Sector leaders: focus needed on early intervention

More needs to be done to ensure children and young people are given the opportunities to get active early in their lives. That is the message from the National Sector Partners Group (NSPG) after figures from Sport England, published earlier this month, revealed that less than half of children meet the minimum recommended levels of daily activity.

“Early intervention of physical activity builds positive habits and experiences and has the power to change lives, increase population health and set young people up with the best opportunity to thrive,” the NSPG said in a statement. “We need to reimagine how we approach activity at all levels, and put activity at the heart of schools, our communities, and government priorities, otherwise we will fall short of those targets and will be putting the next generation at risk.

“Current and future governments have an opportunity here to be more ambitious and work with our sector already to unlock the power of being active for young people and shift the dial on activity, health and wellbeing. Our sector stands ready to work with leaders and government to make this a reality.”

The NSPG is a coalition of six lead representative bodies from across the sport, recreation and physical activity sectors – Active Partnerships, Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA), Sport for Development Coalition, Sport and Recreation Alliance, ukactive and Youth Sport Trust.