It's well-established that for all its social and physical benefits, community-level sport has areas of improvements to address. Regular abuse of match officials, youth coaches acting like military drill sergeants, environments that fall short on their promise to deliver safety and inclusion... all of these are issues contributing to churn in participants and volunteers, and unfulfilled potential for those sport developers seeking to create impact.

The common rhetoric "community sport needs to change" bandied around at conferences needs to be coupled with simple, practical frameworks for what this change looks like. And in recent years groups like the Australian Sports Commission, Sport New Zealand Ihi Aotearoa, Sport England, Youth Sport Trust and Aspen Institute Sports & Society are releasing strategies and frameworks to help sport organisations adjust their trajectory and address the challenges facing our sector.

I'm personally really passionate about who this change looks like: the types of people who need to change, the skills they require to effectively perform their role, and how we go about lifting the barriers that limit their capacity for change. The challenge in an industry with scant resources and a high volunteer workforce is how we make our end-game easily understandable and relatable, avoiding academic and peak body jargon in favour of more snackable concepts.

Introducing 'Community Sport Characters'

This is an attempt after 20 years of leading community sport programs for clubs through to international federations, to encapsulate the core persona that each key 'player' within the ecosystem requires in order for us to thrive as an industry. The 'Community Sport Characters'.

There are nine characters in this initial concept:

• Caring Coach

• Respected Referee

• Patient Parent

• Valued Volunteer

• Passionate Participant

• Fun Facilitator (see blog written here)

• Authentic Administrator

• Pragmatic President

• Curious Coach Developer

In a utopian sport environment, these characters would be present in all facets of the industry. All referees would be 'Respected Referee', all volunteers would feel like a 'Valued Volunteer'.

But as those working in the sector know well, we have work to do on that journey. Amidst all the positive impact we bring, many prevailing systems and cultures across the sports ecosystem render these characters ‘unplayable’ and effectively 'locked' until we choose to actively unlock them.

The Characters link to each other (systems approach)

It's not as simple as pinning our issues onto one 'problem child' in the system: the coach who still makes their participants run 'suicides', the peak body who doesn't engage its members, or the club president who acts unethically. The reality I find in any sport development project is that it's a system-led problem requiring a system-led solution.

Whilst it's possible to develop individual characters in isolation, the true value comes in recognising the interdependence between characters and the flow-on effects from investing in developing one or more characters. For example, we unlock the Caring Coach by improving coaches' skills in autonomy-supportive coaching styles, whilst enabling cultural attitudes at a club level that prioritise wellbeing and growth over 'win at all costs'. This helps to unlock Respected Referee and Passionate Participant, but often requires us to first unlock:

1. Curious Coach Developer through their ability to unpack coaches' existing beliefs/attitudes, and

2. Authentic Administrator's transparency/candidness when managing club-wide change.

Are these characters the input or the output of a thriving sport environment?

I'm curious in my network's thoughts on this - I'm currently finding it's a 'chicken or the egg' situation. The characters higher in the food chain like Pragmatic President and Authentic Administrator are more likely to be inputs - their actions often directly influence the programs and processes that the other Characters are subjected to. Passionate Participant is almost always an output - but it is certainly not impossible for a single passionate participant to become an input and spark system-level change through their advocacy.

Workshops for Clubs and Peak Bodies

My accompanying workshop sets out to guide sport organisations around how they can 'unlock' these characters and benefit from the flywheel of positive sport experiences. We cover things like:

1. The key traits (superpower) of each character;

2. What those traits look like within a community setting; and

3. How organisations can foster those traits at a macro- and micro-level.

If you feel an approach like this may offer a fresh perspective on some persistent challenges within your sport, I'd be keen to connect and discuss the opportunity to collaborate further via DM or darren@forwardpivot.com.au.