Available On The Multi Activity Programme example essay topic

The topic that I have chosen to study will fit into the BHU 214 - Management of Sport and Leisure module studied in semester three. Hopefully this investigation will allow me to develop my knowledge in this area considerably since my entry onto the course. Although, during the lectures on this module, I have learnt the information required to allow me an insight into how a sports events can be planned and also completed an assignment with regards to the actual setting up and running of an event in a fictional scenario. This investigation though, will allow me to gain more experience and valuable knowledge in this field, as I will be directly exposed to a fully functioning sports event environment. I will study the operation of the main section of the Holiday Play-Scheme entitled "Multi Activities" within in the Leisure Centre. During the school vacations: half-terms Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays the Leisure Centre offer a Play-Scheme for children aged between 5 and 11 years old.

The Play-Scheme offers a range of activities in which children can partake, either for whole or half a day or in individual sessions. The investigation will include the staffing, marketing and structure of such an event and my research and recommendations regarding how the Leisure Centre could make improvements when offering such a service. My investigation will consist of research the in three different areas: Firstly I will be actually taking part in the scheme, acting as one of the play leaders looking after the children and running different activities. This will give me in depth knowledge of the "Multi Activity" from a ground level and I will be able to witness the actual functioning of such an event and see exactly how it works.

Secondly I will interview the co-ordinator of the Play-Scheme to find out data regarding such issues as staffing and marketing. This will give me information regarding the organisation and planning of a sports / leisure event. Thirdly I will be using what I have experienced to help me construct a questionnaire this will allow me to improve my planning skills learnt on my course to allow me to find out the opinions and needs of users of the Play-Scheme. This will take place in the form of market research with both the children and parents gaining opinions and answers regarding the Play-Scheme's content and who it is aimed at. On reflection from this I will hopefully be able to make valid recommendations as to how service could be improved. The Holiday Play-Scheme is a programme of activities set up to allow children aged between 5-11 years to participate in sport and leisure during the school holidays.

Participation in Holiday Activities is available in two forms: 1. Separate Specific Activities 2. Multi Activities - A Day Ticket - A Half Day Ticket Specific Activities (See APPENDIX A and B) These are simply different activities, sports and hobbies that are available at the centre. These include all other sessions that are not under the headings of Multi Activities and are available at various times during the day.

These courses, as you can see, are more expensive than the prices of the Multi Activities. The main reason for this is that sessions are primarily set aside for one sport or activity and to enable the centre to offer a high quality service, qualified coaches are employed accordingly. It is obvious to see there is an extremely wide range of activities available, this is because the Leisure Centre wants to attract as much interest as possible, the wider the range of activities available would results in a wider public interest as the programme would suit more peoples needs. Although the organisation of this area does fit into my learning from the module cluster, I would like my main focus and investigation to be placed upon the section of the Play-Scheme entitled Multi Activities Multi Activities Multi Activities is the main area in which parents book their child to participate in Sport and Leisure during the day and also the main area that I am going to investigate. The Multi Activities consists of a range of activities for children to take part in, and can be split into both morning and afternoon sessions. The morning session starts at 10.00 am and finish at 12.00 pm and the afternoon session starts at 2.00 pm and finishes at 4.00 pm.

Different activities are offered from day to day, yet there is one constant theme, two sports and one arts and crafts activity are offered in both sessions every day. In these sessions children can partake in two of the three activities on offer, each for one hour. In the afternoon session, one of the sports and the arts and crafts activity are changed to allow children to take part in a variety of different activities. There are two forms in which children can attend the multi activities: 1.

Day Ticket 2. Half Day ticket The Half Day ticket is available to parents that would like their child to either attend either or both of the sessions separately. (As shown in APPENDIX A and B) The children must be registered and collected just before and after the individual session times. Some children attend the centre with two, Half-Day tickets where parents would collect the child for the two hours in between sessions, where as others only attend one of the sessions.

