Campbell and Richard Lewis..

Clearly here at the Think Tank we are deeply interested in the process and recruitment as we know these are key appointments in delivering the governments objectives. We also know what happens when a Chair doesn't agree with the Minister when Derek Mapp resigned/ was sacked?!

Over the coming days we will look at the process.. Read More »