SL415 - Sporting Future in the UK: Benefits, Development, and Policy

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the sporting landscape in the UK, advocating for sports development by highlighting the numerous advantages it brings to the community. It differentiates between sports and games, emphasizing the role of sports in physical and emotional exertion with agreed-upon rules. The essay discusses sport development as a collaborative effort involving the government, community, and international agencies to make sports accessible and enjoyable. It outlines various policies and initiatives, including David Cameron's 'Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation,' which focuses on physical and mental well-being, personal development, and economic growth. The essay also explores the Sport for Development Theory (SfDT), emphasizing the integration of assessments to enrich development at personal and international levels. It further examines the social, health, and economic impacts of sports, highlighting its role in cultural integration, community development, talent development, and economic contributions. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of sports in a country's social-cultural and economic development, recommending the integration of sports into healthcare for a healthier nation and acknowledging the bright future of UK sports due to recent policies promoting an active lifestyle.

Sporting and its Future in the UK 1
SPORTING AND ITS FUTURE IN THE UK
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Introduction
Games and sports form part of human culture and history, bearing in mind that each
sporting event carries a social bond that brings people together. Sport England (2019) defines
sport as any activity that attracts both physical and emotional exertion where an individual
competes against others for entertainment purposes. The sporting industry has been around for a
while and has played a significant role in shaping and motivating human culture. One of the
unique attributes of sporting events is that their advantages surpass political, social, and
economic boundaries. It is for these reasons that the United Kingdom government and other
agencies have put significant efforts in the sport industry to make sure that the government and
community at large reaps maximum benefits from it. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of
sports in the UK with the goal of championing for sports development due to the advantages that
the sporting industry brings to the community.
There are significant differences in the definition of sports and games. According to HM
Government (2015), sporting activities entail agreed upon set of rules that govern the
participation in the physical activity for recreational purpose. Games on the other hand serve the
similar purpose of recreation, but the players engage in the physical or emotional activity but not
necessarily for competition. A game can become a sport when the opponents decide to compete
for a trophy or tournament. Today, there are different types of sports and games played indoors
and outdoors. An example includes football, cycling, swimming, racing, athletics, rugby,
badminton, horse racing, ski and snowboard, and skating (UK Sport, 2019). People engage in
sports for various reasons, even though the major reason is the recreational purpose that brings
different cultures together. For any sporting event to purposefully meet its goal, there is a need
for investing in sport development.

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Sport Development and Policies that Promote Sports in the UK
In spite of its unlimited advantages in political, social, and economic development, sports
and games requires different stakeholders to work together with the aim of taking advantage of
its direct benefits. Speake, Copeland, Till, Breckon, Haake, and Hart (2016) define sport
development as a title for all activities that seek to promote the excellence of sporting events. As
such, sport development entails bringing together different stakeholders such as the government,
community, and international agencies with the goal of making sport an accessible and enjoyable
event for all. Sport development may entail passing policies that favor and promote sports,
creating awareness, and providing funds for players in different sports to sustain them (SIMA,
n.d.). Successful sport development entails cooperation and networking of all stakeholders. The
aim of networking is to remove barriers to sport development and engaging different parties
involved for professional and personal development with the goal of maximizing on direct
benefits of the sports industry.
In the UK, sport development has been evolving over time due to integration and
incorporation of the governmental activities into the international policy changes. According to
Sport England (2019), different policy changes in the UK have played a significant role in sport
development both at the local and international level. Some of these changes started as early as
1978 when the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
created a specific charter for physical education and sport. Ever since, some of the policy
changes that have occurred in favor of sport development include but not limited to: the
appointment of Mr. Adolf Ogi, as the special advisor for sport development in 2001, the first
international sports development conference in 2003, the first international year of sports and
physical education in 2005, and the recognition of sports as one of the sustainable development

Sporting and its Future in the UK 4
goals in 2015 (Sport and Development, 2019). The above is just but a few of the policy changes
that have played a significant role in sport development.
Sport for Development Theory (FfDT)
In the effort to integrate sports into social and community development, there has been
scholastic evidence that sport initiatives can facilitate both personal and social change when used
effectively. The theory asserts that proper sport development should take into consideration the
assessment of the impact of the sport to the community, the organizations involved in the sport
development, physical activities to be carried out, and cultural enrichment as discussed in Lyras
(2014). SfDT therefore emphasizes the integration of all these assessments with the goal of
enriching development at the personal and international level. SfDT emphasizes the integration
of different researchers into the program with the goal of enhancing promotion and development
of facilities and resources for development.
Recent policy – David Cameron ‘spots is also good for us’ Sporting Future a New Strategy
for An Active Nation
The UK has made recent developments that seek to promote sport development in the
UK. One of the best policies passed in 2015 was the one proposed and championed by David
Cameron in 2015. According to HM Government (2015), the new policy was aimed at redefining
the future of sports by focusing on the role of sports in physical wellbeing, mental well-being,
personal development, communal, and economic development. The new policy aims at
devolving the government’s role with the goal of focusing on sport development. Among the
new changes that the policy will enhance include distribution of funding for groups that hardly
participate in sports including women, girls, and physically challenged people. According to HM
Government (2015), the government is redefining its role in sports by focusing at the investment

