Benefits of Outdoor Sports for Societies

The BOSS project was implemented over 3 years from January 2017 – December 2019. The project followed the original application as follows:Work package 0 was focused on the effective management of the project. This provided the partners with appropriate templates for recording their time expended on the project and finances. The good management of the project ensured consistency, positive partnership working and quality of delivery.Work package 1 was focused on researching the benefits that are associated with outdoor sports through academic studies. A first and essential element to the project was to agree a common definition for outdoor sports for the purposes of the project. The initial search for studies linked to this definition yielded over 17,500 studies and this was distilled down to 133 key studies that data was extracted from. WP1 generated a unique and highly valuable resource for the outdoor sports sector by providing a summary of these studies as an online resource. The quality of this resource has been well received by the sector. 4 separate reports were developed on WP1 and the findings were also published in a book on Physical Activity in Natural Spaces. There was a great range of benefits that were identified through the studies and these were categorised into physical health, mental health and well-being, community, environment, education and “other” benefits. Interestingly mental health and well-being came out very strongly in many studies.Work package 2 was focused on developing a model that could be used to monetise the benefits of outdoor sports as identified in WP1. While WP1 generated extensive information on the range of outdoor sports benefits only the benefits associated with physical health were quantifiable and could then be valued. All other benefits relied on participants or other stakeholders providing values of the benefits. The model developed followed the principles of Social Return on Investment principles. Work package 3 was focused on testing this model with a range of case studies from across the partner countries. 57 case studies were submitted for selection and the 12 that were chosen were selected on the basis that they provided a range of project types, scales, sports and activities and time frames. This variety ensured that issues with the methodology could be identified and rectified before the toolkit was to be published. The 12 case studies came from Germany, France, UK, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal and Italy and while some were small scale (only 14 participants) others were very large with over 3000 participants. All of the projects strongly highlighted mental health and well-being of being active outdoors in nature. Using the methodology to develop the values of the benefits proved challenging but quite a few of the projects did show a very strong return on investment and showed how the project created real economic value. This work along with the methodology developed in WP2 allowed the partnership to develop a “toolkit” to allow others to measure the impact of their outdoor sports projects. Work package 4 was all about the dissemination of the findings. A dedicated website was created www.outdoorsportsbenefits.eu and for each work package a dedicated report was created which are available in the resources section. Aligned to this were social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) that provided up to date info on key aspects of the project. Members of the partnership also attended a series of pan European and national events and conferences to share the information and findings from BOSS.