Change4Life school sports clubs launched
The government has outlined plans for establishing a network of after school Olympic sports clubs. The Change 4 Life programmeis aiming to inspire teenagers of all abilities to play an Olympic sport and build a world class sports system on the back of Britain hosting the Olympic Games.
£6m of government and lottery funding will be spent on 3,000 new after school clubs to open in the summer offering sports as diverse as badminton, boccia, fencing, handball, table tennis, volleyball and wheelchair basketball.
The initiative will build on the successes since winning the Olympic Games in 2005 which include increasing adult sport participation by 600,000 and ensuring that 90% of 5-16 year olds have at least 2 hours of school sport every week.
As well as the obvious health and sporting benefits, it is hoped that the scheme will contribute to building a sense of community spirit. In addition the government aims to get 2 million people playing more sport, 1 million more physically active, and to ensure that 5-16 year olds are offered 5 hours of school sport per week.
