WSA supports National Inclusion Week 2023
The Welsh Sports Association (WSA) is proud to support National Inclusion Week 2023, taking place from Monday the 25th of September until Sunday the 1st of October.
The aim of National Inclusion Week is to guide organisations in knowing that they have the power to make inclusion an everyday part of their workplace today.
It’s crucial for us all to think about what actions colleagues can take and what positive impact these actions could and should have for marginalised groups, because sport and leisure is a space for all.
With this year’s theme being ‘Take Action Make Impact’, the WSA wants to mark the week by encouraging members to start somewhere!
WSA Sports Industry Awards 2023 Best Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative award
This week, we want to cast our minds back to the WSA Sports Industry Awards and showcase our finalists in the Best Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative award category, in order to share just some of the best practise we have seen in this area.
Disability Sport Wales were nominated for the award for their ‘Get Out, Get Active’ campaign, a programme created in 2006 to encourage disabled and non-disabled people to come together and be active.
Street Football Wales were nominated for the work in ensuring that ‘no one gets left on the bench’. The organisation offers opportunities for people who have been socially isolated and excluded, by providing an open, inclusive and safe environment to participate. As well as sessions and events being free of charge, Street Football Wales provide all equipment and sustenance needed throughout sessions and events, removing any financial barriers that participants may have faced.
Cricket Wales won the award for their EDI Plan for Cricket in Wales in partnership with Glamorgan Cricket. Launched in March 2022, the plan has seen stigmas and perceptions shattered with the sport reaching some of the most under-represented groups in Wales in terms of sport participation!
The above organisations are, of course, just a small snippet of the fantastic inclusion work going on across sport and leisure in Wales, and within the WSA membership.
Members such as the Black Swimming Association, Pride Sports Cymru, StreetGames, Impetus Dance, African Community Centre, and Inclusive Skating – just to name a few – are all doing essential work to tackle barriers and ensure that sport and leisure is accessible to under-represented groups. The WSA would encourage all members to collaborate and discuss actions that could be taken to improve equality, diversity and inclusion across the sector.
And that work doesn’t just stop at the membership, with our partners also committed to pushing for a more diverse and inclusive sector. Acorn by Synergie, for example, have worked with the team at the WSA, to support WSA members to recruit from under-represented groups for Board roles.
The Welsh Sports Foundation
The WSA is committed to driving inclusivity and maximum representation within our industry, and part of this comes through the Welsh Sports Foundation (WSF).
The WSF is a national charity committed to removing financial barriers to sport and physical activity for children and young people.
Representing an innovative solution to help tackle child poverty in Wales, the WSF’s vision is to create a healthy and happy Wales where every young person has a level playing field to partake in sport and physical activity, where removing financial barriers can make that happen.
Recent research undertaken by StreetGames evidenced that the cost of living impacted 35% of young people in how much sport and physical activity they partake in, while 40% of young people’s top concern were finances.
The Welsh Sports Foundation is crucial to remove these hurdles and ensure that every child and young person has fair and equal access to physical activity.
Learn more about the Welsh Sports Foundation, and how you can make a difference, here.
