The SHOOSH for Kids campaign is aimed at promoting positive sideline behaviour at junior sports events. It started as an initiative by Newcastle Junior Rugby League Association and Country Rugby League in 2015 which was then expanded by the Office of Sport, Sport & Recreation as a collaborative effort between six sports with the purpose of addressing issues which arise from poor sideline behaviour, including:
- abuse of officials
- reduced volunteer numbers
- reduced participation rates (due to poor experiences, non-enjoyment and being too competitive)
- support grass roots sport to provide positive environments for their members
- promote sports actively promoting positive environments to the general community
The campaign soon became a collaborative effort between the Office of Sport, Little Athletics NSW, Basketball NSW, Cricket NSW, Softball NSW, NSW Touch and Tennis NSW. The campaign was a SHOOSH for Kids week that ran from 7th to 13th November 2016.
In the video below Joanne Barrett from the Office of Sport explains what the SHOOSH for Kids campaign is all about.
How was it organised?
Sport and Recreation developed a simple but effective plan - called a Timeline and Task Map. This gave a very clear framework and step by step plan for how the campaign would be marketed to state sports organisations and their respective clubs and associations. The Timeline and Task Map including all the major steps from the initial development of the campaign toolkit to the distribution of the final evaluation.
You can download a copy of the Timeline and Task Map here
What resources were provided?
A number of resources were produced for club and association campaign information (including Intention to Participate form) and a campaign toolkit. The campaign information for clubs and association were intended to raise awareness and understanding of the campaign, what's involved and whether they wanted to participate. After sign up participating clubs and associations got access to the campaign toolkit that included a templatemedia announcement for web posting, a campaign booklet, suggested social media post options, ground announcement scripts, website banners and posters. This all made it very easy for clubs and associations to sign up and put in place some or all of the SHOOSH for Kids activities.
You can download samples of the club and association campaign information and all the campaign toolkit resources below.
Download the SHOOSH for Kids Campaign Information
Download the SHOOSH for Kids Toolkit
So did it work?
It's very important for a campaign such as this to evaluate its impact. 119 associations participated in the SHOOSH for Kids week across the sports of Basketball, Cricket, Little Athletics, Softball, Tennis and Touch. The post campaign survey was completed by 40% of participants. The overall response was very positive. 96% of respondents were happy with the quality of the resources provided. 79% of respondents felt their investment in time was worthwhile and 98% said they would be supportive of an annual SHOOSH for Kids campaign. So yes, the campaign was a success!
We asked Mardi Aplin from Netball NSW what she thought the biggest impact of SHOOSH for Kids.
We also asked Matthew Tabbernor from Cricket NSW why he thought SHOOSH for Kids was effective for cricket.
And Kate Pulbrook from Hockey NSW talks about what she saw as the greatest benefit of SHOOSH for Kids
What can you do?
SHOOSH for Kids started off as a fairly small initiative that eventually grew into a state-wide campaign. You could start small too by implementing a similar SHOOSH for Kids campaign at your club or association. You can use and adapt any of the resources here. You can also incorporate into the campaign the Let Kids be Kids videos and resources as they are promoting the same messages.
If you are interested in further information about the 2017 SHOOSH for Kids campaign, particularly if you are in NSW, you can visit:
https://sportandrecreation.nsw.gov.au/clubs/ryc/fairplay/ShooshforKids
Finally, we asked Jason French a 'spectator' what he thought was the best thing about SHOOSH for Kids.
