Today, we've published new insight that gives a flavour of how the public are feeling about the return of sport and physical activity.
It shows that people’s motivation to be active is rising as we come into spring, thanks in part to new optimism around the vaccine rollout and the weather, even if for some there is still understandable nervousness. This latter point highlights the importance for the sport sector keeping on raising awareness of their safety measures.
The pandemic and winter have taken their toll, and some people have lost strength and conditioning, so it’s important providers are encouraging and highlight that anyone returning to sport should ease in slowly with small, manageable steps.
It’s up to all of us to ensure we communicate the lengths being taken to ensure sport and physical activity is safe and be mindful of our offer to ensure no one is left behind.
As part of our build up to the reopening, we’ve also spoken with a number of sports and clubs about the actions they’ve taken to be ready and the lessons they’ve learnt over the past year. Their thoughts are both interesting and inspirational and I hope will inspire many others as you continue to make your own plans.
At Sport England, we’ll continue to work very closely with the government to ensure the needs of community sport continue to be considered throughout the process and will work hard to provide the latest information and correct interpretation of the restrictions – as well as, we hope, supporting moves to open up further and see indoor sport and activity return.
You can read more about Monday's changes and what is and isn’t allowed, plus answers to your frequently asked questions, in the coronavirus section of our website.
Sport England has invested more than £270 million of government and National Lottery money to support the sport and physical activity sector through the coronavirus crisis. You can read more about how we’ve invested the money, and what funding is available right now, in the Our Funds section of our website.