There is a need for sports and activity leaders, coaches, project coordinators and volunteers to better understand the role that friendship groups play in the lives of young people, especially in the female demographic. 63% of young women reported that they would shun physical activity if their friends were not involved, whilst 77% cited the opportunity to catch up with...
One third of all people who don't play sport say that a coach would encourage them to start, inspiring people to get active and stay active. Whether it is guiding people to start activity for the first time, facilitating improvement or supporting talented athletes, coaches help individuals to progress faster and further than they could on their own. Whilst the...
The Sport and Recreation Alliance has produced research on sports clubs across Europe, looking at participation levels, facilities, finance, social inclusion and volunteering. Key findings include: - 70% of membership is male, 30% is female - 25% of sports clubs have no disabled members - 26% of clubs said none of their members were over 65 - 15% ran targeted initiatives to encourage disabled...
Research shows that a sedentary lifestyle is associated with cardiovascular and metablic disease, and risk can be alleviated with increased physical activity. However, public health initiatives aiming to increase activity levels often fail to demonstrate clinical effects on public health, possibly because the highly controlled environment limits application to real-world community settings. This review evaluates the effectiveness of community fitness...
In April 2014, Substance began a two-year evaluation of the satellite club initiative on behalf of Sport England. This is an executive summary of the final report from the research. The objectives of this research project have been to measure and understand the impact of satellite clubs on the number of young people regularly participating in sport; to understand the sustainability...
This report quantifies the economic and social costs resulting from physical inactivity amongst young people in the UK. It helps the reader to understand physical inactivity in a variety of settings and its cost, as well as the benefits of increased physical activity. Key findings include: - Physical inactivity of today's 11-25 year olds will cost the UK economy £53.3 billion -...
This report brings together the best available evidence to prove the well known conclusion that sport and recreation are good for you, whilst also identifying where more research is required. It explores the impact of physical activity on physical health, mental health, education and employment, antisocial behaviour and crime and social cohesion. It suggests that a range of aerobic, resistance...
This document details the urgent requirement for Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) to be more heavily integrated into the NHS in order to tackle the physical inactivity epidemic. By further prioritising SEM, the risk of chronic diseases would reduce, patient outcomes and satisfaction would improve, consequently leading to reduced direct and indirect costs of physical inactivity which currently stand at...
This document provides an overview of physical activity in the early years (birth to five years) to help commissioners, policy makers and practitioners understand and influence physical activity provision. It summarises the importance of physical activity, the factors affecting physical activity levels, the evidence for the effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity and an overview of the evidence relating...
Department for Transport report on local authority area walking and cycling statistics using data from Sport England's Active People Survey 2013/14 and 2014/15. The reports highlight the prevalence of walking and cycling as well as average time spent, demographic participation, and whether the activity was for recreation or utility (commuting etc.). The raw data highlighted in these report are available...
