Long before I worked in sport, or even imagined running a sports charity, I was a state-school kid in Windsor learning how to row and trying to help keep our school boat club afloat.
My first experience of The Boat Race wasn’t from a fan park or a television screen but from the riverbank, where I was selling programmes to passers-by to help raise funds for the club.
That day, and what I felt during that time, stuck with me.
The excitement of the day and its sense of history is huge, plus the Youth Boat Race aimed to bridge the gap between the on-water action and the young people watching from the bankside.
That memory was very much in my mind when in 2024 we began pitching the idea of a Youth Boat Race to the event organisers.
After nearly 200 years of The Boat Race – one of the longest-running sporting events in the world, which this year will take place on Saturday 4 April – it felt there was an untapped opportunity for local young people, particularly those from state schools, to be part of it.
The ambition behind the Youth Boat Race was to change that, because this event was never just about racing. It was about access.
Access to rowing for young people who might not otherwise find it; access to the River Thames and its history and access to the feeling of belonging to an iconic and nationally televised major sporting event.
Inspired by The Boat Race and funded by The Oxford & Cambridge Rowing Foundation (OCRF), the charity that owns The Boat Race Company, the Youth Boat Race was designed to celebrate participation, teamwork and opportunity.
Crews would be mixed and inclusive, ensuring that everyone who wanted to race could do so, regardless of background or experience level and, just as importantly, the event was built with young people, not just for them.
The excitement of the day and its sense of history is huge, plus the Youth Boat Race aimed to bridge the gap between the on-water action and the young people watching from the bankside.
From school talks and volunteering opportunities to co-designing the event’s branding, the build-up and their input to shaping the event mattered, as those moments helped young rowers feel ownership, pride and a real connection to The Boat Race week itself.
By April 2025, standing on the sunny banks of the Thames at Fulham Reach Boat Club, it was clear the idea had taken on a life of its own and the event featured on the BBC with a peak audience of 2.8 million. We even made our own video on the events of the day, which we are very proud of.
Over 100 state-school students and volunteers gathered for the second Youth Boat Race.
Eight mixed crews from schools across London raced side by side on the same stretch of river used by the Oxford and Cambridge University rowers, with families lining the banks and local supporters cheering.
The atmosphere was joyful, loud and deeply proud, with participants describing it as an amazing experience filled with music and laughter that they would “100% like to do again”, and "a very fun and a unique experience" that people thoroughly enjoyed and that built new memories with friends.
Watching young athletes race along the Championship Course was genuinely moving.
Many of them had discovered rowing through state school and community programmes, and that gave me an added sense of pride.
Speeches from OCRF Trustee Erin Kennedy OBE and Mayor Patricia Quigley captured exactly what the day represented: teamwork, trust, confidence and being part of something bigger than ourselves.
But for me, what has been most exciting is witnessing just how quickly the Youth Boat Race has grown.
From a small pilot in 2024, to a significantly expanded second year, all supported by the generosity of OCRF, the event has already become a meaningful fixture of Boat Race week. And now to see it included in Channel 4’s coverage this Easter Weekend 2026 truly feels like a milestone.
That visibility matters as it sends a powerful message to young people watching at home that rowing is something they can be part of.
After the inaugural Youth Boat Race in 2024, Owen Slot, chief sports writer at The Times, summed this up perfectly when he said: “Only when sports can spread the word like this does elite funding at the Olympic end really make sense.”
For me, that captures the essence of the Youth Boat Race and is the link between grassroots opportunity and elite sport, showing how inspiration, access and participation can exist hand-in-hand with elite level racing.
The Youth Boat Race is still young, but its purpose is clear and each year it grows, not just in numbers, but in confidence, quality and impact too.
What began as an idea is now an event that brings communities together and opens doors for young people across London.
It proves that success isn’t measured by winning, but by the friendships formed, the confidence built and the moment a young person realises they belong on the river.
And this Easter, with the Youth Boat Race shared with a national audience, many more young people might just see themselves there too.
For more than ten years I’ve led the Sport and Safer strategy at StreetGames – a national sporting organisation committed to bringing sport to the doorsteps of young people in underserved communities.
