BWL included in Sport England Investment Announcement

British Weight Lifting is amongst a group of over 120 organisations working in partnership with Sport England to level up access to sport and physical activity across the country.

British Weight Lifting will receive expertise, support and an investment of £2,808,653 of government and National Lottery funding from Sport England to co-deliver the ambitious of its 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy.

Sport England research shows that some groups are typically less active – like women, people with long-term health conditions, disabled people, people from ethnically diverse communities and lower socio-economic groups. Right now, the opportunities to get involved in sport and activity – and reap the rewards of being active – depend too much on your background, your gender, your bank balance and your postcode.

As part of BWL’s new strategy “Stronger-Together”, we aim to educate, inspire and create greater opportunities that appeal to a more diverse and inclusive audience resulting in greater levels of activity and a fitter, healthier and stronger nation.  Our approach will be innovative, focussed, collaborative, agile and insightful.

We aim to strengthen our position as a positive advocate for strength, with a strong and powerful voice that will focus on developing a greater number of strategic partnerships with other sports, NGBs, health, well-being and fitness and leisure sectors.

We will review and develop our educational expertise aligned to the broader strength market highlighting the very real benefits of being strong for life.

Using insight to maximise opportunities, we plan to deliver sporting and recreational activities that encourage communities to be more able to positively face the daily challenges associated with a pandemic, age, physical or mental ill health, disability or social issues. 

In order to tackle inequalities, we will establish new partnerships within the health, well-being and fitness sectors specifically targeting those areas of key inequalities.  We will also create specific campaigns and products to take weight training and strength-based activities beyond our traditional boundaries, appealing to new audiences including the development of innovative physical and digital formats that are easily accessible, inspiring and inclusive for broader and more diverse communities which have positive individual and societal impact.

We will be an enabler of sporting excellence, with our membership at the heart of everything we do building on current interest in strength related activity and re-establish a high quality, safe and well organised competition calendar that offers opportunities for all levels and abilities of lifters. Over the next 10 years BWL aims to significantly grow and retain membership by providing greater knowledge, opportunities and closer engagement.

BWL will create a performance and talent base that will enable further international success, underpinned by a strong athlete-centred culture, high quality coaching and continually improving performance and talent pathways.

Over £550million is being invested in total, with British Weight Lifting receiving funding for up to five years. This new funding model from Sport England provides longer-term financial security as organisations recover and reinvent from the Covid-19 pandemic. 

All partner organisations were selected by Sport England due to their ability to influence change and improvement at the heart of the system they are a part of, no matter how big or small.  This is the first step on a journey to revolutionise Sport England’s approach to long-term partnerships as it seeks to partner and collaborate with innovative organisations to deliver Uniting the Movement and build a nation where everyone can get active.

Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England, said: “Sport England’s goal is to get everyone active– no matter who they are, where they live, or what their background is. We can only innovate and tackle inequalities effectively by thinking about long-term change; Uniting the Movement is a long-term vision, and our funding approach needs to reflect that. Changes to our funding model will help us achieve our goal, by making it easier for our partners to do what they need to do to level up and deliver.”

Ashley Metcalfe, CEO of British Weight Lifting has said: “We are delighted to be part of the 120 organisations working in partnership with Sport England to level up access to sport and physical activity across the country. Having released our new strategy earlier this year, the funding will help enable us to bring new people into our community through inclusivity and innovation. We hope to get more active and stronger communities; effectively tackle inequality; ensure sustainability and be successful and respected as a sport.”