1 year of insights

Baseline

Today’s playing field

Necessity

Why balance matters

Social
+25%
larger social network
More connection, inclusion and room to take part.
Opportunity
+25%
higher chance of a leadership role
Sport opens doors to development, networks and opportunities.
Wellbeing
-40%
less dropout
Sport supports physical and mental health, confidence and quality of life.
Economic
+€€€
Create more participation and visibility
more reach and commercial opportunity

1,000+ voices. One playing field.

What a year of listening to sport teaches us about equality.

Foundation

We started listening

1,000+

voices and perspectives from sport

  • A year of research, conversations and experiences
  • Golf as the first testing ground
  • Perspectives of girls, women, boys and men
  • From experiences and barriers to concrete design principles
Interview with a golfer
Foundation

Four themes keep coming back

Equality does not come from treating everyone the same. It comes from designing the playing field so that everyone gets the chance to take part, grow and perform.

  1. Leadership01
  2. Visibility02
  3. Participation03
  4. Equal Opportunity04
Leadership

It is not only about who sits at the table, but also about how the table is set.

Leadership

Across sport we see

  • Networks and selection keep existing patterns in place.
  • Time, culture and role profiles help decide who can step in.
  • Simply opening a vacancy does not automatically bring in other perspectives.

In golf we see

  • Traditional board roles, many evening hours.
  • Recruitment within the existing network.

Redesign

  • Active scouting
  • Ask people personally
  • Smaller roles
  • More flexible organisation
Visibility

What we see determines what we believe is possible.

Visibility

Across sport we see

  • Visibility creates role models and economic value.
  • Women are still too often portrayed differently from men.
  • Younger audiences ask for other channels and stories.

In golf we see

  • The Solheim Cup shows what happens when women’s sport gets the main stage.
  • Recognisable local role models matter at least as much as distant world stars.

Redesign

  • Structural visibility
  • Performance at the centre
  • New channels
  • Local role models
  • New commercial propositions
Participation

Maybe people do not drop out of sport. Maybe the offer drops out of their lives.

Participation

Across sport we see

  • Social connection and fun are key reasons to start and keep playing.
  • Time, performance pressure and fixed structures can become barriers.
  • What someone needs to keep playing changes over a lifetime.

In golf we see

  • Too much emphasis on technique and performance can get in the way of fun for newcomers.
  • 18 holes does not always fit the time, need or stage of life.
  • Traditional formats and expectations can raise the bar to start and to stay.

Redesign

  • Fun first
  • 3, 6, 9 or 18 holes
  • Flexible offer
  • Strengthen the social side
  • Lower the barriers
Equal Opportunity

The same rules do not always give the same chances.

Equal Opportunity

Across sport we see

  • Seemingly neutral rules can play out differently.
  • Physiology, care duties and financial means shape opportunity.
  • Many systems grew historically and were never consciously designed for everyone.

In golf we see

  • Red and yellow tees based on gender create unnecessary stigma.
  • Dress and etiquette rules add another barrier.
  • Care duties limit the room to play.

Redesign

  • Playing strength over gender
  • Revisit the rules
  • Remove practical barriers
  • Room for different stages of life
Insights

Social and physical safety

“You go first, then I can enjoy the view of your behind.”

Insights

Four insights, a different way of looking

  1. Do not fit the woman to the boardroom. Design the boardroom for more perspectives.

  2. Visibility changes more than who we see. It changes what we believe is possible.

  3. Do not bring the athlete back to the offer. Bring the offer closer to the athlete.

  4. The same rules are only fair once they create the same chances.

LeadershipVisibilityParticipationEqual OpportunitySafety
Design

Golf as a testing ground

FromTo
Design

The SAM method

  1. Listen
  2. Analyse
  3. Redesign
  4. Test
  5. Learn

From listening to changing.

Not deciding for sport what has to change. Discovering together with sport what works.

Vision

From golf to every sport

Golf is the testing ground. Not the end point. Not a blueprint. We use it to ask better questions:

  • Which rules exclude people without meaning to?
  • Who decides how the system is set up?
  • Who does the current offer work well for, and who less so?
  • Which small change can make a big difference?

Different sport. Different context. Similar system questions.

Padel
Vision

One movement

SAM at the centre, connected to cycling, football, volleyball, athletics, korfball, hockey, swimming and golf, and to the themes leadership, participation, visibility and equal opportunity

From 1,000 to 10,000

From every sport. From every region. From recreational player to elite athlete. From coach to board member. From boy to woman. To see what is unique, and what comes back everywhere.

Vision

From voice to collective power for change

  1. See

    where it chafes

  2. Design

    what could be different

  3. Test

    what works

  4. Scale

    what makes a difference

Listen. Understand. Redesign. Change.

Stand behind SAM

Put your name behind a fair playing field.

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Playbook - A year of insights from sport