The Half-Day ticket is ideal for parents who are able to look after their child during the holidays this is in comparison to the Day Ticket that will be discussed below. The Half Day ticket is also cheaper than the Day Ticket as, of course, children are only monitored for the two hours of the session. The Day ticket is the programme that the Leisure Centre finds most popular on a regular basis. The distinct difference with this type of facility is that children are monitored throughout the day.

Parents register their children to start at 9.00 am and would collect them at 4.00 am, supervision is provided for the children between these hours. The structure of the day is slightly different than that of two Half-Day Ticket holders, as although both parties take part in both morning and afternoon Multi Activities, children are supervised an hour before the activities start. During this time children would play games until being joined by Half-Day ticket customers just before the session starts. At 12.00, after participating in the morning session, children would be supervised for one hours swim in the swimming pool before eating either their packed lunch or a previously paid for hot dinner from the centre's cafe between 1.00 pm and 2.00 pm and moving on to attend the afternoon session. Parents would collect their child at the same time as the afternoon Half-Day Ticket holders at 4.00 pm. These two different types of ticket can cater for most customers wishing their child to attend the centre.

Obviously children wishing to attend the centre can have the opportunity to participate in a range of activities, yet after conversations with parents and discussions with the co-ordinators of the programme it appears that parents use this facility other than purely the wishes of their children. This is not a bad situation as children do thoroughly enjoy themselves yet some parents use the programme as a form of childminding where their children can be supervised throughout the day. More increasingly, as learned in my course modules, both parents are working full time and during the school holidays find it difficult to manage time between supervision of their children and their working life. An easy way that this can be resolved yet ensure the children are in a safe, enjoyable environment is for parents to place their child onto the holiday activities programme using, in most cases the Day Ticket.

The Day and Half-Day ticket is also of use to parents that are not in full time employment as they can send their children to the centre according to work patterns. Even parents that do have time to supervise their children sometimes use the Half-Day ticket to allow them to continue their daily routine during school holidays. Placing a child on one of the sessions allows routines like shopping for example to be carried out while their child is entertained. Parents find this method of child supervision is cheap in terms of other forms of child care, the prices for each two hour session of the Multi Activities programme is lb 1.80 for members of the centre and lb 2.00 for non-members.

Obviously the prices of Day Tickets are more expensive ranging between lb 10.50 and lb 11.50 to include hot dinners and lb 7.50 and lb 8.25, yet children are supervised for 7 hours of the day and do get use of the swimming pool. This compared to childminding for example in a very cheap alternative. One constant trend that occurs is that it is mostly the same children that attend every school holiday; this shows the obvious balance between convenience for the parent and enjoyment for the children. The parents would not send children to the centre if either party were unhappy with the service. The wide range and variety of activities available on the Multi Activities programme is one of the strengths of Rus cliffe Leisure Centre's Play-Scheme. Activities are based on two areas, Arts and Crafts and Sports based activities.

The two areas were chosen to provide a range of entertainment to attract all children not just children interested one field maybe sports for example. The Arts and Crafts allow the children to make decorations etc. and other craft based items for them to take home. The topic of each Art and Craft session is often based on ideas that are related to the time of year, this ensures the interest of the children as they are working towards a target or topic that they are interested in, Christmas and Easter for example. Past activities include: o Christmas Cards o Christmas Decorations o Mini Easter Bonnets o Easter bookmarks o Easter Decorations o Magnet Making o Finger Puppets o Pen Holders o Masks The sports based activities range dramatically and often allow children to participate in new sports that they are not exposed to anywhere else. Other activities use some of the centre's facilities that are not normally available to the general public.

