Course Task
You are required to visit a community sports or leisure centre of your choice. Your task is to find out about the programme of activities offered and the user groups catered for by the centre/project. You should be prepared to discuss your overall findings.
For assignment ‘A’ you are required to write a 2000 word report on a selected aspect of the programme offered by the community sports centre you have visited. You should use the handout on report writing at the end of this handbook to help you structure your assignment.
TASK: Independent visit to or voluntary work in a local sports or leisure centre, scheme or project
The purpose of the visit is to find out what opportunities are provided for people to participate in a sport or sports and which particular groups of people the programme of activities (e.g. women, beginners, experienced players, children under 7, etc) caters for.
You should be able to find out most of this information from observation and collecting and analysing centre information leaflets etc. You may also wish to organise a short interview with a member of staff.
In assignment ‘A’ you are required to select an aspect of provision at this centre/scheme/project so you should read the guidance notes for this assignment carefully before your visit.
You should be prepared to feed back on your initial findings with respect to sporting opportunities and target groups in the university. There will also be an opportunity to discuss the focus you have selected for assignment A. Once you have decided on this, it may be necessary for you to revisit the centre to collect more specific information.
A letter of introduction to the centre is included at the back of this handbook.
Advice on completing this task
Once you have identified the centre you are going to use for your investigation, select a small aspect of the programme as the focus for your report. (E.g., badminton, after school classes for gifted children, women’s activities, etc.). You will probably need to make more than one visit to the centre to collect all the information you need. It is often a good idea to visit or volunteer your services at different times of the day/week as this gives a different perspective.
Sources of information:
On your initial visit try to collect as much written documentation as you can (e.g. programme details, pricing policy, etc.) and to have a look at the facility/activities taking place. If there is a web site, look at the information this provides.
You may need to arrange for this initial visit (and subsequent visits) rather than just ‘dropping in’ especially if you are interested in children’s activities (child protection issues). A letter of introduction is included at the back of this handbook.
Once you have reviewed and analysed your provisional information, (which you will need to do in preparation for the discussion you may need to return to the centre to find out what specific information you will need for your assignment. This may involve observation, or an interview or participating in an activity. Remember that if you are hoping to interview a member of staff, they are busy people so you will need to make an appointment. Be prepared for the interview (make a list of questions) and do not expect staff to be able to spend a long period with you. It is often not necessary to talk to the manager – another member of staff may be better placed to spend time with you. Centre/staff may not be willing or permitted to share some information with you (e.g. budgetary information, user information etc.) just get as much relevant information as you can. For the purposes of this assignment, it is not necessary or appropriate to undertake a survey or to distribute questionnaires to collect information.
Once you have collected your information/data you will need to analyse it and decide how best to use it in your report. Whilst key facts must be in the main body of the report, you will need to be selective and ensure it supports the social and educational issues discussed in lectures. You can put extra information to support your discussion in the appendix. You are writing to a tight word limit so it is often a good idea to use tables, etc. to present information.
Suggested Reading:
Hylton, K.&Tooten, M.Community Sports Development chapter 5 in Hylton, K. et al (2001) Sports Development: Policy, Process and Practicepp 66- 98
Pratt, S. (2000) Teenage Kicks: A Study of the Construction and Development of Adolescent Masculine Identities in Organised Team Sport, in Horne, J. and Fleming, S. (eds) Masculinities: Leisure Cultures, Identities and Consumption. Eastbourne, LSA Publications, pp 23-38
Your report must
i) show a general understanding of the agency/organisation/centre on which your work is based (e.g. the type of organisation, overall aims and place within the local sporting environment/market) as a background/context for your investigation (introduction)
ii) identify a specific focus (sport, user group, issue for example) for more detailed investigation (e.g. badminton, women’s activities, after school activities for gifted and talented children) and briefly explain how this information was collected (methodology)
iii) clearly present the relevant facts/data using appropriate methods (e.g. tables, diagrams, quotes from interviews, etc.) within the main body of the report (additional information may be included in the appendices and referred to in the text) (findings)
iv) discuss the findings with reference to relevant reading, present a summarising conclusion and, if appropriate, offer suggestions for change/improvement (discussion, conclusion and recommendations)
v) follow the structure outlined in the guidelines for report writing, not exceed 2000 words in length(excluding appendices) and be written in an appropriate academic style, with an accurate text and full bibliography.