Families’ and children’s experience of sport and informal activity in Olympic areas of the East End

Sport England is interested to know how families with children experience the following aspects ofneighbourhood life: involvement in sport; access to facilities; activities for young people; and theengagement of young people in poor areas in the Olympic development. Sport England wantedevidence from our research tracking the experiences of 100 families over eight years in theHackney and Newham areas, living close to the Olympic development1. Our neighbourhood studyaims to uncover how bringing up children is affected by area conditions2.The announcement of London’s successful Olympic bid appears to have provoked great interest inmany of East London’s local communities. These events coincided with our entering the seventhround of a longitudinal study of families in deprived areas of Hackney and Newham. The familieshad expressed a high level of concern for young people as they matured beyond the bounds of theimmediate family, but found very little to do within the areas they lived in. At the same time theyoften have far too limited resources to be able to travel outside the areas to do constructiveactivities, as well as having related concerns over time constraints and travelling to unfamiliarlocations. As a result, many young people in these areas simply hang around on the streets, eitherdirectly causing problems, or more likely creating a threatening environment for adults and localchildren. High levels of economic inactivity, truancy rates above the UK average and a culture ofunderachievement create further pressures3. The fear for the future of young people in these areasand their circumstances is acute. Local conditions, experiences and attitudes strongly shape andconstrain young people’s active engagement in sport.[...]