TWO stories last week were distinct but related. One was the shocking level of obesity in children entering primary school. The other was the Scotland football team’s defeat in Slovakia. One was on the front pages and the other on the back pages but they’re linked. If kids aren’t exercising, then issues arise – not just in primary school but throughout their lives, as the level of diabetes in adults shows. Moreover, the national team is only as good as the players Gordon Strachan can select from. Arguments over tactics or other judgment calls, ignore the fact that the quality just isn’t there to pick from.
These issues have been years in the making but chickens are now coming home to roost. The assumption was that kids would just play sport and football in particular. Moreover, that would provide the conveyor belt of talent for the national team. But, that’s not the case despite considerable grassroots efforts by the Scottish Football Association and countless individuals who give up their time for children’s sport.
Life is much more complex now and our society hasn’t adapted. Football and much other sport has gone from a game the majority of kids played, to one the majority watch. But, sport is a collective not just an individual responsibility, even when its applied to sports that aren’t team games.
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This week saw the nation celebrate Andy Murray’s success. But, he had to leave this country to be able to achieve his full potential.
Kids can’t just go out and play on the streets as my generation did. Traffic’s too busy and cars too many. Parks are still there but not, perhaps, in the numbers, when as a youngster I used to play on them. Moreover, parents more than children worry over safety, and accessing them unsupervised often isn’t allowed. Sport, even just casual sport, needs to be much more organised now than before.
None of that can be blamed on the younger generation, but they’re paying the price, as the obesity statistics show. That leads on to the decline in the national football team.
As many in the game have mentioned facilities in comparable countries such as Norway and even Iceland are far superior. They matter not just for the elite players but also just the “play it for fun” players. If you don’t have the latter, you won’t get the former.
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Not just indoor facilities but all weather pitches are needed to deal with the effects of global warming. Our climate is warmer but wetter, which has affected sport and the pitches people play on. They also need to be affordable to youngsters, which sometimes they’re not. They need to be multi-sport, as playing any sport improves all sports.
Steps have been taken over recent years in recognition of the problem at grassroots and elite levels. Previous administrations brought in sports co-ordinators, but much more needs done. Facilities have been provided by the current administration, through sports and proceeds of crime funds, but they’re still well behind those possessed by comparable countries.
The solution has to be a recognition that sport is vital to our communities and citizens’ health and wellbeing.
For too long the assumption was that it was almost a private decision to be made by the individual, whether to play and if so to join a club or sign up for a gym. Kids need to be able to just play. That’s neither affordable for some nor available to many.
Facilities need to be there but so does the supervision and support for them. That costs money and the sports budget coffers are nearly empty.
The two issues are interlinked and so must be the solution. The health budget is not finite but needs accessed for sport as part of preventative spend.
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Investing in sport to stop kids becoming obese will save on expenditure in later years. That requires action by government but also a recognition by the community that if money is spent on that, it can’t be on other items. It’s a question of culture change as well as cash resources. The demands on health are significant. There comes a time, though,when spending on the collective and the preventable will be better than on the individual and the reactive.
That’s not just for facilities but supervision, whether formal coaching or just a watchful eye. Scotland doesn’t have the same community clubs that exist in many Scandinavian countries. However, support for clubs that do exist, opening up schools beyond 9-4 and funding sports bodies to lead grassroots development can bring change.
It won’t be quick or easy for society or the national team. But sport’s a collective benefit not an individual pursuit.
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