From John Cove, Chair, StreetGames

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I hope you will join us at this year’s StreetGames Virtual Conference, The Power of Place – Stronger Communities and Brighter Futures through Doorstep Sport.  

 

The children, young people and families that are the focus of the StreetGames mission have had an incredibly challenging year since the onset of COVID-19. The situation before the pandemic was a challenge. That challenge has been deepened and broadened by the impact of the virus on low-income, under-served communities. 

 

At the same time, this past year has demonstrated the incredible resilience, courage and necessity critical need for locally trusted community sports organisations across the country. Through lockdown and beyond, these neighbourhood organisations have been a quiet frontline in the fight to support local communities during the pandemic and have worked tirelessly to support young people and their families in some of the hardest-hit neighbourhoods.  

 

StreetGames Virtual Conference provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate the incredible work of these Locally Trusted Organisations, to share new insight and case studies that will help them to be even more resilient and sustainable and to highlight the enduring power of sport to strengthen and connect communities and transform the lives of those for whom access to sport can often seem a remote possibility. 

 

Just as the incredible locally trusted community organisations that make up our StreetGames network have adapted to new challenges this past year, our conference is also changing to reflect the needs of the times. Spread over 10 days for you to access in real-time, or catch up at a time that suits you, this year’s fully online conference features more than 30 workshops, plenaries and discussions to bring people together in a spirit of learning and collaboration.  

 

From the StreetGames team: 

 

For 2021 we bring you the StreetGames Conference online! Like you, we have learnt a lot about connecting digitally this past year and we are excited to be able to use this to bring more people together than ever before. This year’s event puts young people front and centre, as we engage more young coaches and volunteers directly in delivering our conference than ever before.  

 

As you look at the timetable you will see that no sessions overlap. So, you can come to as many plenary sessions and workshops as you can manage! For those that book, recordings of sessions will be available afterwards for anything you missed. 

 

This year’s conference is divided into 6 themes to help you connect with all the elements of StreetGames’ work. The themes are: 

• Sport, poverty and the pandemic

• Brighter Futures – avoiding a lost generation 

• Why does poverty result in poor health? 

• Fit & Fed – addressing the holiday gap 

• Community Safety-Sport, my journey, my choice 

• Securing the future (targeted at locally trusted organisations to think about practical ways of building sustainability) 

 

We look forward to seeing and hearing you at our conference – we hope to have as many voices as possible sharing learning and building networks.