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https://lucyysullivann.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/sports-development-continuum/

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Compare & Contrast 3 Examples of the Sports Development Continuum.

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Compare & Contrast 3 Examples of the Sports Development Continuum.

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Participation;
Within football there's the grassroots regime where there's alot of funding going into small clubs to ensure they have enough potential to progress forward into better stages. This is different to cricket and bowling due to the fact that there's not alot of funding within it. Due to this, more money could be pumped into the sport, meaning that the clubs/ organisations which provide the coaching sessions have more of a budget to coach the younger generation. However, there are still a lot of people who participate across the board in all 3 sports at this level, as it's so readily available to the general public on a whole. Anyone can go take a football, cricket bat and tennis bowl to a local park or field. And there's usually a bowling alley in the local city or town nearby, which is always a great attraction for the family to attend. Due to this, bowling is increasingly growing throughout the years as more children are getting interested when attending their local bowling alleys for a game with friends & family.

Foundation;
In foundation, football and cricket tend to have a lot of clubs within their sport (depending on what areas/ regions you live in). On the other hand bowling does not, as it's got quite a niche area of operation. Due to this, to improve the outreach and whereabouts of the bowling clubs, more advertisements could be implemented to ensure that many people know about the possible opportunities within the sport. In turn this will allow people from the participation level to increase their skillset and knowledge within their sport, but also give them an open opportunity to push towards entering the performance level. The more interest and hunger/ desire a person has within the sport to strive to reach the next goal because they want to reach a target or goal is often the point of where the person succeeds due to high levels of motivation. If this can be fed through by sporting initiatives set up by the government or local councils then it's going to give insentive for more people to take part, even if this is in such a niche sport as bowling, or as broad of a sport as cricket and football both are.

Performance;
The main weekness within bowling compared to football and cricket is the fact that at this higher level there'e next to no coaching opportunities at all. With bowling being an extremely niche sport, not only for specating but also for participating and coaching, it means that there's often not the support there for the participants to reach the next level on the sports deleopment continuum, which is of course the elite stage. Due to this, people who are at the head of the commities within the bowling community could raise a concern to the respected governments within each country to try to raise awareness of bowling and the potential that it brings within sport. To do this, they can raise initiatives in which highly trained coaches at the performance level take classes in local areas where there's clubs to improve and progress the participants. Similar to what Tigers Trust do in football, and YCB (Yorkshire Cricket Board) do in cricket.

Elite;
Football has the biggest sector for the amount of people playing at elite level. This is many due to the fact that football is such a large sport and can offer various high levels of competition no matter what age or ability you play at. This differs to cricket as there's only 1 international team, whereas for football you have the main squad, the reserves, the under 21's. under 19's, etc.. With bowling there's no real surpluss of people participating at elite level, even compared to cricket. First of all due to the fact that it's a solo person sport, and doesn't require a team of 11, with coaches and physios at hand on the sideline but also due to the fact that going back to the previous stage on the continuum, bowling doesn't have a large set of coaching staff to allow progression from participation to elite, meaning not many people make it. Also, a major part of people striving to play at the elite level within football and sometimes even within crcket is due to the pay and reward you get at the end of it. Footballers are earning millions per year, some cricketers the same. Whereas bowlers will struggle to get over or near $200,000, the avaerage taken in 2015 of the top 10 grossing professional bowlers in the world. To change this, more funding could be pumped into the sport, and could be made more spectator friendly to allow more interaction with the players, such as stands fitted in alleys to allow supporters to come and watch the matches which are being played.

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Bowling is a very unique sport which is only really seen at competitive level in Australia and The USA. This sport is quite hard to get into due to the fact that the majority of bowling alleys are all ran by large companies meaning that there's not much opportunity for clubs to come in and make a league, hence there's barely any competition within it.

Foundation;
The foundation level within bowling is generally children going out on school trips or with their parents. Their skillset is very small and the majority will end up first of all putting up the barriers on the alley, and also using the bowling rack meaning that they don't physically throw the ball. There's no real coaching within bowling, as it comes with practice, and as it's a solo sport there's no real team work within it.

Participation;
The participation stage of bowling is where the person is competing for a team. Although there aren't many teams, especially within the UK, the person has found one and is competing at a competitive level. This level might not be high, but will still be based around the skillset of the individual to make sure they have a fair advantage when competing.

