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East of England Plan for Sport Executive Summary

Sue Mott is a sports journalist and Daily Telegraph columnist

Sport, recreation, exercise – whatever you want to call it – has never been more important as modern technology virtually removes the necessity to move a muscle, says Sue Mott.

Imagine you are at the crossroads of your life. One way will encourage you to become slimmer, fitter, happier than you have ever been The other way will make you saggier, sorrier and sadly resemble Jim Royle, that beer-swilling, gut-overflowing, couch-reclining, lazy layabout in a jumper.

Now imagine that the crossroads are real. Because they are. Sport, recreation, exercise – whatever you want to call it – has never been more important as modern technology virtually removes the necessity to move a muscle. It is reckoned that a fifth of children aged between 4-18 years old spend five hours a day sitting down, excluding the time they spend at school. The adults they become could be at greater risk of obesity, strokes, heart disease, diabetes, all of which can carry an early death sentence. For the first time in human history, we are in peril of creating adults so unhealthy that they could die before their parents.

Sport is the antidote. Activity of any kind, as little as a ten-minute jog, a brisk walk, a game of tennis, a mere run up and down a staircase, is the beginning of a solution to the health, participation and performance in sport with all its attendant advantages for health, education, wealth and the welfare of local communities.

Adults and children alike should take some form of exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week as a minimum

The word has gone out that adults and children alike should take some form of exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week as a minimum. It could have been worse. It could have been marathon training. Instead, the health campaigners are realistically asking us to haul ourselves into the vertical position and feel the benefits of raising our heart rate while burning the calories without bringing us to the brink of exhaustion.

On the other hand, why should we opt for a Do-It-Yourself approach to fitness? Motivation is understandably elusive. That is why Sport England has radically altered its policy and announced: you are not alone. The country has been focussed into 9 separate regions and in this part of the world, the East Regional Sports Board is committed to inspiring a population of 5.4m to take up activities that will add value to their life. The barriers will come down. The partnerships between clubs, schools, business, individuals, funded by the lottery and government, will create the environment where sport is made attractive and fund to adults and children alike.

The trend-setters are aware that not all sports clubs have been as welcoming as they should be. That schools have shut their doors in the evening to communities who could so usefully make use of facilities. That leisure centres could be adapted to encourage vastly more numbers through their doors. That key regional authorities like the East of England Development Agency, the East of England Regional Assembly and GO-East are being encouraged to see the value of sport and adjust their policies in its favour.

It is the beginning of the snowball effect. At the top level, there is a desire to create the successors to superstars like former England cricket captain, Nasser Hussain, Olympian Swimmer, Karen Pickering, multi-medal winning Paralympians, Isabel Newstead and Lloyd Upsdell, all of whom act as inspirational role-models to those who would follow in their wake. At grassroots level there is a concerted determination to increase participation in sport significantly, especially for those who have been previously marginalized like ethnic minorities, the elderly, the disabled.

This is not a cosmetic exercise
This is a radical change of direction for sport. Building on Sport England’s “Framework for Sport – Making England an active and successful sporting nation: a vision for 2020”, the intention is to attack both ends of the spectrum. The governing bodies of sport are being asked to streamline their operations and make themselves vastly more efficient and productive. The carrot is improved funding, part-Lottery, part-state. The stick is withdrawal of those funds.

This is not a cosmetic exercise. Every sport will have to prove its worth in the modern age. At local level, there will be a visible increase in the promotion and marketing of sport. Legislation is planned to make the pursuit of sport more viable and comfortable for those taking their tentative first steps. Red tape and planning restrictions will be stripped away. An overall strategy will be set in place, as opposed to counterproductive piecemeal operations. Sport is being asked to be innovative in recruiting converts to its cause.

In 2003 you might have gone to your local GP feeling low or lethargic, with no apparent cause, and being prescribed mild-antidepressants. In 2005 you might visit your GP with the same set of symptoms and be advised of a local walking group that would welcome you as a casual members. Or an aerobics class. Or a pilates session. Or a gentle introduction to yoga. Anything that might stir your interest.

People have retired to their boxes. The sporting. The sedentary

It is an example of the joined-up thinking that has rarely impacted on our lives before. People have retired to their boxes. The sporting. The sedentary. The two have barely met on common ground. Now those that run sport in this country want to smash the barriers between the two. Let them merge so that each can gain a value from the other.