Available on the Multi Activity programme are activities such as: o Football - the use of the Sports Hall for indoor, small-sided games and skills. o Uni Hoc - the use of the centre's miniature indoor hockey equipment for small-sided games. o Basketball - the use of the centre's Basketball court for children to learn the basic skills. o Athletics - a fun approach to athletics events, using both indoor and outdoor equipment. o Bouncy Castle - using the centres Bouncy Castle for fun games o Rounders - using the field, allowing children to learn the basics of rounders. o Circus Skills - using the centres equipment to play fun circus based activities. o Kwik Cricket - in the sports hall playing different variations of cricket. o Jungle Gym - using the centres gymnasium such as wall bars, crash mats, boxes and ropes etc. to play fun games The structure of the Multi Activities programme is organised through two paths. Firstly, many of the activities appear regularly in each holidays's scheme. The reason for this is that they have been proven to be enjoyable and entertaining for the children and can easily be managed using the Leisure Centre's facilities. The events and activities used previously allow members of staff to gain knowledge on the activity and in time would be able to offer a more experienced approach when running the event.

Reverting to past programmes can allow the co-ordinator to analyse the success of each activity and see whether the approach needs improving or if it was not successful it may need substituting for a different activity. The second approach is through discussions between the Play-Scheme Co-ordinator and the Assistant Manager of the centre about different possibilities for future activities. If it is deemed that a new activity will be: suitable, enjoyable for children, able to be organised and successfully administrated by Play Leaders and operate using the facilities available with in the Leisure Centres then a new activity may be added. The actual structure and timetable of events will be finalised in these discussions and meetings and organisation regarding content will be completed six weeks prior to the start of the Play-Scheme. This allows time for the printing of timetable, marketing and the organisation of staff before the beginning of the holidays. There are 25 play leaders currently available for work within the Holiday Activities.

Yet with 10 members of staff needed each day the employment of staff is determined by: rotating shifts between staff and the availability of play leaders at the time of the Play-Scheme. The centre adheres to regulations that state at least one play leader must be in charge of eight children under the age of eight and twelve children over the age of eight. This is obviously determined and affected by the levels of children booked for each day of the scheme. The centre always has staff qualified in first aid available for the safety of the children.

Rush cliffe Leisure Centre promote the Holiday Play-Scheme in two ways, firstly are the posters placed around the Leisure Centre. This is a simple form of advertising and the Leisure Centre is incomplete control of the placement of the posters and the number of posters that are put up. There is one problem with this; in this form of advertising the centre can only target the members of the public that are in the centre. The only people that are going to notice these posters are actually already customers and therefore, the centre would not be extending their services outside of the current market. One way that the Leisure Centre adds to their campaign is the distribution of leaflets into the local community. The leaflets are a good form of communication they contain all the facts needed on one piece of paper.

These are then given to all Primary Schools within the West Bridge ford area for distribution to the children. This is a clever form of targeting the correct market for the Leisure Centre as the families informed have children of the right age, and are within the realistic catchment area to be potential customers. Contained and advertised in the leaflets (See APPENDIX A and B) is all the information needed for parents: the times, dates, timetable of events and instructions of how to enrol their child. Also mentioned in the leaflets are: safety procedures, according to the Children's act 1989 all children over the age of five that attend the centre's Play-Scheme need to pre register and parents must fill in a form stating medical situations and an adult that can be contacted in case of an emergency.

It also states that children should bring appropriate clothing for the activity. And tells parents of how to book a child onto an activity. All of the information included in the leaflet will allow the leaflet two functions: as form of advertisement and as form of reference and guidance for parents after their activity has been booked. The Holiday Play-Scheme has its own separate budget on which to run. Although I was not informed of the actual amount I was able to distinguish on what the budget was spent. The majority of money is channelled to allow members of staff to be paid.