Performance;
Once the person has surpassed the participation level, they will often end up coaching their techniques to younger people joining the club. They will also have an extended knowledge of the sport, being able to use techniques such as spinning the ball at a high velocity to aim for the target (IE the pins).

Elite;
The elite standard of bowling is where the person has moved on from the club and is now representing a their country. Although bowling isn't an Olympic sport, it's still a national sport. There's another path in which you can take within bowling at this level however which is partaking in 'Bowling Trick Shot's'. This is quite a modern thing, however is good with engaging younger audiences on such platforms as YouTube.
At this point the person is at the peak of their career, with a highly advanced knowledge of the sport, knowing the various techniques and skills they need while competing.

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Cricket is a sport which has a very niche audience. The main reason for this is due to the amount of time it takes for a normal match to end, which if it's a 40 over game (at participation level) will last around 6 hours overall.

Foundation;
The foundation level is cricket is often taught within primary school PE lessons with such games like "Kwick-Cricket" being used to give the children a general idea of what the sport of cricket is. Not many holiday clubs or after school courses are put on as there are not many qualified coaches which have companies/ organisations which can professionally take a cricket coaching session. Here the child is learning how to hold a bat, hit a ball in the correct manor and throw accurately.

Participation;
The participation level of cricket is where the participant has started playing for their local team. More often than not this is for a village team, as towns tend to have a county team or two under their name. However, usually people playing in village teams often progress quite fast and end up playing in a town team. At this point the player has an extended knowledge and understanding of the game, depending on whether it's a short T20 game (20 overs each side) of ODI (One day international).

Performance;
The performance level of cricket is where the participant is playing at a county/ high league level. An example of this is Joe Root. While he plays for Yorkshire's country team in One Day Cups, he also plays in the T20 blast, which is a league held by Natwest banking. This league is based around big hits and scores, accumulated within a short period of time. This often draws in a lot of publicity and fans in large cricketing stadiums around the country such as Headingley and Lords. The coaching levels here are high, as their aim is to propel the players into a higher standard and push them into their respective countries international teams.

Elite;
The Elite level of cricket is where the players at county level have been chosen to play for their country. In recent years, the majority of players within country teams has lowered and increasingly more youngsters have come into the squads. The age ranging between 21-26.
This clearly shows that the understanding of cricket and the knowledge of cricket at a younger age is being more widely understood and is being picked up on at a higher level.
The main competing level at Elite standard is for your country, for us, this is playing for England in such competitions as The Ashes vs Australia, and Test Matches against teams such as India, Pakistan, New Zealand etc.

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Football is a sport which is widely played sport by a variety of skill ranges and ages.

Foundation;
The foundation phase of football is the starting blocks of where younger people, mainly children in primary school are introduced to the sport. This can be within PE lessons, or even at holiday or after school courses which are held by qualified coaches. This is where they will figure out and learn the basic fundamental techniques of the sport, such as kicking a ball, and communication.

Participation;
This stage is where the player has come up from the basic level of playing football and has started playing in a team for a club in a competitive format, however this is still as a relatively low level. The team they're playing for is usually based in village or a town around the surrounding local area(s). An example of this is playing under the Driffield Junior Football Club. Although this is a town team, they still play in the Hull Sunday Boys League.

Performance;
The performance stage is when the participant has been scouted for county level and has become a semi-professional. This can be at a younger age, but the more professional players are older and around the age of 18-21. These players often play for a club in lower professional leagues such as The Blue Square Conference or League 2/1. There skillset is advanced and is based around the current play-style of the game.

Elite;
The elite stage of football is where the participant has reached the peak of his/her career in a national level. At this point the participant is competing in large competitions, for example the world cup, or competing in top level leagues throughout the season like the Premier League in Britain or even in the La Liga League in Spain. Players who are at the elite stage usually last here for around 10-15 years, and when they're around the age of 30-35 they often retire to lower leagues. Many move to the USA to join the MLS League.

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There are 4 stages to the Sports Development Continuum.

The 1st stage is foundation which is where you first start out playing or partaking in sports.
The 2nd stage is participation which is where you become more involved within the sport and join a team or club.
The 3rd stage is Performance which is when you've progressed from club standard to county or regional.
Finally the 4th stage is elite. This is where you're playing at the highest level possible, for example for your country at the Olympics.

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This Pyramid shows the progression of which athletes take within sport.