The 2015 Irish Sports Monitor published by Sport Ireland contains a number of trends and pointers that will be important in defining the ways in which Government and Local Authorities invest in sport over the coming years. Through this week we will be looking at a number of those trends in greater detail…
Friday: Overview of the 2015 Irish Sports monitor
Tuesday: Question of Age
Thursday: Question of Gender
Friday: Individual or team?
Monday: The Parent Issue
The Question of Age
While the overall numbers participating in sport dipped from 2013 to 2015 a positive towards the longer term lies in the fact that in the two youngest age brackets surveyed the numbers rose.
In the 16-19 category, where the transition between school and college takes place and can lead to a dramatic drop, the numbers participating were up from 75.9 per cent to 80.3 per cent.
That same rise followed through into the 20-24 age bracket with their numbers climbing from 65.6 per cent to 67.6 per cent over the same period.
Diving deeper within the figures the rise in personal exercise seen across the broader spectrum is also most obvious within the younger ages with growth offsetting a decline in the more traditional sports.
It will always be harder to reengage somebody in sport than to keep them engaged so watching this wave filter through to the next category of 25-34 and beyond will be an important metric for those charges with sports participation and development in the coming years.
It will also be important to focus on the oldest group for whom maintaining an active lifestyle will have strong benefits in terms of health and social capital.
The numbers here dropped from 29.9 per cent in 2013 to 25.7 per cent in 2015, the biggest drop in any age category.
It is also lower than it was in 2011, before the rise across the board three years ago.
The National Physical activity Plan has a number of key areas to focus on ‘all of life’ activities and this can be an area for individual sports such as tennis to focus on where there is already a strong cohort of older players involved.
The English FA is developing programmes in walking soccer to encourage those back who will be less able for the rigours of team sport but who still enjoy the social side and could be encouraged back to play.
