My Opinions Felt Worthy

David Black, Service Manager. Children 1st Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport reflects on how sports governing bodies can realise children and young people's right to have their voices heard in decisions that affect them.


It is a fundamental human right for children and young people to be involved in decisions that affect them and the sports environment, for those who participate in sport, is no exception. 

Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states that every child has the right to share their experiences, opinions and ideas and be taken seriously. While some measures have been taken in recent years, sports organisations still have considerable work to do in ensuring this right is realised for children and young people. 

At Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport, we recently held a national ‘Conversation about Children and Young People’s Human Rights in Sport’. Governing bodies of sport gathered to hear from a range of speakers, including young people in sport, and discussed the importance of respecting, protecting and fulfilling children and young people’s human rights in sport. Young people from Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) and Scottish Rugby presented their experiences in sport and emphasised the importance of being heard. 

One young person described the event as being a place where “my opinions felt worthy”. She went on to say that “the audience participation and discussions…were so incredibly valuable. Not only did I learn, but I was encouraged to share my ideas to help improve children and young people’s participation in sport...” 

Valuing the opinions of children and young people is vital to enable them to develop confidence in sharing their views, however we know that a sound participation policy and rights-based culture must be the foundation in sports clubs and governing bodies. . All too often, involving children and young people can be tokenistic, with a child being asked to sit on an adult led board or opinions being asked but no action taken.  

As this young person, whose health impacted her ability to compete at a national level in her sport articulated, too often decisions are made for young people as opposed to alongside them: 

“…things [my health] just got really worse all of a sudden. And then...I was told to stop…my coach and even doctor should never have done that. They should have found ways to adapt training…. Like if I had had it instilled in me from my coach’s perspective that this is good just to be a part of, that would have been better.”  

A critical aspect of involving children and young people in decisions that affect them, is providing the information they need, in order for them to be able to provide a view. Before this young person’s health deteriorated, her experience of sport was about ‘winning and competing’.  She recognised that ‘sport is also for socialising, mental health and for…finding somewhere where you can escape, like, other issues and things that are going on in your life’.  If all the information and options had been shared at the outset, she could have been helped to come to a different decision which involved being supported to stay involved in the sport at a different level, thereby leading to a better outcome that would have meant “I would have maybe even had more benefits.”  

An important aspect of young people’s participation in sport is also the ability to have an impact by directly sharing their story.  The young people we spoke to from the SDS Young Person’s Sports Panel wanted to use this as an opportunity to help raise awareness with different audiences, including young people and adults, such as teaching staff, to help affect change, with one young person telling us. 

“I wanted to be on the panel because I don't feel like there's a lot of awareness in terms of disability sport in general….I can…then help someone who is in my position who didn't know much stuff to have more opportunities”. 

We know there are many benefits to young people from being involved in meaningful participation, with them telling us that this has helped them to “feel empowered”, “have gained skills”, “gather (ing) knowledge”, “gives me the confidence to be an advocate” and “make friends”. 

Young people are the experts in their own lives and if sport can embrace more meaningful and impactful participation, the personal benefits to young people and their experiences will be richer, more relevant and ultimately more enjoyable. 

Children 1st Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport are holding a series of webinars for sports governing bodies to continue the conversation about realising children's human rights in sports. To find out more email cwps@children1st.org.uk