\n<\/p>\n
Cath Bishop\u2019s article captures perfectly the need for structural change and innovation to drive sustainable sport and activity for society (Too many of us were traumatised by sport at school \u2013 but it\u2019s never too late to change, 12 May).<\/p>\n
With multiple layers of evidence pointing to the benefits of an active and healthy nation, why do we struggle as a society to ensure that it is embedded in everyone\u2019s day-to-day lives? Experiences in childhood shape so much: if we enjoy something or are encouraged to do it then we are more likely to continue. Preschool, school, parents, media and many other things shape what we do and what we become.<\/p>\n
School is mandatory, so sport\/physical activity should be too; building a habit early on means it is more likely to continue in later life. Instead, we have reduced the amount of time given to sport on the school curriculum, said competition is bad, sold off playing\u00a0fields and reduced the number of those able to teach multiple sports or activities.<\/p>\n
With huge pressures on our health services, surely it is time to leverage sport and activity, to improve general health and wellbeing?<\/p>\n
Investment and structural change is needed at scale, including innovation and different ways of thinking \u2013 but without behavioural change, without improved attitudes to sport and activity, the status quo will remain. Parkrun has done a phenomenal job of creating a social sporting community, led by enjoyment and social connection and now has one in 10 schools participating. As CEO of British Triathlon, I want everyone to be able to swim, cycle and run. Surely this is not too much to ask of our society? PE in the 1980s was something we used to laugh about. Now I realise just how traumatic it was. I am, believe it or not, a schoolteacher, and today\u2019s kids would not believe the routines of a 1980s PE teacher. Being last to be picked for teams was the tip of the iceberg. Try running butt-naked through communal showers while being shouted at, strategically placing your arm across your chest while tucking your hand in front of your lady garden! No amount of buoyant promotion will convince me to enjoy sport. An apology would\u00a0be a better place to start. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cath Bishop\u2019s article captures perfectly the need for structural change and innovation to drive sustainable sport and activity for society (Too many of us were traumatised by sport at school \u2013 but it\u2019s never too late to change, 12 May). With multiple layers of evidence pointing to the benefits of an active and healthy nation,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[2215,3932,337,16789,334,344,992],"class_list":{"0":"post-49501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-activity","9":"tag-central","10":"tag-life","11":"tag-physical","12":"tag-school","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49501\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/49502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Ruth Daniels<\/strong>
CEO, British Triathlon<\/em><\/p>\n
Jane Hall<\/strong>
Birmingham <\/em><\/p>\n