The new collectives transforming sports for communities of colour

Credit: Off Piste Ski

In the past few years, there has been a wave of communities that have sprung up to provide safe - and fun - spaces for a group who have been notoriously underrepresented in sports and fitness: those from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Sports and fitness have been bringing people together for decades, centuries even, but many of the activities have been inaccessible to marginalised communities. This doesn’t mean there wasn’t interest and now, post pandemic, we are seeing a surge in communities of colour meeting over shared interests they’ve long been excluded from.

According to research commissioned by The London Lions, six out of ten Brits from ethnic minority backgrounds do not feel truly represented across the full spectrum of UK sport, and a third say racism prevents them supporting or partaking in sports. The time is ripe for change.

This previous lack of representation combined with high levels of post-pandemic loneliness, alongside an increased need for third spaces, has created the perfect cocktail for new fitness and sport-based communities to gain traction.

So, where are we seeing this?

Skiing is a sport synonymous with the white middle class. According to the National Ski Areas Association, 88.2% of visitors to ski areas during the 2019 to 2020 season were white, while 1.8% were Black. But Off Piste are on a mission to bring Black culture and communities to the slopes. Co-founder Karen Grillo told travel platform Trippin that “skiing is still very underrepresented, and part of it is not having that awareness, maybe not having a path to it. Accessibility is not just about money, it's also about representation and seeing examples of it, but then also feeling that it's an environment that you'll enjoy.” This year, the collective swapped the slopes for waves, organising Off Shore, the largest diversity surf event in the UK.

For many people of colour, growing up in cities and built-up areas also means they haven’t spent extended amounts of time exploring nature. Bird watching collective Flock Together have been working on changing that since 2020 and are now one of the most well-established nature collectives for communities of colour. They frequently host day trips all across the UK to introduce people to spending time in nature. Similarly, there is Black Girls Hike, set up to provide Black women with the “confidence to explore the outdoors”, which now has chapters across the UK. They’ve been followed by many other new new Black and Brown collectives that explore outdoor activities such as camping trips, nature walks and foraging.  

Running clubs such as Midnight Runners, Run Dem Crew and Tempo have existed for quite a while but their numbers are growing. This year’s London Marathon has added to the surge in runners across the UK: you would have been hard pressed not to see marathon content all over social media, with a fresh batch of people inspired to enter the ballot for the 2025 marathon. Natasha Thompson, set up Black Girls Do Run UK to encourage, motivate and inspire more non-elite black women to run and the club has gone from strength to strength. “We want Black women to see themselves when they see us, to see themselves as runners. After all, all you need to do to become a runner is to run,” she wrote in the Metro last year.

The challenges for brands

While this is an exciting time for consumers, it can also be an exciting time for brands – but there are challenges for those wanting to get involved with these collectives. Conversations around brands jumping on the rise of these communities for their own profit, short changing the creators of these collectives and diluting the safe spaces that these communities were created to support themselves should not be ignored.

Charlie Dark, creator of Run Dem Crew, urged people leading and within these clubs to protect the value of their communities and own insights. “We are going through a running boom with the rise of Run Club culture which has piggy backed off Run Crew Culture. Brands and insight companies are sniffing around trying to gather information. As an OG in the game, all I’ll say is know your worth. Picking your brain takes time and that should come as a cost not just a coffee,” he said.

So, how can a brand authentically play in this space?

• Treat founders and creatives in this space as consultants and pay them appropriately for their expertise.

• Create partnerships that are genuine and true to the events that these collectives hold.

• One example of this is Flock Together’s night walk event which is supported by Urban Outfitters. In this walk, attendees will explore the local nature in the city at night. The walk starts at Urban Outfitters Oxford Street store.

• Another is Sweaty Betty and its partnership with Black Girls Do Run UK, the latter stating that “this exciting partnership means we can continue with our mission and more”.

• Tap into occasions that are relevant for these collectives. For example, drinking brands could be looking to partner with a collective like Off Piste ski trip, as ski trips have many drinking moments baked into the activity.