marketspotlight
the kids T
Doing it for
A new cross-government strategy launched in December 2015 is encouraging children and young people to enjoy the many benefits of sport and physical activity
he British Heart Foundation advises that keeping children active and teaching them about healthy eating can have a lifelong impact and reduce their risk of coronary heart disease. “Children and young people should aim to participate
in 60 minutes of physical activity every day, such as walking, dancing, swimming, cycling, active play or other sports. Kids can build up their muscular strength, flexibility and bone health through climbing, skipping, jumping or gymnastics at least twice a week, too. It doesn't matter how they do it as long as they get their full hour in. Parents can walk with them to and from school, encourage them to participate in PE lessons, enjoy active play with friends at break times, and arrange for them to play sport or take part in structured exercise outside school.” In an effort to reinvigorate stagnating sports participation levels, the government has launched a new strategy entitled Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation. One of its key objectives is putting measures in place to allow children to get the best possible experience of sport from the earliest possible age. Currently, only 9% of under-fives meet the UK’s CMO guidelines for being active for three hours a day; less than a quarter of under-elevens are active for an hour a day and the gender gap in participation is already starting to emerge at less than fourteen years old. A person’s attitude towards sport is often shaped by their experience – or lack of thereof – as a child, and many people drop out of sport before they even reach the age of 14. In an effort to combat this and allow a greater impact across the whole of a person’s sporting life, the age from which Sport England is responsible for will be significantly lowered: from 14 to 5. The strategy also plans to take action to ensure that pupils’ skills and enthusiasm are built on as they move from primary to secondary school so that the transition does not cause a drop-off in engagement. It will also target hard-to-reach groups like disabled children, and aims for all children to attain basic levels of swimming and cycling proficiency. “Provision for children and young people will rightly sit at the heart of a new strategy for sport in this country. We want to see healthy, happy active children becoming healthy, happy active adults and the talented primary school children of today becoming our sporting stars of the future,” said Edward Timpson, MP for Children and Families, Department for Education.
Oppportunities for retailers Although some of the plans outlined may be a little ambitious, increased governmental focus on youth sports participation and increased funding for grassroots and school sports schemes can only be good news for sports retailers. With improved levels of disposable income and the introduction of the National
Living Wage in April, parents will have more spare cash to spend on both specialist and general sports equipment and apparel for their children. Kids are constantly growing, and therefore constantly outgrowing their sports gear – and with flexible joints and vulnerable, moldable bones, children’s bodies need properly fitting equipment, in particular when it comes to their footwear. Retailers can target the parents of younger children who cannot participate in proper sports by stocking attractive and functional children’s outdoor-wear that allows them to play and spend time outdoors.
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