Ten years of partnerships. Ten years of learning. Ten years of seeing what happens when sport shows up consistently where it’s needed most, and here’s what I now know: a decade of sport and youth crime prevention has changed many young people’s lives through sport, but we’re only getting started.
The conversation has changed.
Government strategies now talk about Safer Streets, Youth Matters, Child Poverty, Pride in Place, Freedom from Violence and Abuse and Fit for the Future.
And the common thread in all of these? That place matters, prevention matters and community matters.
The Government’s emerging Young Futures Programme – particularly its Prevention Partnerships and Hub model.
At StreetGames we have been doing something similar: identify vulnerable young people, focus on those in the 30% most underserved communities, connect them with trusted adults and engage them through high-quality, hyper-local sport, via a network of Community Partners.
A decade ago, much of our work was powered by instinct and experience, but today it’s backed by robust research.
Our Theory of Change – Sport, Youth Offending and Serious Youth Violence was authored by Loughborough University, resourced by the Youth Endowment Fund and shaped with input from Sport England.
It sets out clearly how sport can reduce risk factors linked to youth offending while strengthening protective factors that keep young people safe.
That theory underpinned the Ministry of Justice’s £5m Youth Justice Sport Fund, which now informs more than a dozen place-based partnerships with Active Partnerships, Police and Crime Commissioners and Violence Reduction Units.
This isn’t theory gathering dust, but action that's shaping investment and practice, and that proves that when sport is delivered intentionally, it protects.
At StreetGames, we focus on doorstep sport – making it accessible, affordable and local. But this isn’t just about keeping young people busy. It’s about building identity.
Well-designed sport creates trusted adult relationships, safe spaces in the heart of communities, positive peer networks, emotional regulation and self-control, plus a sense of belonging.
These are protective factors – and protective factors matter.
A decade of sport and youth crime prevention has changed many young people’s lives through sport, but we’re only getting started.
When young people feel seen and connected, they are less likely to engage in harm and when they feel pride in their street or estate, they are less likely to damage it.
Doorstep sport also changes how places feel. A park filled with organised activity feels different. A street reclaimed for play feels different.
But ultimately, why does this matter? Recently, we commissioned State of Life to conduct a social value study.
The research organisation looked at survey data from around 1,000 young people taking part in StreetGames’ doorstep sport, which many had entered through youth crime prevention pathways.
Using the WELLBY approach set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book guidance, the study estimated that the wellbeing uplift associated with participation equates to approximately £12,986 per young person, assuming the improvement lasts for one year.
That’s not a participation statistic. That’s the wellbeing value of doorstep sport.
Our current Youth Endowment Fund-backed evaluation, Towards Sport, is using randomised control trials – the gold standard in evaluation. Results will land next year and we can’t wait!
But one thing is already clear: sport must be intentional. It must understand referral pathways. It must align with youth justice priorities. It must embed strong monitoring and learning. It must work in partnership, not in isolation.
Over the last decade, as a sporting organisation, we’ve become fluent in the youth justice system’s language – concepts and phrases such as trusted adults, contextual safeguarding, public health principles, system impact – and its significance.
This understanding has led us to a key learning: sport cannot simply turn up. It has to fit.
We know many of Sport England system partners and Active Partnerships are active — or increasingly curious — in this space.
That’s encouraging because prevention is long-term work that requires humility, partnership and constant learning.
There is still more to understand and strengthen but the direction is clear.
Ultimately, this work is about supporting place-based community partners to support and protect vulnerable young people, getting them more physically active along the way.
Think pro-social (not anti-social), build protective factors (not just manage risk) and, above all, use sport not as distraction, but as deliberate prevention and keep putting it where it works best and is needed the most.
These subjects, and more, will now become a series of deep-dive webinars that will be delivered in partnership with Sport England and the Active Partnerships National Organisation (APNO), and you can access the Quarterly Learning Session we had last week with Sport England.
Together we will get more young people into sport and physical activity and away from crime.
Boxing is my religion. Like all spiritual journeys it began with a moment of divine inspiration and my baptism was conducted whilst watching Muhammed Ali defeat George Foreman in “The Rumble In The Jungle”.
I grew up in boxing gyms with the sport giving me purpose, discipline and titles – including representing my country on numerous occasions.
