UK Sport Associations join Accelerate Sport for a Discussion on Developing an Inclusive Culture

Accelerate Sport recently hosted a live roundtable discussion where we chatted with other guests to create an inclusive culture within your sports.

We were lucky enough to be joined by the following guest speakers. Let’s take a look below at their profile, and touch upon some of the most interesting comments from the discussion.

Sami Smithson – British Judo Association

Representing GB Judo, Sami has always helped to raise the profile within all areas of Diversity and Inclusion at The British Judo Association.

“The needs and the requirements and the gaps were brought from the community first, so that then the policies and the departments could have that feedback”

Mike Hawkes – Swim England

Mike works as Swim England’s Head of Diversity and Inclusion and is passionate about increasing disabled people’s access to sports.

“We recognised that we probably didn’t have the insight that we needed from the communities we’d be working with, so we launched a survey”

“What barriers are you creating, either intentionally or unintentionally?… how can you remove those barriers? and what sort of impact can you have?”

Jatin Patel – England Rugby

Jatin has over 10 years of experience with inclusion, diversity and social equality, and currently works as Inclusion and Diversity Director for England Rugby.

“Listening to participants and making sure you’re doing something with that insight is really critical”

Jamie Clewer – Tennis Wales

Jamie is currently Head of Participation at Tennis Wales, striving for equal opportunities and fair play within tennis.

“We need to grow the [tennis] workforce. But actually, we need to make sure the workforce reflects back to the Welsh communities and their diversity”

Clare Skidmore – Sport Wales

Clare works as a Governance Development Officer at Sport Wales. Clare provided a great overview of what the future of EDI looks like across the UK.

“It’s really important that EDI doesn’t just sit with one individual within the organisation; it needs to be on everybody’s agenda”

“Re-evaluate your organisational values, and ensure that everybody’s [in your organisation] is on board with those values”

Who are Accelerate Sport?

Accelerate Sport are an eLearning platform providing courses to the sports industry, aiming to influence positive behaviour in sport. The Accelerate Sport platform has been designed to offer the very best in sport focused training across the UK. It’s so much more than just a website, Accelerate Sport are aiming to become the one stop destination for anyone looking for the very best in sport CPD.

Check out our catalogue of courses HERE

Discover the benefits of embedding Accelerate Sport’s training pathway into your organisation by booking a chat with us – click here. Get tailored, expert advice on creating an inclusive Culture in your Sport!