only the competition component

  Maybe there is no room for self-discovery, only the competition component is very important. For this reason, it is wise for every sports club to offer a wider range of sports and exercise activities, preferably within the training / practice hours. Multi-sport activities are preferable also in the training sessions of one specific sport and not just as a funny warm-up or as a fun end game, e.g. doing gymnastics in a football training session. Variety is more fun for everyone, but it is especially beneficial to the youngsters who may drop out of the club. Doing a variety of sports and exercise may also increase the level of performance and make one “a better athlete”, even if the main goal is having more fun. The offer must be chosen well because devising and offering suitable exercise activities is not easy, especially if it is outside the trainer’s own preferred sport. A trained PE-teacher may be best equipped for such a wider range, especially if he or she has a specialty in specific sports that the club mainly offers. That such a highly educated staff for most associations does not fit within the available budget for recreational sport is therefore very unfortunate. I would like to call these first additional activities sport-oriented additional activities, because they utilize exercise activities that are derived from the (regulated competition) sport. This corresponds to factor 14 ‘Type of sport’ from the keepyoungstersinvolved.eu project.  With – again! – well-chosen and well-organized activities that fit in with the experience of the young people, they will find the club even more meaningful to them. Depending on age, context, local youth culture etc. you could think of watching movies, a video game competition, geocaching tours, musical productions, water activities and so on. A large part of the success of the summer camps of sports federations is due to the recreational-oriented activities! Sporting clubs and associations that offer this type of activities in a structured way and that support this in policy and facilitate this with budget, have -as we say in Dutch- ‘gold in their hands’. There is ample experience within sports associations in supporting framework formation precisely for this type of activities. Unfortunately, this does not always seem to be given enough priority at the local level „because the sport itself is of course more important “. Members of the board who make such statements would do well to investigate what the club’s objective is. When it comes to facilitating lifetime sports practice by members of the club, the above statement may need to be reconsidered. If these recreation-oriented activities are organized by the young people themselves, the extra is effective. They become even more involved with the club and probably know best what is attractive to their peers