It has been a while since I have posted on here, but today seemed like as good a day as any and I shall explain why at the end.
Today I came across a really interesting article on the BBC Sport website. The article, combined with a video interview with Liz Nicholl the Chief Executive of UK Sport outlined the recent decisions to cut funding from certain Sports based on their ability to return a medal at Tokyo 2020. She justified the investment decisions by saying that they are, “Focused on an outcome, which is delivering more medals and medalists to make the nation proud.”
OK, hold on: “To make the nation proud”. To me this is a pretty one-dimensional perspective. The fact that individual’s from seven sports including wheelchair rugby, table tennis and weightlifting will not receive any funding based on their ability to deliver medals is so narrow. Let me pose this question; is the story of a Rugby player from the wheelchair team, who lost his leg in Iraq and has worked tirelessly since then to get back to fitness and compete in the Olympic games, medal or no medal, more or less inspiring than an athlete who wins a bronze medal in the triple jump whose family came from a deep history of long jump champions and although has worked equally hard, has been tipped for greatness from a young age? Indeed, a fictional example, but one that helps articulate a deeper issue with this approach to funding as it relates to national pride.
I have referenced before that London 2012 was the games to ‘Inspire a Generation’. What’s interesting is that sports participation (once a week) has decreased in the UK between, 2012 – 2015 from 15.9m to 15.2m. One of the most successful Games in Team GB’s history in terms of medals hasn’t actually inspired the nation to move more themselves.
So, I hear you ask, what are we making the nation proud for, if it isn’t to participate in sport? Any ‘feel good factor’ to me is a plaster, a quick hit or solve which is covering far deeper societal issues.
We all know that sport, movement & any level of physical activity can help individuals and communities and I would love to see government and company strategies shift gears to have a wider impact than simply investing in Gold, Silver and Bronze.
To bring this back to my opening, I promised to explain why I haven’t updated this blog for a while. The truth is, I have been thinking deeply about how to get more people and communities active again and how to break down the barriers to getting people moving.
What I uncovered is that there are few products or funding models that address the issues of cost, confidence and the other barriers that were identified in my previous research (see article below). This had led me to develop a community based project, which I believe will help break down those barriers and hopefully attract a wider audience to move more and be active! Today is the start of the journey where I’ll bring regular updates on this mission to get more people moving and more people ACTIVE !