Are you a sport administrator working in a national or regional sport organisation, a school or club and want to understand how you can promote Balance is Better? This article shows you how and provides some good examples.
It’s said that awareness is the first step to change.
Put simply, if we aren’t aware of why we do what we do, then we are unlikely to change what we’re doing.
As a sports leader and or administrator, you play a critical role in raising awareness about the Balance is Better philosophy and helping your community to understand what doing things the right way looks like.
By raising awareness of the kinds of behaviour you’d like to see in your sport, and those you’d like to see modified or eliminated, is a great starting point for leading change. And the impact will be immense, with more young people developing a life-long love of sport.
So, how can we raise awareness about the Balance is Better messages?
Promote messages at events your organisation leads and supports
For example:
- AGMs
- Coaching forums
- Parent induction evening
- Information seminars
Some tips here include:
- Gathering busy people together can be a challenge so take the opportunity to piggyback on existing meetings to share the Balance is Better messages.
- For external gatherings in particular, this will give you a chance to share what your organisation is doing to keep young people in sport through the provision of quality experiences.
- When you have the opportunity to have someone speak about Balance is Better, a good question to ask is, “who is best to deliver the messages? In some cases, it will be someone within the organisation. Is there a respected athlete or coach in-house who can talk to Balance is Better? Other times it may be someone from outside the organisation who has a great personal story to share that relates to the Balance is Better philosophy.
- For internal meetings, it may be appropriate to have ‘Balance is Better’ as an ongoing ‘agenda’ item. Messages conveyed by people with a lived experience or that are perceived as credible (e.g. top athletes, researchers or sport leaders) are good for engaging audiences.
Promote Balance is Better messages through your regular channels of communication.
For example:
- E-newsletter
- Email sign-offs
- Website
Consistently integrating Balance is Better messages into your business-as-usual communications to your community will keep them front of mind for your members and partner networks.
We have made the videos, posters and social tiles from the Keep up with the play campaign, as well as stories and case studies on our various Balance is Better Champions, available for the public. You are welcome to use these and share to your network in order to promote Balance is Better message.
What are some good examples?
The links below are examples of how some organisations have promoted Balance is Better messages. These include videos of credible sportspeople with a personal story to tell, hosting a youth sport forum, and creating a webpage.
- Sport Canterbury: How to raise a champion panel discussion
- New Zealand Cricket Balance is Better subpage on their community website
- Sport Bay of Plenty Q&A Webinar with Kane Williamson
- Sport Bay of Plenty Youth Sport Forum
Ensure that you connect the messages to your context and sport
Messages are far more powerful if they are relatable and relevant to the targeted audience. For example:
- use stories that are from your context and sport
- connect messages to the why and what this means for your community, especially if you are in the process of change or to reinforce approaches to policy, guidelines and deliver, etc.