Spotlight: Young people and sport in Sydney
Street Industries is a grassroots organisation empowering young people to rise above challenges, unleash their potential, and transform their lives.
It uses sport, outreach, mentoring, social enterprise and many other projects to reach young people.
The org also runs multiple Local Drug Action Teams (LDATs) across Sydney. This includes the Real8 Program LDAT, which has completed six Community Actions Plans (CAPs) since 2019.
The LDAT’s previous CAPs delivered social and sporting activities to hundreds of young people. They were also valuable consultation and data gathering projects that have helped shape the current CAP.
In 2022, Project Reimagine engaged 191 young people through sport. It provided insights into their aspirations and emphasised the need for accessible, community-centred programs that enhance social connections and wellbeing – strong protective factors against alcohol and other drug (AOD) harm for young people.
The following Kicking off Change: Street Sports and LDAT Collaborative Project in 2024 engaged 303 young people through the Friday Night Football program.
It covered Liverpool, and Georges River and Canterbury Bankstown LGAs and highlighted the need for positive role models and supportive networks in these areas.
The challenge
From the intel gathered through these two projects, it was clear that there are many young people in southwest Sydney who are disconnected from services and disengaged from community – both risk factors for AOD harm.
“We know there were different issues [in all of these regions] with access to social connections, no access to central services,” said Samey Minkara, CEO of Street Industries.
This gap was particularly obvious for young men and women from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
But, sport has proven to be a successful way to reach them.
The response
The LDAT’s learnings from previous CAPs helped guide 2025’s CAP - Street Sports: Engaging Youth in Canterbury Bankstown.
For Samey, addressing the risk factors that contribute to alcohol and other drug issues in young people is the most important thing. Creating that feeling of belonging through participation in positive social activities is vital.
“Everything we do within the community, it all stems from that focus on social connection, to address risks and issues young people are facing.”
The Real8 Program LDAT linked in with two local high schools – a boys’ school and a girls’ school.
For a term in each school during 2025, it ran weekly football activities alongside wellbeing talks.
“The activities we focused on improve social connection – a lot of these young people are isolated and disengaged from the wider community,” explained Samey.
We gravitated towards football, because we knew there was a power in sport in bringing young people together, from different cultural backgrounds.
Because football is an easy entry point, it can get young people interested and engaged. The physical activities are designed to foster social connections among participants through soccer-based team-building drills.
The wellbeing talks each week were run by a support network of positive role models, including student support officers, football coaches and other wellbeing staff. They focussed on healthy decision-making and resilience.
The project design was guided by the Creating Social Connection, Belonging and Purpose LDAT Toolkit.
The progress
The LDAT ran 17 Street Sport sessions across 2025, higher than the original target of 16.
At the boys’ school, 60 students from Year 7 took part. There were 20 students from Years 7 to 10 involved at the girls' school.
Evaluation showed that Street Sports has been successful in building protective factors against AOD harm for the students.
As a result of the program, 85% of boys and 78% of girls said they felt more connected with their classmates – exceeding the target of 70%.
And, 83% of girls said they learnt more about looking after their health and wellbeing.
Advice to other LDATs
Samey’s advice to other LDAT’s boils down to one key factor – keep it local.
He stresses the importance of making sure a Local Drug Action Team’s activities are by locals, for locals and developed using up-to-date data from the region.
“Our LDAT has been very effective because of its placed-based approach to prevention,” he explained.