strategy
In order to identify its 20 boroughs, the CFA’s strategy is to define London boroughs where the greatest impact in sporting participation can be made. This will be done by assessing two factors:
- schools in boroughs with the fewest on-site sports facilities and smallest surface area, where the space and cost advantages offered by 1-wall Fives have the greatest benefit
- selecting areas where the greatest number of partnerships with Teach First participants and School Sports Partnerships can be established
The initial borough for the CFA is Kensington and Chelsea. There are strong links to the Westway Sports Center, the School Sports Partnership and two Teach First schools. Schools in this borough typically do not have space for on-site sports facilities and have a large number of under-represented and hard-to-reach groups. Last summer Fives was introduced to 1,000 pupils through free CFA coaching and this year their school’s have been invited to join the CFA as member schools. A second borough, Lambeth will begin coaching this summer through a partnership with the Healthy Schools Programme.
Using the criteria defined above, the CFA has identified a further 18 London boroughs which it will target in three different clusters over the next three years:
| Cluster 1 | Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Westminster |
|---|---|
| Cluster 2 | Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Lewisham, Southwark |
| Cluster 3 | Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Greenwich, Haringey, Harrow, Newham, Redbridge, Wandsworth |
Marketing
The CFA is responsible for the promotion and marketing of the sport. There are three main groups to which the CFA must market in each of its boroughs. They are:
- local education authorities, Specialist Sports Colleges and School Sports Partnerships, as well as Teach First participants - the key partners needed to spread the sport across the borough
- teachers who will run and coach the sport in their schools
- school pupils - the players we are trying to attract
The CFA has developed a promotional DVD in co-ordination with Chocolate Films to enable the first two groups to see the benefits of the sport. The CFA’s two websites will act as a source of information for all three groups. The first website, www.playfives.co.uk, will be targeted at pupils and teachers and provide simple information on how to play the sport, as well up-to-date content on news, school competitions, shots, and teacher training courses. The second website, www.cityfives.org.uk, will be an information source for current and potential partners to learn more about the charity and the benefits of supporting the CFA. The first website will also provide links to partner websites.
Once teachers and School Sports Partnerships have bought into the idea, the CFA will provide them with promotional materials for pupils and schools. These will include posters to be put up in schools and flyers to be handed out. The Inner City Handball Council has promised to send professionals from New York to play exhibition games for London children.
Whilst the overall goal is to expand to 20 boroughs in three clusters, to ensure success in each borough, the CFA must maintain a close focus on its operations in individual boroughs.
Therefore the CFA will utilise a three year borough model in each borough it works in. The intention is to invest in individual boroughs for three years to make them self-sustaining. This will be achieved by working with and attracting Specialist Sports Colleges and School Sports Partnerships to introduce Fives into their curriculum, as this guarantees participation across a wide number of schools within the same area. The CFA will only concentrate on boroughs individually and will not spread its interests too far. The CFA firmly believes that to increase sports participation, it has to work on a local community level and the borough focus will make this possible.
Once a School Sports Partnership has bought in, then it will be possible to target individual schools using the association’s free coaching courses and marketing resources. The CFA will be able at this stage to leverage the Teach First participants in individual schools to have the greatest impact on motivating pupils to play. The coaching courses will enable all interested staff to quickly become proficient in the sport and teach their pupils, and masterclasses from professional Fives Federation coaches will increase enthusiasm.
The additional advantage of working with the School Sports Co-ordinator programme is that they are also responsible for sport in primary schools and increasing links between primary and secondary schools. The different court sizes that Fives allows means that this benefit of the sport will be highlighted and utilized.
Individual Borough Support : 3 Year Focus
Year 1 offers free coaching sessions to all schools, level 1 coaching courses to staff as well participation in a borough competition at the end of the academic year.
Year 2 encourages schools to become CFA members. The CFA then helps schools to set up after-school clubs and mark out courts, increases the number of level 1 and 2 coaching courses for staff, and runs inter-school matches and termly borough festivals.
Year 3 supports the work of the first two years by expanding to the local community and bringing Fives into a city wide context. The CFA will approach other groups and organisations to encourage participation out of school and run activity courses during school holidays. Level 3 coaching courses will be provided for staff to enable them to organize Fives at a borough level and the CFA will seek to mark out courts in local parks and sports centres.
As the number of Fives playing boroughs increases, the CFA will organize regional and city-wide tournaments, liaise with local authorities to put courts in sports centres and public parks, and develop a range of youth programmes. This will increase the impact that 1-Wall Fives will have on the local community. The medium term aim is to have a London Fives team to compete against New York.
Individual Borough Support: 3 Year Measurables
| Criteria | Current | Cluster 1 | Cluster 2 | Cluster 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boroughs | 2 | 5 | 10 | 20 | |
| Schools | 20 | 50 | 100 | 200 | |
| Pupils | 2 000 | 5 000 | 10 000 | 20 000 | |
| Courts | 10 | 80 | 200 | 400 | |
| Qualified coaches |
Level 1 |
10 | 20 | 100 | 200 |
Level 2 |
- | 10 | 50 | 100 | |
Level 3 |
1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | |
| After-school Clubs | 5 | 25 | 50 | 100 | |
Mid-Term Goals: Increasing City-Wide Competition
Once three boroughs are participating in 1-wall Fives and have qualified coaches, a London schools tournament will be organised, in co-ordination with three and four wall Fives playing boroughs. 1-wall Fives players will also be given the opportunity to play the already established three and four wall versions of Fives.
Once five boroughs are participating, the CFA will look to send a team to New York to play the ICHA and plans will be made for the CFA to compete in the European and World 1-wall Championships.
Long-Term Goals: A Replicable Model in Other Cities
The model the CFA is adopting is replicable borough by borough. In exactly the same way, it can be replicated on a city-wide basis. If 1-wall Fives proves successful, then it is possible to replicate the same model in other cities around the UK where space and funding pose similar barriers to sports participation. Cities under consideration would be Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool.
As the CFA grows, it will build a strong group of players across London. It is the CFA’s intention to bring the children who have grown up playing the game into its ranks as coaches and administrators, so that they can begin to shape the direction of the association.
The total project cost over 5 years will be £640,000. The expected revenue over this time is projected to be £350,000, which leaves a total funding gap of £290,000 to be covered.
The annual funding gap will increase from years 1 to 3 as we increase the number of schools through clusters 1, 2 and 3, but decrease in years 4 and 5, such that in year 6 we will become self-funding.
The main costs will be running costs to pay for the salary, travel and resource costs for a CEO to oversee operations and expand the association, and for school support costs which include CFA coaching, marketing and resources. An office will not be required in the first couple of years and so this cost is negligible initially.
Revenue streams will be developed during the first year and will then be offered to schools as a service. These will include lesson plans and teacher training courses. Other revenues will be gained from school and adult membership fees and additional coaching paid for by schools.
The CFA plans to make up its finding from a range of different sources. These include:
- Grant giving trusts and charities
- Local authorities
- Lottery funding
- Individual donations
- Corporate sponsorship
Corporate Sponsorship: 3 Year Funding Packages
With the idea of corporate sponsorship in mind, the CFA has developed a funding package to attract corporate sponsors.
| Year 1 Borough | £5,000 |
|---|---|
| Year 2 Borough | £10,000 |
| Year 3 Borough | £10,000 |
| 3 Year Borough Package | £25,000 |
Partners will then be associated with the CFA through a number of different ways.
- Association promotional documents to teachers and pupils
- Coaching t-shirts
- Website and press
- Borough competitions
- Staff involvement in borough projects
- UK International Open