These days it offers me the chance to inspire the next generation of boxers and to help anyone who walks through the gym door, to believe in themselves and choose a positive path in life.
When people ask me why boxing matters so much to me, my answer is simple: it changes and saves lives.
Of course, it also improves health and builds confidence, but boxing keeps people – especially young people – away from anti-social behaviour and crime, something that I can personally verify as a former Youth Justice Manager.
With the number of proven offences committed by children seeing an increase of 4%, change has never been so important and there are many ways boxing helps fight crime.
Firstly, boxing gives young people structure and boundaries.
Many of the children and young people who walk through the doors of a boxing gym – like mine in Oldham, Greater Manchester – come from difficult backgrounds and have challenging lives.
Having little or no access to opportunities and therefore a lack of agency in the world, may result in challenging behaviours. But not dealing with these pressures means they risk spilling out onto the streets and that’s where crime starts.
Not because young people are 'bad', but because they have nowhere positive to pour their energy into. But boxing gyms can change that, as these spaces are built on discipline, respect, routine and team spirit.
Boxing gyms offer me the chance to inspire the next generation of boxers and anyone who walks through the gym door, to believe in themselves and choose a positive path in life.
You don’t just turn up to your gym whenever you feel like it. Instead, you’re expected to train on time, plus you have to listen to your coach, and you learn that effort leads to results and that shortcuts rarely work.
These lessons transfer directly into everyday life and children who understand discipline in a boxing gym are far less likely to make reckless decisions outside it.
Boxing also teaches emotional control, becasue contrary to what some may think, this sport helps a young person understand how to control their emotions, particularly aggression, and how to think and act under pressure.
I’ve seen it first hand – children who once lashed out can calm themselves because boxing gave them an outlet for their emotions and that allows them to thrive.
Boxing is a good metaphor for life and can help to develop those personal and social skills that people need, contributing to tackling deep seated worklessness and low aspirations.
The sport also fosters the development of positive character, self-esteem, self-discipline, courage, perseverance and resilience.
Instead of throwing punches on the street, they hit the pads, the bags and their coach or opponent inside the ring, but always with respect to the sport’s rules, under supervision and with a reason.
Boxing also teaches respect — for yourself and for others. You shake hands, you follow rules and you learn that real strength comes from self-control, not intimidation. These values reduce crime at its roots.
Another factor that's key is the sense of belonging among those practising the sport. A boxing gym offers identity and loyalty because, at a gym, you’re part of a team.
You train together, look out for each other and you wear the gym name with pride. That sense of identity can pull someone away from a path that leads to anti-social behaviour and crime.
I’ve seen boxing change lives in Oldham and Greater Manchester, where young people that were heading toward trouble now have focus and a reason to stay on the straight and narrow, and I’ve also seen young people who had no confidence, find self-belief.
Not all these children will become a champion boxer and that's okay.
The real victories happen when a young person chooses to stay in school, can find a job or simply chooses not to commit a crime because they don’t want to let their gym or coach down.
At our newly refurbished Greater Manchester Boxing and Development Hub, we’ve been lucky enough to benefit from Sport England funding.
To my mind, our investors aren’t just putting money into a boxing club and community gym. They’re investing in crime prevention and harm minimisation.
It costs less to fund a gym than it does to deal with the consequences of crime and anti-social behaviour – policing, court cases, prison and reform – as recent estimates place the total economic and social cost of serious youth violence at £11 billion between 2009 and 2020.
For me, boxing is more than titles and trophies, it’s about giving people a chance.
Every time a young person chooses to walk into a gym and away from 'the road', I believe that’s crime prevention in action and that’s why boxing will always matter.
As one of the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester, Oldham forms part of Sport England’s Place Partnership with Greater Manchester Moving and other local bodies to implement Sport England's Uniting the Movement strategy for getting people active.
I’m proud of what boxing can do to change lives.
In the words of the iconic social activist, pacifist and politician, Nelson Mandela: “Sport can awaken hope where there was previously only despair.”
Every day, I get to see the truth in these great words in action.
January is a difficult month for many of us. It’s dark, cold, wet and the glow of the festive season feels a long time ago.
But it’s also a moment when millions of people make a conscious decision to reset – to move more and invest in their health.
