Social Exclusion from High-Performance Sport

Abstract

The article is a case-study approach examining social exclusion in high-performance youth sport to see whether all talented young sports people in England have an equal opportunity to reach the Olympic Podium. The scheme studied was “Performance Resources” (PR), an initiative across Nottinghamshire, a local authority with a long history of active support for sport. Over 70 telephone interviews and a social need analysis of all past participants (N = 319) highlighted that PR as a route to improving children's sport performances was judged a resounding success. However, using social need as a surrogate for socioeconomic status, the article concludes that the majority of participants were from middle class and relatively affluent households, and there were disproportionately few from lower classes and deprived groups and areas. More direct “social marketing” with such children and their parents is needed to break the barriers.