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About the author: Fred Turok is chairman of LA Fitness and founder of Transforming a Generation (TAG)


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Sport can be used to re-engage youngsters in society


18« May 2011 Sportphysical activity &


The health and physical activity sector – with IMSPA in the vanguard – is well placed to tackle some of the UK’s major social problems. And the government realises this, says Fred Turok


ne million 16- to 24-year-olds are unemployed and 20 per cent of graduates are out of work. So what can we do about it? T e nation is getting sicker, fatter and older,


slowly forcing the NHS towards bankruptcy. At the same time recession and inactivity are conspiring to dismantle our communities. Isn’t it amazing that our industry which, just 10


years ago, tended to be caricatured as full of muscle- heads and leg warmers, is today invited to discuss its potential role as part of a national solution by government departments ranging from health to work, and from skills to local government. And that’s just the areas that have gone beyond initial discussions. Let’s take youth unemployment.


We have proven that we can help stop victims of our educational system slalom their way into a life of deprivation and crime, as they come to terms with work prospects ranging from small to non-existent. T e lack of work prospects will


TOP TABLE at the


organisations across the industry have declared their willingness to be part of the forthcoming ‘Work Programme’ – an employment creation scheme, scheduled for launch in the summer, but still in the process of being fi nalised. If youth unemployment is to be addressed, lessons learned in 2010 will be critical to strategies executed in 2011. On the opposite side of that, community


OUR ‘LOST GENERATION’ YEARN


SUPPLEMENT WORLD WE ALL


FOR THE SUNDAY


inevitably lead to the creation of a parallel society, where our ‘lost generation’ yearns for the Sunday supplement world we all aspire to, but they often have to resort to anti-social means to achieve it.


ASPIRE TO


PLAYING OUR PART T e sport and physical activity industry has a major role to play. It has already helped bridge the gap between standing on the outside looking in and the world of work and opportunity. Collectively, we have helped around 3,000 long-term unemployed young people gain qualifi cations, enjoy a prolonged period of work experience and, eventually, get a job. Organisations like Transforming a Generation


(TAG) have worked closely with private and public sector operators, multiples and independents to give more than 1,300 18-24 year-olds a second chance. And we should be very proud of that. TAG and other


engagement is the innovative work the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) is doing with community activity hub pilots, as well as workplace activity programmes such as Shift Into Sport. In addition, we sit at the top table


for health. Alongside Simon Burns the Minister of State for Health, I am co-chair of the Department of Health’s Responsibility Deal Physical Activity Network. T is is a government initiative designed to get more people, more active, more often. T e government’s plan is to improve public health through a partnership between government, business and individuals and we sit right in the middle of that plan.


ECHOING IN CORRIDORS OF POWER Underpinning all this is the


Skills Agenda, driven by the FIA’s TwentyTwelve consultation, and resonating deeply throughout Whitehall and Westminster. Our involvement in Change4Life and the


Responsibility Deal highlights our value to the delivery of public health strategies. A partnership such as that between operators, TAG and the Department of Work and Pensions, as well as the FIA’s relationship with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills is further proof that the health and fi tness industry has a major role to play across government. T ere is now talk of us becoming a priority sector,


joining sectors such as energy/low carbon and ICT, deemed vital to the future of the UK economy. If that happens, what a journey we will have travelled in our short collective history.


www.imspa.co.uk


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