Sport and Recreational Facilities in the UK - Case Study Example

The growing popularity of the sport and recreational facilities in the UK has been caused by a number of reasons (factors) and thus, it is essential to describe this growth and to look at it from the viewpoint of the pushing moments which caused this growth. The aim of this work is to distinguish the principal reasons of the sports and recreational facilities’ growing popularity in the UK. Sport and recreation facilities in UK It is not a secret that popularity of sport and recreation facilities in the UK has been growing through the recent years. The reasons for that may be various, and this work will be aimed at considering all possible factors favorable for such growth and development, but it should be stated, that the role of Government and the state in general has probably played major role in making sports popular and in promoting the use of sports for the health of the society as a whole. Civilized life has made sports its integral part, and thus the popularity of sport and recreational facilities is also dependent on the way of life accepted in the society, but ultimately this way of life is also promoted by the state. Sport in general is valuable for the economic, social and educational life of British people, and this has become one of the important aspects of the Labor party policy in relation to sports. The Council of Europe has defined sport as ‘all forms of physical activity, which through casual or organized participation aim at improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming relationships, or obtaining results in competitions of all levels’. (Gratton, 2000) Thus, the role of the growing sport and recreation facilities popularity in the UK is in increasing and improving the general level of health of the UK citizens. The state itself accrues bigger sums each year, aimed at the development of such facilities; however, these facilities themselves are in greater demand at present, and among the reasons for such growing their popularity may be close interaction between the state and the society – while the state promotes the role of sport in the life of people, people themselves, understanding the increasing levels of fatal cases of heart and other diseases, join sports and try to lead active way of life. One of the directions of the Labor party’s policies was in promoting sports not only as the means of making the state respected in the world for its sport achievements, but mainly to make special stress that sport makes ‘significant difference to the life of individuals, communities and nation as a whole’. (Chandler, 2002) The amount of the organizations, which deal with sports from the viewpoint of attracting individuals, grows annually, but one of the most prominent ones is Sport England; this organization has created a Strategic Alliance Team, which works in close cooperation with the government, promoting a number of initiatives, among which are ‘Physical activity and health’, ‘Community cohesion and sport’, ‘Neighbourhood renewal unit’, etc. (Holt, 2002) For example, the organization actively cooperates with the British Heart Foundation, and as it is known, sports and heart diseases are closely connected, especially with such diseases now becoming the principal reasons of fatality among across all age groups. The organization actively promotes sport through public health messages, which also becomes one more reason for the more active development and higher popularity of the sport and recreational facilities in the UK. Bristol University is undertaking a comprehensive review on behalf of the Department of Health, which would underpin these messages The report willl focus on the scientific support for accumulated physical activity, ie 10 minutes chunks to build up to the government’s 30 minutes five-times-a-week recommendation.This work will feed into that of the Activity Coordination Team (ACT), a cross-governmental group that works with a wide range of partners to develop a strategy to meet the Game Plan target of 70% of the population becoming more active by 2020.’ (Gratton, 2001) It has been stated, that according to the official statistics, the bigger portion of the UK adults and children don’t acquire the necessary amount of physical exercises to achieve any benefits for their health; according to this statistics, two out of three men and three out of four women didn’t have the required level of physical activity in correspondence with their age and other health characteristics. (Chandler, 2002) As for the children of the age between 2 and 15 years old, 30-40% of them also didn’t have enough level of physical activity. It should be also noted that the level of participation in sports was also different among different groups of the UK population; it is natural, that with age, and among girls and women the participation in sports is lower, as well as in ethnic minorities and groups with low social-economic level. As far as a number of explanations were found for the lower levels of sport participation among the British population, one of them was that many representatives of various social groups didn’t have enough access to the appropriate facilities and activities. It appears that such access to various sport and recreation facilities for the people of various social groups is a very efficient pushing factor in making sports popular in general; among such sport facilities the most popular are athletics tracks, sailing centers, etc. Separate programs exist at the national level in terms of open space sports. (Gratton, 2001) It has been discovered, that the renewal territories which possessed the necessary sport and recreation facilities didn’t have enough transport opportunities for the people to reach them in reasonable time. Thus, the location of facilities also played essential role in making them popular. ‘Leisure centres and other sports facilities can: portray an image that is seen as being too formal, or too sporty; be difficult to get around, or may not make it clear where or when activities are taking place; provide a limited programme that only meets the needs of a select audience; have complex booking or payment procedures; be too expensive; adopt policies and working practices inappropriate for people from some cultures and religions e.g. clothing requirements’. (Laker, 2002) Thus, with the clear understanding of the problems which lay in the roots of the low sports’ popularity, the government and various sport and related organizations undertook active steps for promoting sports, and thus making sport facilities more popular across the country. In the light of all acquired information, the Activity Coordination Team (ACT) was created in the form of the cross government forum, actively involving other related agencies, among which was the already mentioned Sport England, together with the Health Development Agency, the Local Government Association and the New Opportunities Fund, as well as the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health. (Holt, 2002) The role of ACT was to form the national strategy of promoting sports, which ultimately played its decisive role in making sport and recreation facilities in the UK more popular; the Government has created the recommendations for the sports’ promotion, in response to which the ACT has designed a plan ‘Game