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Share an inspiring sports story

Learn more about an inspiring sporting person, team or moment, then share the story with others.

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You’ll need

  • Pens or pencils
  • Device to access internet or other research material (eg. books, newspapers)
  • Paper
  • Computers (optional)
  • Projector (optional)

Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.

Planning and setting up this activity

  • The group will need resources to do research on. Some examples include a device with internet connection, books, print outs, magazines, newspaper or similar.

Your story doesn’t need to be the most recent or the most successful. It could come from anywhere in the world, even locally! The story might be from the past, or perhaps there’s someone or something emerging in the sport that sparks your interest.
 
Don’t worry if you can’t think of something. You can research a sport you enjoy or find out about an inspiring figure.
 
It could be someone or something well-known, or someone or something that others may not have heard of. If it inspires you, it’s likely to inspire others too! 

One dictionary definition says that physical recreation is ‘Physical activity pursued for enjoyment and to refresh health or spirits.’ (Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine, 3rd edition).  It can include sports. 

Sport is defined as ‘all forms of physical activity, which through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels.’  (Source: BBC Bitesize).  

Physical recreation is done mainly for enjoyment and wellbeing, while sport is more structured and often involves competition and skill development.

 

Running this activity

  1. Ask if anyone can think of an inspirational sporting story they know or have heard of. This could be an inspiring sporting person, team, achievement or moment. It might be someone who inspires you or you admire, a milestone or memorable moment in a sport, or someone overcoming a challenge or setback. It could also be someone or a sport you want to learn more about. Some examples include the Lionesses winning the Euros in 2022, Luke Littler winning major darts championships or Rory McIlroy winning the Golf Masters.
  2. Choose one person or story to focus on and research. You could work with someone else or in small groups. You may also want to check no-one is covering the same topic, but you could also do different angles or viewpoints of the same story.
  3. Take some time to research to find out more about your chosen person or story.
  4. Now, create something to share the story with the rest of the group. You can do this in any way you want. It should be creative and engaging. Some examples include making a poster, creating a collage, a skit, a fun interview, a news-report style presentation, an interactive story, a comic book or strip, recreating the event, illustration or a PowerPoint presentation. It’s up to you.
  5. When everyone’s ready, take turns to share your stories. You could ask each other questions about your stories and why you chose them. 

Reflection

This activity was all about exploring and sharing inspirational sporting stories. What story or who did you choose to focus and why?

After hearing everyone’s stories, was there a common theme between them? Did anyone focus on the same or similar people/stories? How did they make them different?

There were lots of great stories and people shared.  What did you learn? What did you find exciting? What did you find most interesting? Did anything surprise or inspire you?

We all learn in different ways. Did anyone do a creative, silly, fun or different presentation that engaged you? Has this activity encouraged you to try a new sport or inspired you to give something a go?

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Online safety

Supervise young people when they’re online and give them advice about staying safe. Take a look at our online safety or bullying guidance. The NSPCC offers more advice and guidance, too. If you want to know more about specific social networks and games, Childnet has information and safety tips for apps. You can also report anything that’s worried you online to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command. As always, if you’ve got concerns about a young person’s welfare, including their online experiences, follow the Yellow Card to make a report.

  • To make this activity easier, you could select some sports people or stories for people to choose from.

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Explorers Sports and Fitness Activity Badge

If you enjoyed this activity, you could invite a sportsperson to visit your group to share their story.