From sport for sport’s sake to sport for change and social good – how?
Sport and physical activity have an incredible power to create social change and across the UK there is an increasing focus on how sport and physical activity can deliver social good in their communities and help people change their lives through sport and physical activity. And many organisations of all shapes and sizes are already delivering great work in this field, having a major impact on their communities.
Sport and physical activity have an incredible power to create social change and across the UK there is an increasing focus on how sport and physical activity can deliver social good in their communities and help people change their lives through sport and physical activity. And many organisations of all shapes and sizes are already delivering great work in this field, having a major impact on their communities.
However, there is also uncertainty across many sports and physical activity organisations as for how best to start on the journey of changing communities and lives through sport.
This is no longer about a debate ‘sport for sport’s sake vs. ‘sport for change/social good but about how sports and physical activity providers can attract more people by working closely with community bodies such as Housing, patient associations, faith centres, Police and education (at all levels) and become a hub for their communities.
By doing so you will also be able to attract new skilled and passionate volunteers and funding from non-sports funders because of your social impact.
So by dealing with inequality in sports participation, helping to create community cohesion, playing a role in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour, helping to improve education and employability, and health and wellbeing sport and physical activity providers can grow their numbers, reach and impact.
There are already a number of exciting initiatives taking place across the UK developed and delivered by enterprising organisations from across a number of sectors both within sport and physical activity and beyond and Sports Marketing Network are indeed working with some of them.
We have developed all our material based on best practice and you can now learn from the best. All this will be provided in an engaging and interactive way, using jargon-free language and case-studies from sports and community organisations of all shapes and sizes.
Who should attend this workshop: This workshop is aimed at people who are involved with sports and physical activity organisations interested in developing sport for change and social good initiatives such as governing bodies of sports, Community Sports Hubs, Country Sports Partnerships, community sports trusts, sports clubs, leisure trusts, funding bodes, school sports partnerships and activators.
People who are involved with community organisations interested in using sport and physical to engage with people and communities such as housing associations, Police, social enterprises, health and patient organisations, Local Authorities, voluntary organisations, funding bodies, NHS and Public Health,
This workshop will help you to become a Community Sports Change Maker
SMN deliver a wide range of workshops for both volunteers and professionals involved with community sport and physical activity and below you will find a selection of the topics we cover.
All our keynotes and workshops are delivered personally by Svend Elkjaer, the Founder and Director of the Sports Marketing Network
Engaging workshops for volunteers and professionals within community sport
SMN deliver a wide range of workshops for both volunteers and professionals involved with community sport and physical activity and below you will find a We deliver bespoke workshops and keynote presentations, developed in consultation with our client/hosts, so if you have a specific request please get in touch.
We are certain we can help to develop and deliver exactly what you are looking for…whether you are looking for a 20-minute keynote or series of Grow Your Club workshops
Over the years SMN have worked with a wide range of organisations including local authorities, universities, colleges, community sports clubs, governing bodies of sport, community sports, trusts leisure trusts, informal sports providers, community sports enterprises, community groups and other community sports providers and professional associations.
We have run Grow Your Club workshops for more than 4000 community sports clubs across the UK and Denmark.
Grow Your Club: A complete package for you and your clubs
Increasingly, we deliver a comprehensive club inspiration support package for governing bodies of sport, local authorities and sports councils.
Introductory 3-hour workshop(s)
The club representatives are introduced to the concept of making their clubs more vibrant, visible and viable and to the programme.
Application process for clubs to join the programme
Clubs complete a simple questionnaire where the main focus is on their culture and willingness and capacity for change. The clubs that are demonstrating the strongest desire to move forward are then selected to participate in a one-to-one mentoring and support programme.
Bespoke club consultations
We then visit each club for 2-3 hours and using our bespoke tools we help the clubs areas where they can best utilise their current and future resources, be it volunteer development, member recruitment and retention, income generation or raising the profile.
Remote mentoring
Having agreed specific action points with each club we then follow up and stay in touch using email, ‘phone or Skype.
Possible webinars
In some cases we run specific webinars and in some cases the clubs participate in our regular, open webinar
Why not host your own workshop?
If you are local authority, governing body, sports council or any other sports organisation you should how you can use SMN to help your partners and deliverers to become welcoming, innovative and enterprising. You will notice the workshops in our Grow Your Club and Activity Grower programmes, but we are more than happy to deliver a bespoke workshop suited to your needs.
Our workshops are fun and interactive and packed with inspiring case-studies backed up with templates and action points, so the participants can use the information there and then!

Grow Your Club – How to become more vibrant, visible and viable
This introductory workshop will cover how clubs can develop the enterprise culture and skills required and how to get the vision right and a clear vision of what their club is for. It will help clubs become vibrant through the activities and events they create, visible through their communication with members, supporters, sponsors and the community at large thus creating a viable club.
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How to Grow Your Club’s Income – from Fundraising to Income Generation
Sports clubs must develop a sustainable income model – getting away from the panicky Dash for Cash often running around literally begging for money. The key is to look at the whole operation and ambition of your club and then identify and implement projects which can help grow your income to match your requirements, including generating cash reserves for replacements and developments.
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Leadership, Management and Volunteering at Your Community Sports Club
Successful leadership and management of the modern community sports club require delivery against sporting and social objectives while ensuring the financial sustainability of the organisation. Leaders and managers need a distinct set of skills to thrive in this context where clubs are operating in a competitive and changing environment.
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How to Promote Your Club – Raising the Profile of Your Club Across Your Community
Successful clubs do engage and communicate with users, members and other stakeholders using a number of tools, often involving members and their networks, thus reaching much wider audiences at almost no cost. This workshop covers how to use social and mobile media to communicate with members, sponsors and supporters. A key strand is SMN’s unique tool 4COM: Linking up COMmunity, COMmunication, welCOMing and COMputers which enables them to connect all your
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More People at Your Club – From Membership Secretary to Club Grower
If clubs are to increase the number of members and supporters they must become much more marketing and customer focused. The time has come for them to create exciting sport and exercise experiences. They must increase their focus on people’s needs and wishes and get away from an internally-focused culture too often based on outdated views and attitudes.
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How Your Club Can Become a Hub for Your Community – #MoreThanASportsClub
Great sports community sports clubs work for and with their communities, and as a consequence, both parties benefit. They are in reality Hubs for their Communities. They link up their assets, skills and relationships with people, groups and institutions in their communities.
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What people say
“I would recommend Svend Elkjaer of SMN to sports organisations looking to grow
their community clubs and their membership. He delivers relevant and professional
support and advice to help sport and clubs to grow and develop.“
David Marshall,
“Svend has a unique blend of understanding what makes businesses successful and
how community sports operates and manages to get the message of the need for
change across in an interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking way. Feedback
regarding his sessions has been excellent.
Adrian Leather,
“the feedback from the centre managers has been very positive and they said that you were a breath of fresh air and an excellent motivator”
“I would strongly recommend Svend Elkjaer of SMN to any sports club which wants to
develop into a welcoming, sustainable community sports enterprise.”
Jonathan James