editor’s letter
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january 2012 © cybertrek 2012
participation goals
Driving participation in sport as a lasting legacy of the Olympics was one of the key promises that helped the UK to win the bid to host the Games – the pledge was for a million more people aged 16+ to be playing sport at least three times a week by 2013. This was an ambitious goal. Perhaps overly ambitious – no other
host city has ever managed to increase sports participation as a result of staging the Games, and some commentators have since suggested that it was never realistic. Implementation may also be at fault: allocation of funding has been questioned within the sports sector, while the fitness industry has been slow to develop clear goals. Whatever the reason, the publication of the 2010-11 Active People report sounded the final death knoll for the target, which was officially scrapped by government at the end of last year. The report indicates that 6.927 million people are now taking part in sport three times a week,
including going to the gym – that’s 632,000 more than when we won the bid in 2005. Not on target perhaps, but still a notable growth, albeit with significant problem areas such as participation among older teens and women. However, within that picture, the gym sector remains static: in 2010-11, gym visits showed only a marginal increase from 10.71 to 10.74 per cent of UK adults, and the fitness industry’s own figures suggest we’re stuck around 12 per cent population penetration. The overall sport sector may be lagging behind target, but the fitness industry isn’t providing much of a boost. So what now for the legacy? Our industry
By tracking frequency of participation, Active People offers the fi tness industry an opportunity to monitor and improve on one of its major weak points: the number of inactive members
bought into the original targets, and they inferred on the Games an exciting significance
– not just for the duration of the event, but for the future of the nation’s sporting culture and its attitude to fitness. Government may have changed its mind, but we owe it to ourselves to remember our original ambitions. We should stick to our guns, remember our ethos – ‘more people, more active, more often’ – and use the Games to make as big a splash as possible. Indeed, by tracking frequency of participation, not just membership levels, Active People offers us an opportunity to monitor and improve on one of the industry’s weak points: the number of inactive members. We should seize that opportunity. Sport England is keen to stress that participation remains a key legacy goal, and that it is the specific
target rather than the overall ambition that has been scrapped. Indeed, a government announcement due early this year will outline the new measure for monitoring participation, expected to focus on 14- to 25-year-olds. But the shift in policy offers us a chance to rethink what participation means for our sector. Watching sport on TV may not immediately drive people to our doors, so let’s look beyond our four walls and be more creative in our approach. We need a broader outlook that encompasses the activity members do outside of our gyms, for example, as well as deeper involvement with the local community, including engaging with schools in line with the predicted new participation measures. One thing is for sure: we can’t stick with the status quo and expect participation to increase. The
Games may prove more a catalyst for us to rethink our offering, and where we deliver it, than an immediate driver of new prospects to our doors – but they remain a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Kate Cracknell, editor
katecracknell@leisuremedia.com
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