Inclusion - A Personal Perspective

The Guernsey Sports Commission published its ambitious 5-Year Action Plan earlier this year and is making progress on all 8 workstreams.

Our Action plan supports the aims and objectives of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture's Active 8 Plan for Sport which is due for debate in August.

Funding unlocked through the approval of the CfESC Active-8 Plan for Sport will enable to us to achieve our vision that “everyone in Guernsey should have the opportunity and support to participate and compete, and fulfil their potential no matter what their background, age, or level of ability in a safe and supportive environment.”

We can only do this by working in partnership with the States of Guernsey, our member sports and the wider community.

In advance of the States Debate, we asked some islanders involved in sport for their personal perspective on elements of the Guernsey Sports Commission's Action Plan and why the work we do is important to them:

Inclusion – Casey Osborough, GSC Head of Performance Analysis and Parasport

“Inclusion will not naturally evolve within Guernsey sport; we must take a proactive and targeted approach. Yet the area of inclusion is vast and surrounded by much personal bias. The first step of the Inclusion Workstream was to develop an Inclusion Policy. Policy helps to define the inclusion agenda; this clarity can strengthen an organisation’s approach to inclusion. The Inclusion Workstream will actively work with member sports to develop their own Inclusion Policy, to help turn intention into action.

Inclusion runs through the core of every workstream, at every level, within the Guernsey Sports Commission (GSC). One of the aims of the Inclusion Workstream is to collate the work currently being done to develop and enhance the GSC database on island-wide participation and involvement. Participation data, combined with the identification of barriers to participation, will ensure that issues surrounding access, communication, choice and opportunity can be addressed. We must take a step-by-step approach to inclusion to understand where the biggest impacts can be made.

The workstream will also further develop the GSC Inclusion Advisory Group which will ensure that correct and adequate training courses are available, so that all those working under the GSC banner have the knowledge and skills required to contribute to improving the inclusivity of sport.