Here at Sport-locker.net we like to keep active. Maybe.

Either way, we’re completely behind Move It – a Nike commissioned report that reveals the current state of physical inactivity in the UK and the potential cost to the UK economy.

(It costs the UK economy £8.2bn per year to sustain inactive Britons by the way!)

 

London 2012 legend Mo Farah and (insert own adjective here) Boris Johnson attended an event in Lambeth this morning to back the new report, which plans to get ‘most inactive generation in history’ moving…

While London 2012 provided a showcase for elite British sport, fewer and fewer people are engaging in physical activity.

According to Move It, only one in 20 adults meet government-recommended levels of 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week. 

Likewise, a recent survey found that five- to sixteen-year-olds in Britain spend on average nearly six hours per day in front of screens.

The Young Foundation believes that increased participation in sports and physically active play will improve healthy outlooks, but also reduce crime, improve mental health, increase educational attainment, and result in more cohesive communities.

Move It presents four strategies to get started on raising levels of activity and participation in sports in England:

1.            Youth-centred sports policy:

Design sports and physical education programs with children’s preferences and needs in mind

2.            Coordinated delivery of sport:

Emphasizing partnerships to improve links between school sports and wider community activity

3.            Leverage current funding streams and align new ones:

Create opportunities for new funders to more efficiently penetrate the system.

4.            Data tracking and accountability:

Understand how much children actually move in sports & physical activity programs.

Move It calls for physical activity policy to elevate the critical nature of grassroots sports in addition to elite and competitive sports. With responsibilities currently split between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department of Health and the Department for Education, the report also calls for a cross-departmental strategy which re-prioritises physical activity in schools, and facilitates better delivery and provision at a local level.

What do you think of this new campaign? Let us know via the comments section below or on our Twitter and Facebook pages.