That’s why January matters so much for gyms, swimming pools and leisure centres. It’s consistently their busiest month of the year and not just because of New Year’s resolutions.
But beyond the first month of the year, there is a growing understanding that physical activity is preventative medicine and that a healthy population drives a healthy economy.
The places we move are of critical importance.
Earlier this week, alongside ukactive, I visited three very different facilities in one day – across both the public and private sector.
What struck me was how similar the stories were.
Operators talked about strong footfall, rising memberships and people coming through the doors for more than just exercise.
They’re coming for health, of course – but also for confidence, connection, and support.
This feels vitally important in a time that is characterised by increasing isolation, screens and polarised views.
Another feature which stood out was the remarkable diversity of the people there – from teenagers arriving in their uniforms after school, to the group of retirees who had originally been referred by the next door hospital and now were coming four days a week (and spending as much time over lunch as in the class).
It was also fantastic to see the level of innovation and use of technology to bring health and leisure closer together – with sophisticated health checks, devising personalised programmes for each individual, linking to 'e-gyms' and other virtual support.
This is the preventative health agenda in action. It’s getting active from the ground up and it sits at the heart of our ambition at Sport England, working with our partners to help millions more people become active.
January brings this ambition to life, but the real story is what’s happening year-round.
The scale and growth of the gym and leisure sector are significant.
The UK Health & Fitness Market Report 2025 shows a record 11.5 million people are now members of a health or fitness club – up 6.1% on the previous year – with 616 million facility visits recorded, an increase of 8.2%.
These are not short-term spikes. Participation has been growing over consecutive years, supported by a unique infrastructure of public, private, large, medium and independent operators working across the country.
Beyond the first month of the year, there is a growing understanding that physical activity is preventative medicine, and that a healthy population drives a healthy economy.
Sport England’s Active Lives Adults survey 2023-24 reinforces this picture.
Fitness activities and swimming continue to be major drivers of physical activity behind walking, with 904,000 more adults taking part compared to the previous year.
Demand is being driven by what people value most.
Polling from ukactive shows that 77% of members join a gym or leisure facility primarily to improve their mental health and wellbeing.
People also cite better sleep, increased confidence, managing health conditions and making new friends. This is about quality of life, not just physical fitness.
We’re also seeing important shifts in who is taking part. Female participation continues to grow, particularly through group exercise and classes.
Projects like Safer Spaces to Move, delivered with This Girl Can, are helping to remove barriers and make facilities more welcoming and safer for women.
Our latest Moving Communities report shows participation in public leisure has increased for every age group over 45, while gym activity is rising among under-16s, over-65s and people living in the most deprived communities.
Since 2017, the number of children and young people taking part in gym and fitness activity has increased by more than 12%.
Standards matter too. Facilities are improving every year, driven by initiatives such as The Active Standard, Quest and FitCert, ensuring that quality, safety and inclusion keep pace with growing demand.
All of this sits squarely within the Government’s priorities for economic growth and improving the NHS through the 10-year plan.
Health drives wealth and the social value created by being active is immense.
The sector contributes £122.9 billion in social value each year, including £15.9 billion in healthcare savings and £106.9 billion in wellbeing value – the equivalent of £2,600 per active adult – and more than double that for people with long-term health conditions or disabilities.
We gain £6 billion in productivity, thanks to a healthier workforce that takes fewer sick days.
The sector creates £5.7 billion in revenue and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, many for young people at the start of their working lives.
These are extraordinary numbers.
January is important. But the real opportunity lies beyond it.
Gyms and leisure centres are not just places we go at the start of the year; they – and the people that work in them – are essential community assets, powering healthier lives, stronger communities and a more resilient economy all year round.
Suicide prevention and increased employability among young men might not be the traditional aims of physical activity programmes, but at Rise – the leading North East health and wellbeing charity – we're showing how lives and communities can be transformed using the power of movement.
Rise is the active partnership for Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, and we’re using physical activity as part of a pioneering approach to reduce inequalities and to boost physical and mental health.
As part of this work, we’ve undertaken a significant project in Berwick called Rise’s Healthy Minds for Healthy Lives, working directly with more than 100 men aged 16-30.
Like many communities in the North East, young people in Berwick face complex socio-economic problems including unemployment, poor health, relationship difficulties and issues surrounding debt, poverty and substance misuse.
