Coaching Young People in Disadvantaged Communities

Inspiring Story Inspiring Story

by Mike Dale

Introducing four organisations from around the country that use great coaching to introduce sport to new audiences and connect with people from disadvantaged backgrounds

Establishing trust, understanding barriers and being a positive role model are prerequisites for any coach working in this area – skills that many existing coaches will know from working with groups that feel underrepresented or disconnected from sport.

Programme Director of Active Row (run by London Youth Rowing), Emily Coe took a group of 14-year-old girls from Wandsworth out rowing as part of a programme to engage young people in London’s most disadvantaged areas. She had expected them to be unfamiliar with the boats and paddles, but their inexperience went several steps further than that.

“These girls lived under one mile from the Thames, but many had never even seen the river,” Emily explains.

“It has become a well-told story among our coaches, but it’s more common than you might think. Many young people simply never set foot outside their own borough.”

Step one: See the individual

“It’s first of all about treating people as individuals and creating a rapport with each one,” Emily says of the young people who take part in her Active Row programme. 

“Most of our young people can’t swim and fear the water, so we develop relationships through indoor rowing and build their confidence and trust in the coaches and teachers in order to get them out on the water.”

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Building confidence is a crucial element of Active Row's methodology © Active Row

Step two: Build confidence

Removing all potential barriers is key, Emily says. Things to avoid include:

  • unnecessarily exposing people’s lack of confidence or skill
  • setting big and daunting targets
  • using alienating jargon
  • rushing them
  • exerting pressure
  • asking for payment that may be prohibitive.

People’s lack of confidence is an important element also highlighted by squash coach Carrie Ramsey. She runs a programme called Rackets Cubed at Chapel Allerton Squash Club in Leeds to engage primary school pupils from the deprived Harehills area of the city.

“They are very daunted,” she says. “They just don’t think they’re capable, so they need a lot of attention and patience. 

It takes them longer to get used to the environment and trust me. It’s about building that rapport because many of these children simply don’t have external role models in their lives.

“The great thing about our programme here is that it lasts 20 weeks and they see me every single week. That long period of time is crucial to becoming a role model in their eyes, building those individual relationships and them investing in what I say. Something short-term would be nowhere near as effective.

They don’t care what you know until they know that you care.”

Step three: A supportive coaching mindset 

Fostering relationships takes time, but also depends heavily on the coach’s personality. 

Positive Futures’ Senior Development Officer Lucy Donovan asserts that resilience and relatability are important assets. She coordinates programmes that use sport to support at-risk young people in some of the toughest estates across Gwent, south-east Wales.

As well as the ability to listen without judgement, she explains that empathy is key.

“Not everyone has the tools to work with disaffected and challenging young people whose home lives are manic, so relating to the young people is the most important skill,” she says.

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© Positive Futures

It needs those who can dig in and not be put off by kids not necessarily listening or following instructions the first time.”

Step four: Achieving engagement

“Once we’d started training up local people as coaches, the difference was amazing,” Lucy continues. 

They became instantly relatable positive role models.

The kids were in awe of them. If that coach lives down their street, the engagement levels are totally different. There’s a feeling of, ‘If he can do it, I can do it!’”

Emily’s experience with her rowing initiatives has been similar. 

“We deliberately have young coaches that young people can relate to,” she explains, “including a couple who can’t swim and had never been in a boat before they took the role on. 

“They show their vulnerability and young people consequently identify with them in a different way.”

Step five: Using the right activity

One common theme among coaches working in this area is that minority sports can often be a more effective ‘tool’ for engaging disadvantaged people, as they offer more of a level playing field with most people starting at a similar point, meaning mixed ability sessions aren’t likely to contain such a range of skill levels.

London Youth Rowing’s Programme Director Jenny Cooper explains: “Traditionally if you’ve got excellent hand-eye coordination, that puts you top of the class in PE lessons. With rowing, it’s not about that. It’s about following instructions, it requires a lot of concentration and really rewards good behaviour.

“Somebody might be athletically gifted and have all the physical requirements, but because they can’t focus for longer than five or ten seconds at a time, they’re way behind others who are listening and trying. Activities like rowing rewards effort rather than skill, particularly in the early stages.”

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© Active Row

The value of individual sports

The value of individual sports is echoed by Nick Burke, who runs Salford Lifestyle Centre in Broughton, one of the most deprived wards in the UK. He provides local people with access to a community-owned gym.

“In my experience, individual sport and fitness activities such as boxing and weight training, performed in a group environment, work best,” Nick explains. “This allows people to find their own pace, grow as individuals, and set their own goals while supporting each other and socialising.

“This way of training also eliminates any of the ‘holding the group back’ feelings and resentments that can come with more familiar team sports. 

“Alternatively, using sports where those involved have less of an emotional connection (like handball) can also be a great way to help keep things fun whilst building up teamwork.”

Key learning points

  • Don’t make assumptions about people, including about what they know/what they can do.
  • Establish individual connections with people to understand why they are attending and what they want from being involved.


  • Seek feedback to find out what people enjoy or want to work on – get them involved!
  • It’s not just about developing sporting skills, but friendships and wider experiences for young people through great coaching. 

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