Love Sport: An evaluation of Sanctuary Group’s sport and physical activity programme

The benefits of physical activity for health, wellbeing and individual and social development are well documented and increasingly recognised by policy makers and funding bodies across different sectors including government, health and housing. For housing providers, the delivery of community programmes involving physical activity are becoming more widespread due to the benefits these activities can have in supporting the development of residents and communities and contributing towards numerous individual, social, economic and health outcomes. Recognising these benefits, Sanctuary, in partnership with Sport England, established Love Sport, a programme that encompasses a variety of activities delivered by numerous delivery partners and is intended to get more people engaged in sport and physical activity.

Key findings

689 participants, including male and female participants of different ages who travelled a range of distances to attend activities. On average, these participants attended 50% of scheduled activity sessions.

After participating in the Love Sport programme:

• 41% of participants reported continuing with physical activity
• 15% of participants reported having greater confidence in themselves
• 13% of participants reported a greater feeling of belonging to their local neighbourhood

When looking specifically at social impact generated by the Love Sport programme:

• 442 people of different ages frequently attended a Love Sport activity
• 87 participants moved to a position of high confidence
• 72 participants moved to a higher position of feeling belonging to the neighbourhood
• Combined, these twelve activities created a social value total of £2,595,504.

Key learning

The evaluation highlights key recommendations that should be considered by housing providers when designing and implementing community investment programmes, particularly those with the engagement of people in physical activity at its core:

• Making activities flexible and inclusive to enhance participant numbers and impact.
• Using appropriate techniques and methods to engage participants.
• Identifying and address barriers to participation.
• Identifying and work with the ‘right fit’ partner for the local context.
• Ensuring clarity about timepoint, purpose and responsibilities for data collection.