Using sport as a point of access to build entrepreneurial capability, confidence and pathways towards economic participation.
The SportSmart Futures Programme (SSFP) brings sport and practical capability-building together to help young people recognise opportunities, develop ideas and build skills they can carry into employment, entrepreneurship and other economic pathways.
Sport already creates environments where young people participate, develop discipline, build relationships and become part of a community.
SSFP builds on that foundation by introducing practical capabilities that can support young people beyond the field of play.
Through entrepreneurship, financial capability, personal branding and opportunities to learn by doing, the programme encourages participants to think differently about their skills, the opportunities around them and the pathways available to them.
The sport may change. The capabilities can travel.
Capabilities for pathways within and beyond sport
- Entrepreneurial thinking – recognising needs, opportunities and ways to create value.
- Financial capability – strengthening how young people think about money and economic decision-making.
- Personal branding – understanding how behaviour, values and strengths shape how we show up.
- Confidence & agency – building belief, initiative and greater ownership of the next step.
- Opportunity recognition – helping young people see and navigate possibilities around them.
- Entrepreneurial thinking – recognising needs, opportunities and ways to create value.
- Financial capability – strengthening how young people think about money and economic decision-making.
- Personal branding – understanding how behaviour, values and strengths shape how we show up.
- Confidence & agency – building belief, initiative and greater ownership of the next step.
- Opportunity recognition – helping young people see and navigate possibilities around them.
Implemented within a cricketing community in partnership with the CATCH Trust, the SSFP pilot gave young people opportunities to build entrepreneurial, personal and financial capabilities while testing ideas in practice.
