The London Olympics in 2012 was billed as the Games that would ‘Inspire a Generation’. A positive and optimistic sentiment and a nice sound bite for officials, but I sincerely believe that Sport & activity can play a much bigger role in the progress of society than simply having a ‘feel good factor’. I think there is an deeper more fundamental role, which I believe can help to solve some of the biggest challenges we face in the world today. Interestingly, a recent report from Sport England explains how there has actually been a 0.4% drop in participation in England since the London Olympics which proves to me that the challenge lies deeper than simply inspiring people.
From my own personal experience, Sport has given me everything; and I can hand on heart say that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today without my grounding specifically in Football & the other sports I took part in as a kid. I started researching & thinking about the multiple benefits that sport can actually bring to society, more than simply inspire people for a few weeks. Some initial findings;
Physical & Mental Health: Possibly the most obvious, but being physically active on a regular basis can provide vast benefits for your overall health & reduce your chances of many physical issues such as heart disease, but interestingly, regular activity has also been proven to reduce the likelihood of stress, depression & low motivation.
Key Values: Participating in sport and activity from a young age, helps embed values & benefits such as discipline, teamwork, hard-work, trust & overall provide kids with experiences that are proven to build self-esteem which helps lead to deep friendships & relationships.
Crime & Community: A recent article in The Telegraph talked about how a UK Charity ‘Box Cleva’ set up 11 local boxing gyms to teach kids non contact boxing skills, fitness, healthy eating & substance awareness. In the areas with these clubs there was a 40% reduction in anti social behaviour. Another aspect is that due to the rapid advancements in technology, I think there is a strong trend to people making connections online & spending a disproportionate time of their life on their screens. I believe this could hinder us from building meaningful relationships & prevent the development of meaningful communities in the future. The true effects of this haven’t been measured yet, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out the impact not having prosperous communities could have on society as a whole.
Fundamental Skills: There are of course the physical ‘motor’ skills, which are developed through activity, which gives us all the ability to complete day to day tasks. This is often overlooked & is incredibly important due to the amount of jobs still relying on physical attributes. In addition, a lot has been written about the ‘Millenial Generation’ where we all have access to endless information, all the time. Could this create a generation of generalists, of people who aren’t focused or skilled in one particular area, a generation of ‘jack of all trades, masters of none’? Could that lead in a slow down in innovation, progression & development of the human race? Those are big questions for sure but this is an area that needs to be researched.
A few closing thoughts to wrap this one up: For whatever reason, we as human’s like to put things in to buckets, frameworks and furthermore to put people in to types or groups. A recent Sport England Report talked about how kids are either ‘Sporty’ or not. I would challenge this thought at its core and ask, what if we didn’t bucket our children in to groups? What if we all had a deep understanding of the benefits of sport & activity, and provided our children with opportunities whether it be joining a boxing club, local athletics club, or even if we took our children for long walks twice a week or put them in scenarios to be active with other children? I recently read a couple of articles, which ranked the ‘healthiest & happiest’ nations in the world. The majority of healthy, happy nations such as Australia, Switzerland, were based by mountains or by sea & there was a culture of activity deeply engrained in their lifestyle. On the flip side, the unhealthy nations were quite often where technology was advanced, things are automated, commercialized & commoditized.
My research and musings will continue on this topic but to summarize this first piece, I can safely say that there is nothing like power of sport and activity to make you, your friends and family feel good & help to create a world that will prosper for years to come...
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