These struggles have had a consequential effect on the mental health of young men in town.
Using data from referrals and initial interviews of the young men we worked with in Berwick, we found that:
Our work within the community in Berwick addresses the physical and psychological aspects of wellbeing but it goes beyond that, giving people practical skills as well.
This broad and comprehensive approach helps build stronger and resilient mental health, enhancing young people’s overall quality of life, and by working directly with people who need our help the most, we aim to improve their immediate health and wellbeing.
We also build on their ambitions, motivations and employability prospects, which helps them grow their confidence, improve their mental health and to strengthen their wellbeing through physical activity.
One positive example from our work within the Berwick community is Deacon’s story.
A local resident of 29 years of age, Deacon had struggled with social issues including anxiety and depression from a young age.
Suicide prevention and increased employability among young men might not be the traditional aims of physical activity programmes, but we’re showing how lives and communities can be transformed using the power of movement.
Following a difficult living environment, Deacon moved away from his support network to Berwick with his father and that's when isolation set in.
Deacon said: “I needed to be more active and find solutions. I’d never filled in housing applications; I’d never filled in job applications. That help was there when I needed it and I’ve improved in every aspect of my life. I refer to Jaki as the woman who saved my life. She’s absolutely amazing, I cannot thank her enough.”
When Deacon came to see us, I could have scraped him off the floor – he had no sense of self-worth – and I think that had been destroyed by the environment that he had been in.
But then I was able to get him enrolled onto an outdoor equine and nature activity course followed by an employment and wellbeing course.
Fortunately the course providers paid for the transport, which took away that barrier of him getting in from where he lived and he even helped him secure a job out of it!
After gaining employment, Deacon was able to acquire a bike and that enabled him to cycle to and from work, which helped him improve his physical health.
A month after that, he was also offered a local authority flat. The smile on his face was immense. I’m proud of how Deacon has turned it around.
Our internal data reflects that since May 2021, Rise has supported 118 young men to improve their lives. Recent evaluations found that:
Rise’s Healthy Minds for Healthy Lives project was initially supported by the Northumbria Violence Reduction Unit and London North Eastern Railway and has subsequently been funded by the National Lottery to enable the work to continue.
Through working within communities, we've helped transform the lives of young men, demonstrating how physical activity has the power to enact positive change.
Children and young people today are creative, passionate, and full of potential.
Their energy and ambition feel hopeful in a world that often feels uncertain and unstable.
But they’re also facing new challenges: social media addiction, rising mental health concerns, climate anxiety.
In 2025, parents, teachers, and leaders across the country voiced concerns about a growing disconnect between online and offline life.
School absence is rising; wellbeing is worsening. And physical inactivity remains a stubborn problem: more than half of children aren’t active enough.
The inequalities are stark. Children from less affluent families are far less likely to be active than wealthier peers.
Girls remain less active than boys, and Black and Asian children are less likely to be active than White children.
If these trends continue at pace, we could be heading for a children’s health crisis within a decade.
The Youth Sport Trust’s (YST) Class of 2035 report warns that without robust action, we’ll see soaring screen time, rising obesity, disengagement from education, and more children diagnosed with diseases like Type 2 diabetes – a condition once almost exclusive to adulthood.
But this isn’t a story of despair, it’s a call to action.
And the good news? We are making progress - and 2025 was testament to this.
In December 2025, Sport England data shows children’s activity levels are now at their highest since the first Active Lives Survey in 2018.
Half a million more children are meeting the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guideline of 60 minutes of activity a day compared to seven years ago.
That’s thanks to the incredible work of schools, clubs, and community organisations and the people that run them.
Government action has also been integral.
The National Youth Strategy can be a landmark moment, creating more opportunities for young people to connect offline - and sport has a huge role to play.
Its emphasis on being shaped by young people is vital: policy done with young people, not to them.
The commitment to halt the decline in PE and ensure at least two hours of reimagined PE each week is another big step forward, as is the ambition to increase access to enrichment activities.
If these trends continue at pace, we could be heading for a children’s health crisis within a decade.
The new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network can build on past progress.
