What are the Important Numbers at This Time of Year ?
The start of any new term creates a burden of administration for school sport. The start of the year produces the biggest one. In schools all over the country, lists are being drawn up, groups created, choices implemented and resources allocated. With greater variety of activities, and choice at an earlier age than ever before, the task only becomes bigger.
In addition to being a hardship, this also creates an opportunity. Data is produced, presented and stored, allowing covert evaluation of programme success. These statistics, appropriately scrutinised in the hands of experts, enable insights into the culture of sport: what’s cool in your school? When combined with some accompanying commentary from the students who create the numbers, an opportunity emerges to assess strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, in the start of term maelstrom, the time to conduct this analysis is often not found, and the possibility is lost.
So, what might usefully be measured and considered?
The first, and most obvious, is the retention numbers in traditional games. The volume of players choosing to engage with competitive team sport, particularly that involving school matches, is a clear reflection of the quality of pupil experience in the previous school year. Whilst some attrition is probably inevitable, the rates of it vary wildly between schools. Comparison with previous years is an obvious opportunity, alongside the ultimate retention statistic: how many Year 13 boys and girls are still playing in school teams regularly, voluntarily and enthusiastically? This is an indisputable success criteria for all schools. Exit interviews with those choosing to leave team squads can be particularly revealing. Understanding the motivation of pupils is crucial to building a thriving programme.
However, retention is not the only relevant statistic. A second is attendance at co-curricular activities. These will be in two categories. The first is the numbers attending team practices in culturally significant games, where these take place in the co-curriculum, often after school. Buoyant numbers here, especially in Years 10 and 11, are a sign of a healthy programme. Commitment to school teams, particularly at the weekend, is also revealing. How many times does the selected team appear, unchanged, at the match? Are there occasions on which selected players fail to attend, with little, or flimsy, excuse? These are all telling measures, on the thermometer of quality.
A further statistic is the numbers attending opportunities other than team practices, particularly those not involved with inter-school sport. This indicates the state of programme variety: how many opportunities are offered, what the attendance levels are and how many students turn up every week. Opportunities to pursue fitness for its own sake, rather than conditioning for athletic performance, can be measured by the level, and length, of voluntary attendance. How many pupils choose to go to the gym, or similar, and how long do they stay? Even without software, this can be measured with a sign in/out sheet.
The metrics are vital. They have never been easier to collect and consider, through the commonly-used software platforms that produce this data at the touch of a button. Tracking patterns, comparing terms, gender and years enables objective analysis of programme progress, which is much more meaningful than the wins and losses. There is no better time than the start of the new school year to establish this process
