For immediate release
 
More Places to Play

Friday, October 1, 2010 – It was interesting to read the latest round of media coverage regarding children playing sports on the street.  At Sport Nova Scotia, we believe this specific incident is just another symptom of a much larger concern: it's important that all children have safe and accessible places to take part in sport, whether the activity is organized or unorganized. 

Why? Because sport plays a vital role in creating a healthy and vibrant society. The benefits of sport participation are extensive, with advantages not just related to health but also to our education and justice systems, as well as helpful social and economic impacts.  Consider this: children who participate in sport and physical activity are more likely to be healthy, less likely to smoke, more likely to get better grades, less likely to break the law – the list goes on and on and on.

These benefits are building blocks that help create the types of prosperous communities (and province) that we all want to be part of. The challenge we are all faced with is finding more opportunities for children to take part in sport.  That means finding ways to make existing areas safe and accessible. It also means addressing the sport and recreation infrastructure deficit that exists in communities across our province, and indeed across Canada. Money directed towards getting more children involved in sport is not spent, it’s invested.  More children in sport means less money spent on healthcare, less money spent on criminal justice, not to mention the positive economic impact sport has on communities.  The sport sector is often overlooked as an economic engine, but in fact in 1998 a government study found that sport makes a total contribution of $8.9 billion to the GDP, which is greater than aircraft, wood, logging, and forestry.

We wouldn’t consider building communities without roads and sewers, and we shouldn’t consider building them without sport and recreation infrastructure either.  In 2002 a study conducted by GPI Atlantic found the cost of physical inactivity in Nova Scotia to be $354 million dollars a year.  By way of comparison, in our most recent provincial budget, the Department of Health forecasted a spending increase of $212.7 million.

More opportunities for children to play sports means positive social and economic impacts for our province.  Although the challenge of making this happen is large, it comes with an even larger reward, and it’s a challenge we have to meet.  When you think about it, we can’t afford not to.

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Jamie Ferguson, CEO
Sport Nova Scotia