At the start of the year, British Wrestling carried out a British Wrestling members survey to better understand the experience of the wrestling family in the United Kingdom.
The survey built on previous iterations and aims to collate views of members and non-members, participants, volunteers and fans. It was published for 5 weeks in January and February 2020 and received 140 responses.
What We Learnt
Below is an infographic showing some of the key findings, click the image to see a full-size version. You can also access the full report as a download at the bottom of this article.
Representative Sample
The number of respondents gives us confidence that the survey is representative though there are some areas of the demographic split where we need to improve our reach in future years.
Of respondents just over two-thirds were current members of British Wrestling with a fifth never having been a member and just over 10% having previously been a member. In comparison to British Wrestling membership the respondents were more likely to be White British and of higher socio-economic groups. There was a greater female representation than in the membership numbers.
Wrestling Experience
The 2020 British Wrestling Members Survey demonstrated that the wrestling experience at a local level is good and that the culture within the sport is strong and inclusive. The majority of both participants and volunteers report activity in wrestling on a weekly basis. Very pleasing is that most respondents are likely to increase their involvement over the next 12 months.
Areas To Improve
The British Wrestling Members Survey clearly identified three key areas of improvement for .
- The respondents patently identified the need for more localised opportunities to get involved in wrestling, be that in the creation of new clubs, more local competitions or greater distribution of training courses. This is evidence of increased demand for wrestling and a need for the sport to grow.
- Further to this, the quality of wrestling competitions including the planning and delivery needs to increase. The ability for wrestlers to feel they have received value for money is important in this as is the communication with competitors across the competition journey.
- The need for transparency and communication around all areas of work but specifically the talent and performance programme came across strongly in the responses. This is an area where we are already striving for greater transparency, but we need to do more and go further in our communication efforts.
Social Impact of Wrestling
For the first year, the British Wrestling Members Survey featured questions about the social impact of wrestling as defined by the governments Sporting Future – A New Strategy for an Active Nation.
Overall, the wrestling family reports higher than the national average on the four individual-focused government outcomes. In short, the wrestling family are more likely to be active, have better mental wellbeing, have a stronger belief they can achieve their goals and are as trusting of others compared to the average population.