Campaigns like Let’s Move from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and YST’s Inclusion 2028 programme (funded by the Department for Education) show what’s possible when national leadership meets local delivery.
Let’s Move is inspiring families to get active together.
Inclusion 2028 is empowering children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to thrive through PE, school sport, and physical activity.
These initiatives prove that inclusive change is possible - and it’s already happening.
All this is happening against the backdrop Sport England’s £250m investment in place-based partnerships across more than 90 communities.
Physical activity is often called the 'miracle cure' by medical experts - and for excellent reason.
It boosts physical and mental health, reduces stress and improves mood. And it’s a social salve too, helping to forge friendships and build connection across communities in the face of the polarising online world.
It’s also fantastic for people and the public purse; every £1 invested in community sport and activity generates over £4 for the economy and society.
School and community sport aren’t 'nice to have'; they’re essential for healthy development.
Research consistently shows us that active children are happier, more resilient and perform better at school.
And building good activity habits young is key for our country’s future health and wealth: active children are more likely to become active adults who enjoy better health, greater productivity and place less strain on the NHS.
That’s why we need to make movement easy and normal everywhere: in schools, communities, families, parks, and urban spaces.
This means working with partners beyond education, like UK Youth and community sport organisations, to embed activity into where young people live and socialise.
Sport England’s place partnerships have some fantastic examples of this happening from the ground up – from JU:MP in Braford to Move Together Blackpool.
Young people must be at the heart of this change. They want experiences that are fun and engaging; not just minutes of activity to be ticked off to hit targets.
Here’s what we think just some of the opportunities to achieve getting every child active in 2026 are:
By rethinking existing policy and being bold, we can create system-wide changes that deliver a healthier, happier future for every child.
Our mission is clear: to inspire a generation that loves to move by making physical activity and everyday movement a normal part of life - giving every child 60 minutes of PE, sport, and play every day.
This is a cornerstone of Youth Sport Trust’s Inspiring Changemakers, Building Belonging strategy and Sport England’s next phase of Uniting the Movement. Working with schools, communities and families, we will redouble our efforts to create experiences that build the foundations for an active life.
Together, we can create a future where every child and young person has the opportunity to move, connect and thrive through sport and physical activity.
He wasn’t lazy. He was bright, funny and desperate to be out in the world. But his local park felt unsafe, the youth club had closed and the nearest sport sessions cost more than his family could spare.
By the time he came to my paediatric clinic, what looked like a 'health problem' – low mood, poor sleep, weight gain – was really a place problem.
We often talk about children’s health as if it starts in the hospital or the GP surgery, but as I explored in my recent BBC Radio 4 series, Three Ages of Child, the real foundations of health are laid much earlier and elsewhere: in homes, schools, streets and parks – places where children feel they belong in their own areas.
Sport England’s latest place work and research puts into numbers what many of us see every day – like the fact that over half a million children, one in ten 12-17-year-olds, say they don’t feel they belong in their community.
This means that almost one in five don’t feel proud of where they live, often because there’s nowhere for young people to go to, and because of the worries about crime and antisocial behaviour.
Take a step back and look at how this paints a stark picture of children growing up in places that feel unsafe, unwelcoming and not really 'for them', so it’s no surprise that in those conditions activity levels are low and health problems multiply.
The same research also points to part of the answer.
We often talk about children’s health as if it starts in the hospital or the GP surgery, but the real foundations of health are laid much earlier and elsewhere: in homes, schools, streets and parks – places where children feel they belong in their own areas.
When asked what gives them a sense of community – beyond friends and family – the top answer from young people was sports clubs and activity groups.
Anyone who has ever watched a child beam with pride after football training or a dance class knows why: a club is not just about exercise; it’s about belonging.
It offers a safe place to go with people who know your name and that offers the chance to be part of a team.
But access to those opportunities is deeply unequal.
In England’s most deprived places, over a third of people are inactive, compared to around a fifth in the least deprived areas – a postcode lottery for physical activity that deepens health inequalities.
As a paediatrician, I see every day that a child’s postcode can be a stronger predictor of their health than their genetic code.
When local streets feel unsafe, there’s nowhere affordable to go and young people don’t feel they belong, it shows up in their bodies and in their minds.
If we care about the future of public health, we have to turn our thinking on its head, because health isn’t built in hospitals. It’s built in communities.
