Sports & Recreation

• My religion does not stop me from participating in sports. But some times sports need to be more culturally sensitive and flexible to the needs of Muslim young women. (18 year young woman of Somali background.)
• I play soccer with a group of Sudanese boys, but we can't afford the costs to join a soccer competition. (19 year old young male of Sudanese background)
• Sports and recreation programs need to be easy to get to by public transport. (15 year old young woman of Vietnamese background)

Sports and recreational activities is an important of aspect of all people's lives. For refugee and migrant young people it is a way of increasing their connection to their local community and improving their physical, mental and social well-being.

There are currently a number of barriers for newly arrived refugee young people participating in structured community sports, such as: cost, transport, racism access to sporting facilities and clubs reliance on parental involvement and for many CLD young women the differing cultural and family expectations based on their gender.

WYPIN belives that there is a need for community activities that are:

• close to their home and easily accessible by public transport
• low cost
• do not rely on support from parents
• alternative forms of expression - such as arts and drama - rather than just academic pursuits