Guidelines on investments in sport discussed by the UK stakeholders
UK conference on investments in sport was held on 6 December 2019 at Birkbeck College in London. Themis Kokolakakis moderated the conference.
Objectives of the iSport project were presented by Alma Papić. Guidelines on investments in sport – as the central topic of the conference – were presented by Themis Kokolakakis and Guenther Grohall.
After the presentations, Themis Kokolakakis moderated the discussion with participants. Participants were active and gave many suggestions and comments on Guidelines on investments in sport. They thought that Sport England could use it to argue for more money invested in sport. Participants suggested a more holistic evaluation that takes into account the demand element. The issue of health benefits was raised. Participants expressed their belief that such an evaluation will be integrated within the mainstream analysis in the future. Another important element mentioned was the role of sport in generating employment. There was also an interesting discussion about how to build facilities that attract physically inactive population. Participants commented that facilities should be safe environments for the whole family. Starting level facilities could be ‘play’ facilities, for example. There was a contribution related to the importance of a visual criteria to attract participants to sport. Also, to build places where inactive people can join in and do some sport without even changing (clothes), giving a very informal feeling in their first steps towards sport. There is a need to think of their mindset, participants concluded. Participants provided many important and interesting insights. A general conclusion was that the outputs of the iSport project may be used to promote investments in sport in the UK.
The next conference on investments in sport will be held in Luxembourg.
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