Exercise and sport are a kind of miracle cure – for health, wealth and happiness – but only if everyone can actually take part.
According to research by Sport England, every pound spent on community sport and activity brings multiple pounds back in benefits to health, wellbeing and the wider economy.
That’s why I welcome efforts to work in a genuinely place-based way – including Sport England’s commitment to invest in the areas facing the greatest challenges.
But beyond the work of any single organisation, the principle stays: you can’t fix place-based problems with purely top-down solutions.
For me, this is what it looks like to move from treating symptoms to changing systems.
You can’t lecture a child into feeling proud of their area or prescribe their way out of a broken play park.
But you can bring together the people who know that place best – including children and young people themselves – and invest in the spaces, clubs and connections that allow them to move, play and belong.
That means co-production, not just consultation: listening to what families say they need, backing trusted local organisations, designing activities that reflect different cultures, bodies and lives and being in it for the long haul.
Our children are telling us they want to feel proud of where they live and that they want to be part of something bigger.
Working locally, listening deeply and backing places over the long term is how we start to make that real – street by street, pitch by pitch, park by park.
The publication of Youth Matters, the Government’s first national youth strategy in 15 years, sets an important direction for how we support young people over the next decade.
For us at Sport England, it also reinforces a clear message: if we are serious about improving young people’s wellbeing, connection and opportunities, sport and physical activity must be central to that ambition.
This response is not simply a welcome of the strategy, but a statement of intent.
It sets out why Youth Matters is important to our work, what young people have told us they need, and how our sector can help turn the strategy’s ambitions into meaningful change in places and communities across the country.
The strategy reflects what young people themselves have been saying for some time.
Many feel increasingly socially isolated, are worried about their mental wellbeing and financial security, and want to feel safer and more connected in their communities.
Crucially, they are also clear about what would most improve their daily lives: access to affordable, welcoming recreational and leisure opportunities, and the support of trusted adults.
These insights matter.
They underline the importance of spaces where young people can come together in person, build confidence, develop relationships and feel a sense of belonging – particularly at a time when pressures on services, families and communities are growing.
Sport and physical activity are not a 'nice to have' in responding to these challenges.
They provide proven, evidence-backed ways to support young people’s physical and mental wellbeing, create positive relationships with trusted adults, and strengthen connection to community and place.
They are also clear about what would most improve their daily lives: access to affordable, welcoming recreational and leisure opportunities, and the support of trusted adults.
Our sector already delivers experiences that young people value: inclusive activities, strong role models through coaches and volunteers, and environments where young people can feel safe, welcomed and supported to be themselves.
When done well, sport and physical activity can be a powerful protective factor in helping young people thrive, not just cope.
Youth Matters rightly highlights the need to halve the participation gap between disadvantaged young people and their peers when it comes to enriching activities.
This is an area where urgency is needed.
Our latest Active Lives Children and Young People survey shows that while overall activity levels are rising, stubborn inequalities remain.
Young people from the least affluent families are still the least likely to be active, and too often face barriers related to cost, access, safety and whether opportunities feel designed for 'people like them'.
Less than half of young people say they are happy with the activities and services in their local area, and even fewer feel those opportunities reflect their needs and expectations.
Addressing this must be a priority if the ambitions of the strategy are to be realised.
The emphasis in Youth Matters on putting young people and communities at the heart of decisions, shifting from fragmented to collaborative working, and empowering local delivery strongly aligns with our long-term Uniting the Movement strategy.
Our Place Partnership approach is already focused on tackling inequalities, working alongside local partners and investing in long-term, community-led solutions.
Youth Matters validates this direction and reinforces the importance of sustained, place-based action rather than short-term interventions.
Delivering the ambitions of Youth Matters will require coordinated action across Government, sectors and communities.
Sport England is committed to playing our part: working with partners nationally and locally to ensure sport and physical activity are accessible, affordable, welcoming and shaped by young people themselves.
By listening to young people’s voices, focusing on the places facing the greatest challenges and continuing to address inequality head-on, we can help ensure this strategy delivers lasting impact over the next decade.
We look forward to continuing to work with Government, the youth sector and partners across sport and physical activity to turn this ambition into action for young people.
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