"When people talk about the legacy of the Games, we want them to
talk about Places People Play – and then we want them to get out
there and join in."
Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
The Olympic and Paralympic stakeholders this morning
came together to announce plans for the mass participation legacy
from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Unveiled by the Minister for Sport and the
Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, and Sport England, Places People Play
will bring the sporting legacy to life in communities across the
country, answering London 2012’s Singapore promise to inspire a new
generation to play sport.
The £135 million initiative has been made
possible by the Government’s National Lottery reforms, which are
bringing additional funding into grassroots sport.
Places People Play will be delivered by Sport
England, in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA)
and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with the backing of
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic
Games (LOCOG) and the London 2012 Inspire mark.
It will bring the inspiration and magic of a
home Olympic and Paralympic Games into the heart of local
communities, encouraging more people to get involved in sport.
Places
We will transform the places where people play
sport, making the benefits of London 2012 visible in cities, towns
and villages across the country by:
- Upgrading up to a thousand local sports clubs
and facilities
- Investing in a number of iconic multi-sport
facilities that set the standards for future facilities
development
- Protecting and improving hundreds of playing
fields across the country, preserving high-quality spaces for local
people to play and enjoy sport.
These facilities will be the only ones to
carry the London 2012 Inspire mark, a permanent celebration of
their role in the legacy of the Games.
People
We will inspire people to
make sport happen at the local level, embedding the Olympic
and Paralympic values in grassroots sport, by:
- Recruiting, training and deploying 40,000
sports leaders as the next generation of sports volunteers to
organise and lead grassroots sporting activities.
Play
We will create the sporting opportunities and
challenges that give everyone the chance to become part of the mass
participation legacy, through:
- Gold Challenge – an
independent initiative that will motivate over 100,000 adults to
test themselves in multiple Olympic and Paralympic sports, and in
doing so raise millions of pounds for charity
- Sportivate – a nationwide
campaign that will capture the excitement of sport, providing
opportunities for teenagers and young adults to receive six weeks
of coaching in the sport of their choice and guiding them into
regular participation within their community.
We will be consulting disabled people and
those who support them on how we can focus some additional
investment - at least £8 million - on tackling the barriers they
face when they want to play sport, as well as making sure that
every element of this programme works for disabled sportsmen and
women too.
“This is the cornerstone of a grassroots
legacy from hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, because it
delivers on the bid pledge of enabling more people of all ages and
abilities to play sport,” said Hugh Robertson. With more Lottery
money being invested in facilities, volunteering and protecting and
improving playing fields, there will be opportunities for everyone
to get involved. When people talk about the legacy of the Games, we
want them to talk about Places People Play – and then we want them
to get out there and join in.”
“We can’t all be Olympians or Paralympians,
but with great local facilities, inspirational sports leaders on
the ground and sporting challenges to suit everyone, we can all be
part of the mass participation legacy of the Games,” said Jennie
Price, Sport England’s Chief Executive.
“In developing Places People Play, we wanted
to bring both the Games and grassroots sport to life in communities
across the country ensuring that, in challenging times, sport
receives the investment and attention it needs at a local
level.”
“When London was awarded the honour of hosting
the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, it was with the promise that
legacy would be more than a word – it would be a tangible,
sustainable commitment to transform lives through participation in
sport and an understanding of the Olympic ideals,” said Colin
Moynihan, the British Olympic Association’s Chairman. “The
innovative programmes being introduced today will do exactly that,
and the beneficiaries will be the generations of young athletes,
coaches, parents and volunteers throughout our country who will see
their lives enriched by the positive lessons, values and choices
they make through sport. That is why it is so important that we, as
partners, come together and work collaboratively in making these
programmes successful.”
“We know that the performance of the
ParalympicsGB team on home soil has the potential to inspire many
more disabled people to get active and involved in sport,” said
Phil Lane, ParalympicsGB’s CEO. “Places People Play will help them
do just that in their local community. We welcome the additional
£8m investment in disability sport to make sure this happens.”
“When we bid for the Games in Singapore in
2005, we said that we would use the power of the Games to inspire
young people to take up sport,” said Seb Coe, LOCOG’s Chair.
“Places People Play will harness the inspirational power of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games to promote sport across the country to
leave a lasting legacy of sporting facilities, trained volunteers
and more people participating in sport. This is what we set out to
achieve from bringing the Games to London and the UK.”
Find out more about Places People
Play