Sports clubs have a vital role to play in providing sporting opportunities for young people, and young people have a vital role in providing the future success and development of sports clubs.

In most sports it is crucial to the success of the club that they attract and encourage young players. However, all clubs are unique and not every club may feel that a junior section is appropriate for them. Before introducing young players to your club you need to consider the responsibility of providing and taking charge of young people and how young people will affect other members in the club.

Creating strong club school links is vital when developing a club. However, an area that is often neglected or forgotten about is the club developing links with its wider community. Clubs should endeavour to create links with these groups as they could provide a source of new members or volunteers. 

Developing school and sport organisation partnerships to provide young people with quality opportunities to progress in sports from schools to clubs is important. This will enable juniors to move from a school to an adult environment with ease. Making the transition to a high quality, attractive and progressive environment will help them progress in their chosen sport. This transition can be tailored to meet the needs of schools and sports organisations.

A club’s first point of contact should be the local schools. A club should be able to make a strong case for developing links with the local school as there are many benefits to be gained by both the school and the club. In recent years school sport has suffered due to the pressures placed on them by the ever changing national curriculum, financial constraints and limited time. The diminishing hours available and the time constraints on staff should leave an opportunity for forward thinking local sports clubs to provide quality sporting opportunities for young people.

By making contact with the local schools, the club and school can work together to complement the school sports programme and to fill the gaps by assisting in the provision of these additional sporting opportunities.