Director Andy Reed was chairing the SAPCA 2019 Annual Conference today at St Geoerge’s Park - the home of the FA
SAPCA is the UK trade association for the sports play and construction industr.
Andy said “Under our tagline Building an Active Nation we are using our Annual Conference to do our bit as an industry in delivering changes in the way we encourage people to be physically active. Our environment is increasingly part of why people aren’t active. So we need to innovate to stay ahead.
www.sapca.org.uk
Director Andy Reed once again judged the Nutramino Health & Fitness Awards for Ireland Active in Dublin this week.
Saje impact and the Sports Think Tank have been keen to work with partners in Ireland by supporting Ireland Active and the Irish Federation of Sport over the last few years.
Whilst in Dublin Andy Reed was able to work with members of the Dail & Seaned Rugby team as part of the inter parliamentary rugby based on the 6 Nations. Andy caught up with Neale Richmond a #Brexit spokesperson for the Government.
Andy Reed was at the Quest/ CIMSPA conference this week presenting the #TheFWord and why the sector needs to learn from failure.
Along with the Sports Think Tank and Upshot a conference was held at City Hall, London in October 2018 to bring the S&PA sector together to unpick what it meant to create Black Box Thinking - accepting failure in innovation.
Andy Reed said “We are clearly failing to get the nation active and specifically amongst some groups in particular. Just doing more of the same won’t work so we need to be genuinely innovative in approach. This will only work when we change the funding culture to allow for failure of programmes and schemes and behaviour change models. We hope that by openly talking about this issue we can create an environment and culture that accepts this and we can create a safe space for failure to be openly discussed.
Director Andy Reed took part in the annual House of Commons and Lords Rugby fixture v the Welsh Assembly this weekend in Caerphilly to raise money for Bowel Cancer.
It was a good question asked by my good friend Nick Pontefract — formerly the Head of Sport at DCMS and now COO at Sport England.
The question is not as obvious as it sounds. Quite rightly Nick asked us all to think of the equivalent of the policy ‘Big Idea’ on the scale of the Universal Basic Income — a genuinely transformative, generational game changer? All too often those of us involved in Policy making can concentrate on the here and now and how to get through the next Spending review, Budget, Government Strategy or Manifesto. These are not bad things to do but they miss lifting the horizon to these much bigger ideas that will transform the landscape. Some of the responses to Nick’s tweet were helpful but fell into this category. Merely tweaks and changes in emphasis within the current structures. Given the scale of the problem we can’t expect tweaks to change society and our activity levels. There is something more radical needed.
Director Andy Reed was at the Israeli Ambassadors this evening to join with Rugby World Cup winners Jason Leonard and Joel Stransky to showcase the work of the Atlas Foundation projects in Israel.
The Atlas Foundation was created by Rugby legend Jason Leonard and has roses over £1m to help rugby projects across 15 counties.
Director Andy Reed joined the Loughborough University Talk Sport Conference 2019 on campus this week to meet students and industry leaders from across the sports sector.
Andy said “ This is a great opportunity provided by Loughborough University for its students to meet and listen to those already in the sports industry and what they are looking for from them when they graduate.
It’s also great from our perspective at SajeImpact to know and appreciate the level of skills and competencies of graduates. As we build our portfolio we have been keen to employ people from Loughborough University in our work.
After a Bumper 2018 it looks like 2019 will be the same for the SajeImpact Team!
We have enjoyed working with our clients in 2018 and many of the long term projects will be carried forward into the new year. Real progress has been made with Leicester Tigers and Scunthorpe United Football Club so these capital projects should finish this year.
We also undertook a few time limited projects for Sport England and the CSP network with the new Improvement and performance framework now being rolled out across the network for example.
The new projects for 2019 include some public advocacy support for the Activity Alliance and Judo, new support for Sporting Equals and establishing a Coaching and Mentoring programme.
Andy Reed Founder and Director of SajeImpact said “We have always remained flexible and agile in the services we are able to provide and always to the needs of the client - not our pre determined way of doing things. That's why every year feels slightly different and offers new challenges. In 2019 we are adding a few new clients as well as really starting to develop those we have been supporting over the last couple of years. Watch out for big things in 2019 from Incus performance, Elite Performance partners and Sport 80. “
He continued “I will still Chair SAPCA and support the Sports Think Tank to offer thought Leadership into the sport and PA sector, but generally I am aiming to slow down taking on too many projects - although my team are stepping up and taking on more work. For example Rob Cook has been a great additioin to the team in 2018 taking up leads on the Annie Zaidi Foundation, #theFWord conference and some of our work with Sporting Equals.”
“We are excited by what 2019 has to offer!”
Merry Christmas from the team at SajeImpact as we close for the Christmas holiday period.
Sajeimpact will open for business again on Monday 7th January
Best wishes from us all
Andy Reed OBE
