Sport 4 Development

Please explore the ways in which we incorporate a Sport 4 Development approach in our programmes by expanding the headings below. These themes are based on the S4D Impact Framework.

Employability

All our courses are structured and assessed. Our Climbing instructors and many of our mentors have a CWA qualification. They are highly experienced and trained. Our Bicycle Maintenance instructors are City & Guilds qualified and we are a City & Guilds assessment centre. We offer young people we work with an opportunity to work towards a City & Guilds qualification when they complete our Bicycle Maintenance courses.

Social & Community Cohesion

Our mentors live and work locally and represent a broad range of age, ethnicity and life experience. This provides an opportunity for social interaction between groups who would otherwise not coincide. Mentors and young people broaden their horizons, learn about each other’s lives and build stronger links with the community

Gender Equity & Equality

Research has shown that girls who are physically active have better body image, more confidence and self-esteem, experience greater academic and career success. We take the lead from youth workers who reported to us that girls can feel self-conscious and observed in mixed groups and offer girls only climbing sessions to encourage participation and excellence.

Disability

We work with the Blanche Neville School for Deaf Children to make Climbing accessible to their students. Our climbing instructors work with sign language to support students and we provide special harnesses to make the sessions accessible to members of the group who are wheelchair users.

Individual Development

We are careful not to leave anyone behind whilst ensuring that everyone is challenged during a session. We work in small groups and always have more than one trained adult per young person attending a session. We are flexible and break down into smaller groups to cater to individual need and improve performance and group dynamics.

Using sport as a tool for success

Using the Sport 4 Development approach

YES Outdoors has been implementing a Sport 4 Development (S4D) approach in our programmes. In particular, our climbing workshops now benefit from this model.

S4D is a strategy that aims to use sport as a developmental tool. It is based on the idea that sport can have a positive impact on development, particularly in terms of participation and social inclusion.

This approach has been used to promote physical activity, healthy lifestyles, gender equality, social inclusion and even human rights issues. At YES Outdoors, we use it to support young people in reaching their own SMART goals within and beyond the climbing itself.

Our Volunteers and mentors are supported with the relevant training to work within these models, which work in tandem with our Theory of Change and ‘young person’s journey‘ chart.