Analysis: Redesigning youth sport can bring about experiences that are more fun and better for athlete retention and development
Buoyed by the national team's successes at recent European Championships and Olympic Games, athletics in Ireland is booming. However, the most exciting development in Irish athletics may be what is happening at the youngest age groups with the exploration of a new competition format.
We are becoming very familiar with new competition formats in adult sport. If you are watching the GAA's National Football League, you will see players and coaches adapting to a host of new rules from the Football Review Committee designed to create a more exciting experience for both players and spectators. If you were watching the Six Nations rugby, you may have seen the '50:22’, a relatively new rule allowing the attacking team to maintain position from a kick to touch under specific circumstances.
The 3v3 format in basketball created some of the most thrilling finales at the Paris Olympics, but did you know the first basketball game featured nine players on each team? The rules of high-performance sport are always changing somewhere to create games which are safer, faster, more exciting – fundamentally, a version of the game which is a better fit for its purpose.
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But such rule changes are not just for elite sport. Sports federations all around the world are redesigning the competition format that they offer within children's sport. England Football, following the lead of the Belgian Football Association, have reduced the number of players per side at the youngest age groups. In Ireland, the GAA was an early adopter of such a child-focused approach to youth sport, with their Go Games initiative for players aged 11 and under reimagining children’s sport through the use of modified playing numbers, pitch sizes, equipment and rules.
Likewise Gymnastics Ireland introduced The Floor to broaden their competition offering. Such redesigns are known as 'competitive engineering' in academic publications and the evidence is clear: redesigning youth sport results in experiences which are more fun and better for athlete retention and development.
Now, Athletics Ireland are experimenting with Spraoi Games, an alternative competition format to provide as many children as possible with the best possible early experiences in track and field. Informed by a survey of almost 1,000 youth athletes and discussions between development officers, Spraoi Games is a team-based multi-event programme designed to support children’s athletics development in a fun environment. The event is designed to finish in two hours which reduces pressure on both officials and families, a vital consideration for any sport redesign.
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Competition structure acts as an anchor for coach and parent behaviour. Well-designed competition formats delivered in an appropriate atmosphere are one of the most powerful tools available to organisations to deliver child-centred sport. As highlighted by research from DCU and the GAA, it is not just the design of competition that matters. Organisations must also effectively communicate the rationale and advantages of the new competition format to parents and coaches. Ultimately, competition design should not be left to tradition; rather, as highlighted by the 10th item on the ICoachKids Pledge, organisations must actively strive to use competition in a developmental way.
Will the addition of Spraoi Games enhance the experience of young athletes, parents and coaches? The initial feedback is positive and the experiment continues. But the broader lesson for all organisations is that youth sport is changing – and the sports that embrace and master the design of competition will likely reap the rewards of increased participation and long-term success.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