Plan: a strategy for delivering government’s sport and physical activity objectives’. (Holt, 2002) This Game Plan identified sports in somewhat different way, than it had been done by the Council of Europe, but its ultimate aim was still to make the sport and recreation facilities more popular. It two main targets were: 1. To create major increase in the participation in sport and physical activity by the population of the UK; 2. Constant improvement in UK sports on the international level. For the aims of the present work it will be more appropriate to concentrate on the promotion of sports on the national level. The Government’s aims were to increase the percentage of the adult population which would actively participate in sports to 70% by the year of 2020; this has become the pushing moment in making sport and recreation facilities more popular across the country. The effect was even increased through understanding that the strategy created by the Government had to account the following factors: the development of the sport and physical activity implies the behavioral change among the population, and this change will require no less than 20 years; however, through the development of the national and especially local programs, and finally, through the growing popularity for sport and recreational facilities, it is clearly seen that this behavioral change is now taking place. The whole population is to be targeted by the active sport promotion, though more attention should be paid to the groups of people, who are more vulnerable to the social changes and are less able to access the sport and recreation facilities – these are ethnic minorities and socially unfavorable groups of population; understanding that such groups will play an important role in general growth of sport’s popularity, this also has assisted in promoting sports across British population. There have been designed strict recommendations as for the intensive sport facilities, which have made them suitable for the larger portion of population: ‘Sports halls, swimming pools, other indoor sports facilities and outdoor synthetic pitches can provide for a wide range of activities fundamental to maintaining individual health and fitness. They can also serve as a focus for the community. They are often provided in association with a swimming pool; or as a private club, in which case they are often within or attached to a hotel. The location of proposals for these developments can sometimes be contentious, especially if floodlighting is required, if they generate noise, operate long hours, attract a large number of vehicle movements or have a large requirement for car parking. Sports facilities can attract large numbers of customers, particularly on weekday evenings and at weekends. Synthetic grass pitches are floodlit to maximise their use, and this can replace or help to relieve pressure on grass pitches and open space.’ (Gratton, 2000) The popularity of the sport and recreational facilities has also been caused by the fact that the government had created the strategy aimed at keeping the already existing facilities for their primary purposes; this meant, that in order to promote their economic profitability, the owners of the sport facilities had to make them popular and attract additional amount of people to visit them on regular basis; this has ultimately increased the amount of those who started to attend such establishments. (Gratton, 2001) Popularization of sports as the kind of activity, and the sport and recreational facilities as the cause of making sports more popular, has been made one of the priorities on the local level, and local councils had to deal with the problem of making sports more popular through the number of steps. First of all, each council was recommended to found its planning structure on the principles of the sustainable development and with the guidance and recommendations of the national agencies. In the policy development for the local areas, a special stress has been made on the fact, that the development of sport and recreation among the population makes people not only healthier, but the development of the facilities near people live also reduces the need to travel, and thus the level of pollution and the level of fuel consumption; with this aspect stressed, local communities have come down to the active promotion of the healthier way of life, making sport facilities more popular than ever. One of the important reasons of the developing sport popularity is in the fact, that exercise has been made play central role ‘in prevention of coronary heart disease and stroke, and its protection value against other chronic diseases, as osteoporosis. In terms of mental health, exercise relieves anxiety, contributes to improved self confidence and self esteem, and enhances well being’. (Laker, 2002) Of course, such informational promotion would be impossible without active participation of mass media. With the joint efforts of Government and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport there has been developed a special program with the targets set for the period of 2002-2006, which ultimately resulted in the growing popularity of sport and recreational facilities. One of the targets was joint with the Department for Education and Skills to increase the percentage of 5-16 year olds spending at least two hours a week on high quality PE and sport to 75% by 2006; the second target was to increase significantly the take up of cultural and sporting opportunities by new users aged 20 and above from priority groups. (Holt, 2002) This program has been developed on both national and local levels and resulted in more organized creation and design of the sport and recreation facilities accounting the needs of population, and thus making these facilities more popular. Conclusion The main reason for the recreational and sport facilities becoming more popular in the UK, than ever, is in the active promotion of sports and recreation on the national level. The commitment of the Labour government to making population healthier through sports has resulted in the development of various national and local programs of sports’ promotion. The main stress has been made on the role of sports in decreasing the level of the chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular ones, as well as on the increasing level of communication and the need for the renewal areas’ programs all over the country. It has been noted, that in order to make the sports more popular, the change of the behavioral patterns is necessary, as well as special attention to the most socially vulnerable groups of society. However, with the active participation of mass media and sport promotion people come to understanding the role of sports and recreation in maintaining health of all age groups of population. References Chandler, Timothy. (2002). Sport and physical education: The key concepts. London: Routledge. Gratton, Chris. (2000). Economics of sport and recreation. London: E & FN Spon. Gratton, Chris. (2001). Sport in the city: The role of sport in economic and social regeneration. London: Routledge. Holt, Richard. (2002). Sport and the British: A modern history. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Laker, Anthony. (2002). The sociology of sport and physical education: An introductory reader. London: Routledge. Read More