Startup Sports – Starting Again and Getting it Right

Published by Wayne Goldsmith on

Sports Thoughts Podcast

Startup Sports – Starting Again – and Getting it Right the Second Time

Around the world, many sporting organizations are experiencing significant declines in participation.

Rugby in New Zealand.

Swimming in Australia.

Football in England.

Even BEFORE Covid-19, there was a global decline in the number of kids training for and competing in junior sport.

In response, sporting organizations around the world have been searching for new and better ways of delivering the experience of sport to kids, families and other stakeholders.

One approach that’s gained widespread popularity is that of “modified-sport”, i.e. offering a range of modified versions of traditional sport.

These modified sports usually come in the form of “new” sports experiences which incorporate one or more of the following:

  • Shorter time periods;
  • Fewer players;
  • More casual approaches to rules and regulations;
  • Changed rules to make the sport more engaging, faster and more entertaining.

Startup Sports – How to Get it Right the Next Time.

So if you’re re-booting your sport and starting a startup sports program, here’s three things to consider:

  1. It’s no good coming up with a great solution to the wrong problem. Make sure you that the actual problem with your sport – is the actual sport. It could be that there’s nothing wrong with your sport, it’s the experience of the sport as provided by your key relationship drivers, e.g. coaches, parents, officials and administrators that’s the real problem.
  2. Make sure the startup sports experience is actually different and better than the current sports experience. Simply making the playing environment smaller and reducing the number of players is not all that different, creative or innovative.
  3. Have a “B” and “C” plan. It took a long time for your sport to evolve and there were a lot of smart people that came before you who designed and developed it to be where it is now. Coming up with a startup sports experience that is likely to work brilliantly the first time for everyone in your sport is highly improbable.

Wayne Goldsmith 


Wayne Goldsmith

Wayne Goldsmith is a performance focused coaching professional with more than 25 years experience working with some of the world's leading athletes, coaches and teams. Wayne offers a wide range of coaching services for professional coaches, corporate executives and organizational leaders which are based on his experience delivering winning performances in high pressure sporting environments across the globe.

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