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at the grassroots level to tackle the level of inactivity in sports. This is essentially important in
creating an active nation in terms of sporting and gaming events. With the new policy in place,
future decisions on funding will be based on physical and psychological well-being that sport can
deliver when pushing for the creation of a physically active nation.
At the social level, sports play a significant role of cultural integration by bringing people
of diverse cultures together. Sports are not mere events, but opportunities for people to share and
exchange cultural diversities as discussed in Sport England (2019). Sports and games play a
significant role in personal and community development. They bring people of different ages and
social classes together with the aim of appreciating each other’s strengths and weaknesses. This
is what pushes for social development and suppression of stereotypes, especially when society
works towards common goals. For young people, sports gives the active leisure time that denies
them an opportunity to engage in criminal behavior as discussed in the article published in the
University of Kent (2017). An active nation implies less social crimes and empowered and
energetic people that are physically fit.
At the individual level, the health impacts of sports cannot be underestimated. According
to Speake et al. (2016), people engaging in sports hardly suffer from lifestyle diseases and
conditions such as obesity. Families participating in sports can save dollars of money that could
have been spent on medication if they were to stay inactive. For children, sports also contribute
to talent development as they are able to identify their area of interest and nurture it early
enough. The UK Sports (2019) also explains that there is scientific evidence that sports keep the
brain active, leading to high scores in academic tests.

Sporting and its Future in the UK 6
Sports have economic impact for the UK’s economic development. During international
competitions, people open businesses to sell sporting attire and other material required for
sporting events. According to Sport England (2019), sporting events contributed 1.9 of
England’s economy in 2010. There are also over 400,000 jobs created directly and millions of
people employed indirectly by the sporting industry. This explains the reason why the
government and stakeholders at the community level should work towards sports development in
achieving the government’s role of creating not only a physically active nation, but also
economically vibrant country.
Both the UK Sport and Sport England agree that sport development has social impact on
young people, with a strict focus on changing antisocial behavior and promoting personal
development. Different businesses and corporations have come forward to fund sports with the
goal of promoting their brands to the global level. Companies like Nike, Adidas, and different
TV networks have made significant fortunes and employed people from diverse cultures in
sports. All these benefits could not have been harnessed in absence of sports.
Conclusion
Sports have a direct role to play in a country’s social-cultural and economic development.
They create an opportunity for people to exhibit their abilities in competitions while at the same
time contributing to personal and national development. The National Health Service (NHS) has
recently identified the significance of sports in developing a healthy nation. Study has proved
that staying physically fit has a direct impact on people’s health, creating a need for people with
lifestyle diseases such as obesity to be referred to join sports or gym for physical fitness. It is
evident that the future of UK and other nations is bright, especially due to the recent policy that
seeks to create an active nation in terms of sporting.

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References
National Health Service (2019). Benefits of exercise. NHS [Online]. Available at:
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/exercise-health-benefits/# (Accessed 31 March
2019)
HM Government (2015). Sporting future: a new strategy for an active nation. The UK
Government.
Lyras, A., & Peachey, J., W. (2014). Integrating sport-for-development theory and praxis. Sport
Management Review, 14: 311-326. [Online]. Available at:
https://dl114.zlibcdn.com/download/article/17266929?
token=73fede85cbce2148ed7655ae45d0282f. (Accessed 31 March 2019)
Speake, H., Copeland, R. J., Till, S. H., Breckon, J. D., Haake, S., & Hart, O. (2016). Embedding
physical activity in the heart of the NHS: The need for a whole-system approach. Sports
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Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4920841/. (Accessed 31
March 2019)
Sport England (2019). Benefits of sport. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.sportengland.org/research/benefits-of-sport/ (Accessed 31 March 2019)
University of Kent (2017). The six benefits of regular physical activity. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.kent.ac.uk/sports/news/index.html?view=3256 (Accessed 31 March 2019)
UK Sport (2019). Sports. [Online]. Available at: http://www.uksport.gov.uk/sports (Accessed 31
March 2019)