Sport organisations, including both State Sporting Associations and clubs/associations can positively impact the lives of people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Doing this requires strong leadership and an actively inclusive culture, from the state level board, right down to the grassroots club committees, volunteers and coaches. Senior managers, board and committee members set the strategy and culture of organisations, so it is important that they understand the value of cultural diversity in sport.
Leaders can follow practical steps to make their organisation more inclusive. Examples are provided under the drop down menus below.
Sport organisations that want to increase the diversity of their membership may need to undergo a process of cultural change and support key people to lead the way. Leaders – including administrators, board or committee members, coaches or parents – need to be proactive and supportive of cultural change. Cultural change is important because it enables leaders right across the organisation to develop skills, set expectations about appropriate behavior and ensure all participants in the sport (including volunteers and officials) are taken on the journey. Cultural change should be driven by leaders at all levels of sport, from national governing bodies to State Sport Associations down to clubs and associations. Diversity programs are often driven by a single ‘champion of change’ -a person within an organisation or club who does a majority of the work supporting an inclusion program. While this can benefit through increased participation numbers and motivating other people to help, these individuals can also become isolated and should receive support from other leaders in the organisation. Victoria has a diverse population and the profile of each local community is often very different. Each local sporting organisation should aim to be reflective of the community that surrounds it and its people. Leaders can steer this approach by knowing the profile of the community and connecting with local community organisations and leaders.
Identifying leaders and people of influence, including board members, staff, volunteers, coaches, officials and club members, to be champions of change is vital to becoming an inclusive sport.
Leaders will help define and influence your sport’s culture. They will require practical training to improve their knowledge, skills and capacity to change their own and others’ behaviors and practices to support inclusion. There are several ways you can support leaders to give them the necessary skills and knowledge to drive cultural change:
- Cultural awareness training. This is a useful activity for leaders to undertake to strengthen their understanding of other cultures. You might consider engaging an organisation to run cultural awareness training to leaders, including board or committee members. This empowers them to promote a positive culture with the organisation which rejects discrimination and racism. The Centre for Ethnicity, Culture and Health provides training programs to assist organisations to work effectively with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. Click here to find out more.
- Consulting with the local community. It is important for leaders to understand the value of consulting with the local community. This can help your organisation understand the level of interest or opportunities to engage people in your sport. A fundamental principle of inclusive sport is that the target participants should have input into the planning and development of any strategies, policies or programs that impact them. Leaders should either take part in this consultation or ensure the necessary staff or volunteers are consulting the right people. A good resource which provides leaders some practical tips is this resource about engaging and supporting migrant and refugee families.
- Communication. It is important for leaders to understand the importance of language to the culture of a sport organisation. Some phrases that are subtle or unintended can still be offensive or hurtful to people of any background. Therefore, leaders can promote a culture of inclusive language which ensures everyone’s individuality is respected. A useful resource to understand more about inclusive language is this guideline document produced by the Tasmanian Government.
A useful resource for any sport leader to read is the Centre for Multicultural Youth’s Game Plan Resource Kit. It provides valuable information being a culturally inclusive club and engaging diverse youth. This resource includes an audit tool and case studies which can assist your club with the creation of initial steps to establish a more welcoming space for all. Click here to view the resource.
A successful approach to increasing participation in sport by people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds starts with the strategic approach. This means having an effective board or committee who know how to lead the change. It also means imbedding inclusion in your strategic plan and your business and marketing plan so that inclusion becomes part of your organisation’s core business.
There are several ways your organisation can strengthen your strategic approach to inclusion. These include:
- Board / committee level advocates. In the evaluation of the State Sport Association Participation Program, Cricket Victoria noted the positive impact having a diverse board had on their ability to implement diversity programs. Board /committee diversity may refer to the skill set of the individuals as well as their gender, cultural or ethnic background or other characteristics. Your organisation may consider appointing, or encouraging the election of, an individual who can effectively advocate for a recommend strategic approaches to diversity. For more information about good governance procedures visit Vicsport’s Good Governance Framework.
- Board / committee training. You could consider conducting a training or information session about diversity with your organisations board or committee members. Doing this can help educate leaders about the opportunities available to your sport and understand more about the specific barriers and challenges that people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds face. The Centre for Ethnicity, Culture and Health provides training programs to assist organisations to work effectively with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. Click here to find out more.
- Use evidence. It is important to use evidence and data to inform how your organisation could be more proactive in engaging your diverse local community. You can consider some of the following points:
- What will be the financial and sustainability benefits to our organisation (through increased funding opportunities and membership)?
- What will be the cultural benefits to our organisation (creating welcoming and inclusive environments can benefit everyone in the organisation, building capability and positive attitudes in current staff, volunteers and participants)?
- How has this benefited other sport organisations? You can highlight the success of other State Sporting Associations or clubs to demonstrate what your organisation can reasonably achieve.
- Talk about diversity and make inclusion part of core business. Leaders can publicise their strategic commitment to inclusion by talking about their strategies, policies and initiatives at forums, meetings or in conversations with other leaders and members of their sport organisation. Doing this helps to promote an environment where being reflective of the community is considered ‘core business’ for sport organisations.
In the State Sport Association Participation Program evaluation, Tennis Victoria stated that “the main characteristic of a ‘successful club’ is the key volunteer who drives progress, or organisational champion of change that has the motivation, enthusiasm and drive to engage with key internal stakeholders such as the committee, as well as partners and other external stakeholders that could support inclusive practices.”
If you would like more information about supporting leaders to make your organisation more inclusive visit:
- Your State Sport Association’s website to see what support they provide
- Regional Sports Assemblies can provide expert support across regional Victoria
- Take part in the Racism: It Stops with Me campaign.
- The Participation vs Performance research project makes useful recommendations to strengthen diversity in junior sport.
- The Centre for Multicultural Youth has a range of resources useful for sport leaders.