New evidence released by the latest School Sport Survey 2022 in Wales shows that children and young people need a more appealing array of sports to improve their engagement.
The survey captured the impressions of more than 100,000 children and young people aged between 7 and 16 and showed a nearly 10% decrease in young people undertaking sport outside of school since 2018. Those captured want a more suitable, appealing and welcoming environment for sport on the whole.
Boys remain more active than girls, with serious disparities for those with disabilities, impairments or learning difficulties. Children and young people living in the most deprived areas are less likely to engage in sport. And young people from Asian backgrounds are amongst the least likely to engage in extracurricular sport.
However, the survey found that more than 90% of the participants want to do more sport. Yet under 40% of those captured were active three or more times a week outside of school. New Sport Wales Chair added in response to the survey:
“Society is changing – people have lots more demands on their time and the current cost of living crisis means that they have less money in their pockets too. These survey results emphasise the fact that a major shift is needed towards making sporting activities more inclusive and accessible so that everyone can find something that they enjoy.”
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