Sport

Becoming a World Leading Sporting Region

The buzz as we watch the national team excel, or the excitement when a medal winner turns up in our schools, will help create a region of people who actively want to get involved. How do we tap into this energy and produce something self-perpetuating? We give people opportunities.

Starting with our young people: the 2011 Schools Games will be held in Sheffield. That’s inspiration on our doorstep. The Building Schools for the Future programme means more children will be studying in schools that have modern sports facilities. As well as the benefits to health and personal development, getting schools to compete against each other is important and can only be good for community cohesion. As well as nurture the development of the next generation of budding Yorkshire Olympians.

But it’s not all about the kids. It’s about everyone. It’s about employers providing showers and lockers for people who want to cycle and jog to work. It’s about involving people who may have traditionally low levels of participation, like minority ethnic communities or the disabled. It’s about identifying those so blessed with talent that they can be the sporting heroes of the future, then getting them the skilled coaching they need to fulfill all our dreams.

The Government’s plan is to make the UK a world leading sporting nation. Let’s bring it closer to home and make Yorkshire and Humber a world leading sporting region.