Play Leaders are paid according to their age and the amount varies: 16-17 year olds - lb 3.75 18-19 year olds - lb 4.50 20 year olds - lb 5.11 21+ - lb 5.60 With 10 members of staff working throughout the day this places huge pressure on the budget, as the total amount for wages is extremely high in comparison to other areas. Although the use of the Leisure Centre's facilities is of course free of charge a contribution to the running of the centre takes place in the form of payment for the lighting that is needed for particular events. This figure again was not released to me but did not have as much impact on the budget as the wages. The tools and equipment needed for the Arts and Crafts activities also get deducted from the total budget yet many items are bought in bulk and as the theme of the activities are alike, similar equipment can be used again. The final deduction from the budget is to purchase new equipment, if any existing equipment needs replacing or if a new activity is going to be implemented then this to needs to be bought and can sometimes prove expensive, yet in the latter case it is only a one off purchase and would remain a permanent facility of the centre.

The Holiday Play-Scheme runs on a non-profit making basis, and all proceeds cover costs. From the co-ordinators point of view the Play-Scheme provides a service. This is true, yet it can be very important in terms of reaching out and targeting new customers and possible users of the centre. If parents can associate the Play-Scheme, with value for money then this would reflect on the centre's provision of leisure as a whole and could prove very beneficial in terms of improved custom. On refection of this analysis I decided to investigate the structure and service that the Play-Scheme was providing by means of a questionnaire. This would allow valid recommendations to be made to improve the service currently provided.

After working as a Play Leader during the February Half-Term Holidays I decided to develop a questionnaire that could gain the opinions of both parents and children upon the content of the Play-Scheme. I decided that the best form of distribution of the questionnaires would be to give them to the parents whose children would attend upon collection of their children from the Easter Holiday Play-Scheme. This would mean that, parents would receive the questionnaires personally and that the right market would be targeted, as the customers that attend the Easter programme would likely to attend future programmes. This would allow me to analyse the data and make recommendations before the major Play-Scheme of the year, the School Summer Holidays to enable any improvements to be implemented.

The content of the Questionnaire (see APPENDIX C) would need to be simple, not time consuming and able to be completed by children as well. As you can see the questions target all users, frequent and infrequent. This would allow me to distinguish between parents that know a lot about the content and activities on offer and the ones that did not. I also tried to discover what activities are most popular and which ones children did not like so that room could be made for a possible inclusion of a popular new activity that had not already been included. The whole range of questions were also direct this would enable every answer to be important in my analysis.

As an incentive, with permission of the centre, a prize draw would take place using the returned questionnaires. This was to try and persuade parents to respond to the questions. Although over 100 questionnaires were distributed I was only expecting only a fraction to be returned, unfortunately only one was returned. With this lack of response I was not able to make the recommendations that I had hoped. All that I can gain from the lack of response was that there must not be any huge problems in the structure of the programme from a parent's point of view. I can, however use my experience and observations whilst taking part in the programme to make small recommendations yet not in the scale that I had hoped.

During the seasonal events such as Easter I noticed an increase in children's enthusiasm towards themed events in regards to the Art and Craft activities. I thought that this could also be replicated into the sporting events if they were supplied. Sporting events related to the time of year would in my opinion create more interest in some activities. Tennis, for example would allow children to associate and participate in a sport regarded as a summer activity, so too for cricket, rounders and athletics. This would enable the children to participate in outdoor activities during the summer weeks and would create a more enthusiastic environment, not that the environment and attitude was wrong; but to allow children to be active outside as opposed to in a sports hall would be beneficial to all.

These are not the recommendations that I had in mind when first completing the assignment and I know that my assignment has suffered due to this unfortunate circumstance, yet there are positive points to arise. The investigation into this topic has not only enabled me to learn a great deal more in the module cluster entitled Organisation and Management of sport by giving me an insight through a "hands on" approach, to the real extent involved when planning a sports event. It made me realise that this is a topic that I am definitely interested in and thoroughly enjoy and would definitely like to pursue in my future in sport and leisure.

Bibliography

Most of the content in this assignment is of my own experience and information was gathered by form of interview and experiences and observations I had myself in the functioning environment of a Sports Event. Slack, T. 1997, Understanding Sports Organizations. USA. Human Kinetics I also reverted to procedures and notes from the module BHU 214.