The days are long past when a local tennis club can afford to present an outwardly forbidding image to adults who can only serve underarm and noisy children with their caps on backwards. The short term may be horrific. Tennis balls over the fence in every direction, swordfights with racket handles and the club campaign being paired with an eight-year-old in the doubles. But from that chaos may emerge the men’s Wimbledon champion we have been searching for since Fred Perry in 1936. Three-quarters of a century is a long time to wait.

Under the direction of Sport England, the East Regional Sports Board is seeking to stir the population into action from Luton to Norwich, from Cambridge to Southend. The ambition is simple. That more people should become more active, gaining pleasure and huge health benefits from the fact.

If the next Jonny Wilkinson is uncovered, kicking balls for a local junior rugby side, so much the better. If an ageing population is able to maintain a degree of physical independence and mental agility well into what we used to call old-age, so much the better. If children are introduced to the fun and game of sport, deflecting them from anti-social habits that might lead to an immersion in drugs, truanting and crime, so very much the better.

A community that embarks on a sporting life, at any level, is one that runs less risk of boredom and dissatisfaction

A community that embarks on a sporting life, at any level, is one that runs less risk of boredom and dissatisfaction. London is leading the way with the bid for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, a project of immense ambition and life-enhancing benefits. The knock-on effect for the East of England would be incalculable. One major event to inspire a million mini sporting challenges. From schoolchildren to athletes, from local governors to volunteers, the Olympics in London would act as a monumental inspiration.

We have allowed our society to get lazy. We must reverse the trend and the rewards are obvious. Research shows that academic success mirrors physical fitness. Yet there is evidence that 50% of girls and 39% of boys do not walk continuously for more than 10 minutes a day. Instead of lamenting such figures, sport is now opting to take positive action.

The challenge is for 70% of population to be actively engaged in sport and physical activity by the year 2020

The challenge is for 70% of population to be actively engaged in sport and physical activity by the year 2020. The figure, shockingly, stands at less than half today. The East of England, with its access to a beautiful coastline and a strong rural emphasis, is already looking at the possibility of becoming a centre for sports such as rowing, sailing and cycling.

Britain has always had a passion for sport. It is visible in our jam-packed football stadia, our fervent support for Steve Redgrave’s five-gold bid at the Sydney Olympics, the national celebrations when the England rugby team won the World Cup, the swell of public opinion that encouraged the Government to embrace the London Olympic bid.

But, in the past, that passion has not matched a dynamic action. Sports were fragmented, inefficient and amateurish in the worst sense of the word. The time for transformation is now. Sport must make its impact in an increasingly complex world. To achieve that it must be robust, imaginative and flexible.

From cycle paths to extreme sport venues, sport must appeal to our youth, our elderly and all the generations in between

From cycle paths to extreme sport venues, sport must appeal to our youth, our elderly and all the generations in between. It must become professionally run at the apex, yet user-friendly and casual at grassroots. The day your local athletics club has a sprint relay for the over-70’s, long jump for the visually impaired and shares its best 400m runner with the rugby club, we will know we have made significant progress.

Increased participation will have the longer term effect of creating effective lobby for sport. It will become a powerful pressure group, demanding funds and facilities both at local and central level, all the better to cater for the wealth and welfare of individual communities.

Sponsors will be drawn to every aspect of sport. Those that want to back success at national level. Those that want to reach out to communities at local level. It is a win-win situation when sport gets its act together.

It is now or never if we are to spare a generation of children from the threat of an early grave

We have waited a long time for this. Sport is embedded in the life of this nation. The passion, the ability, the belief is already there. What is new is the concerted attempt to gather all the necessary forces and push in the same direction. It is now or never if we are to spare a generation of children from the threat of an early grave. The rocketing obesity levels from the consumption of junk and the pursuit of no exercise but channel-flicking, is our national wake-up call.

Sport doesn’t have to be painful. It doesn’t have to be throwback to mud-splattered afternoons on a school hockey pitch. It can be a long walk and a good laugh with friends. A sunny afternoon under sail on the Norfolk Broads. A daredevil assault on a climbing wall. A ferociously aerobic session on a rowing machine. The awesome sense of achievement when you run your first London Marathon.

Sport takes an effort but it brings its own reward. It slims you physically, boosts you mentally, cheers you emotionally. You can, of course, achieve the same effect with dieting, Prozac and alcohol, but unfortunately, not all at the same time.

Sport England has promised to make things happen. We owe it to ourselves and our children to share the vision. It begins with 30 minutes activity five times a week. It ends – who knows? – with an Olympic medal.

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