Street Games What is StreetGames?     StreetGames is a new national charity, established in 2006 to promote sport for young people living in the most disadvantaged communities. We have tried and tested ways of engaging young people who are currently outside sport. Up and down the country, StreetGames delivers sport and dance to young people where they want it, at times when they want it and in a style they want. We deliver sport to the doorstep of young people who are not members of sports clubs and are waiting for the chance to join in. Our history The thinking behind StreetGames came from a highly successful and innovative football tournament organised in April 2003 by the Football Association, Government Office for the North West and the regional New Deal for Communities. The idea was to run a sporting event for young people in renewal areas, bringing together the worlds of sport and renewal. It was taken up in different ways in London and in the North East. Since then StreetGames has spread from Northumberland to Cornwall and across from Liverpool to Hull . We soon will have a national office, a team of staff and our intention is to have two dozen StreetGames projects up and running by autumn 2007. Our aims:     to get more youngsters in deprived areas playing sport; to spread skills and knowledge so other sports workers learn how to involve these youngsters; to advocate greater investment in disadvantaged communities through sport; to support agencies interested in using sport for renewal aims; to improve the quality of sports delivery in renewal areas.   Who gets involved?   Young people     StreetGames aims to get young people from deprived neighbourhoods involved with sport in their community. Research has shown that sport can contribute to making communities safer and stronger and encourage healthy lifestyles.     It can improve the quality of life for individual young people – developing their skills and confidence – and this, in turn, helps improve the quality of life in their community – building strong community networks and a sense of social responsibility.     Coaches and leaders     StreetGames leaders and coaches come from communities like the ones they work in. They are good role models who understand the youngsters. They are the real sporting champions.     They let it be known that a life of offending is a mug’s game and socially corrosive. Of course the youngsters swear and sometimes wander off the pitch for a cigarette. Where we draw the line depends on how well we know the youth, but without question, bullying, racism, sexism and homophobia are well beyond the tolerance of StreetGames coaches. We expect high standards and the young people respond well to our expectations.     Talented athletes     Initiatives, such as StreetGames, can help boost national sporting achievements. According to the latest figures (which are from 1997 but there is no reason to assume the situation has changed a great deal), higher social classes are over represented in certain elite squads: in swimming, nearly 79% of top squads come from 19% of the population; in cricket, 37% of elite players were drawn from just 19% of the population.     Sport is missing the talent of vast numbers of people, especially those who live in deprived communities. Through StreetGames we can find the talent of tomorrow.     For more information visit:-  www.streetgames.org or contact Sue Molyneux at Wigan Sports Development on 01942 404971