Participation in sport and physical activity is something I feel is as good a prescription as any to improve health outcomes. The most recent Sport England Active Lives Adult Survey for 2022/23 shows 2 million more adults getting active since 2015/16, which shows we are making moves in the right direction.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, researchers have found that participants in a study on the impacts of physical activity on our overall health felt “more content, more awake and calmer after being physically active compared to after periods of inactivity.” The results of the study also showed that “the effect of physical activity on mood was greatest when the mood was initially low.” Further outtakes from the research show that “low-intensity aerobic exercise – for 30-35 minutes, 3-5 days a week, for 10-12 weeks – was best at increasing positive moods, for example enthusiasm and alertness.”
For me, my interest in sport goes back 15 years, to when I first started tennis lessons, aged 10. I played sports before that point, but never felt that same level of engagement until I picked up a tennis racket. I started going to lessons from 6-7 PM on a Saturday, and then eventually moved to doing that same time on a Monday evening, up until I was 16, when I had to prioritise my GCSE exams. I would later discover paddle tennis (or paddle as they otherwise call it) when on holiday in Spain a few years later. Racket sports are a place I feel an enhanced sense of belonging, as unlike football, a sport I’m still very much involved in, my communication challenges and less athletic physique are not under the microscope to the same degree. Fast forward to September 2024, and I now play pickleball once, sometimes twice a week, football once a week, do daily walks, and YouTube led exercise workouts (4 days a week), with and without equipment.
There are three main skills that can be improved through participation in sport, according to the Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA). As already mentioned, communication is an essential life skill, which can be particularly improved through team sports. In fact, communication, or lack thereof, is really the decisive factor between victory and defeat. Organisation and time management are also essential. Turning up on time to team sessions, knowing the priorities of your role within the team, and overall discipline are key in developing trust and ultimately achieving the team’s objectives. Leadership is the other social element of participating in sport. This is something that can be identified in different forms. It is not only the head coach or captain who has a voice. There may be another individual in a team, who may be as quiet as a mouse, but leads by example. You can learn how to apply leadership characteristics in your own life from those around you who make you feel psychologically safe as part of their time – which applies in any walk of life!
And who would know more about these fundamental aspects of sports participation, than our inspirational Paralympians. I particularly want to share with you the following that Kadeena Cox said, after she crashed in the final of her C4-5 500m time trial: “The last two Paralympics I’ve woken up laid next to a medal grateful it wasn’t a dream! Today feels like a nightmare I can’t wake up from. It’s hard to put into words how I feel. After everything I’ve battled to come back from this last year I thought this moment was going to make it worth it. All I thought about when I was pushing to try get the strength back to walk, let alone run/cycle. Yesterday I learned a hard lesson in that sometimes it just doesn’t happen, whether you think you deserve it or not! I will try to salvage something from this Games. Sport can be cruel, MS can be cruel, living with an eating disorder can be cruel but I’m telling myself what I’d tell the riders on my academy – true strength is seen in how you bounce back against all adversity, in how you keeping showing up even when you want to hide away. And in how you pick yourself up, straighten your crown and fight to show the world what you’re really capable of!” And salvage something from the Games is exactly what Kadeena Cox did. She was part of a triumphant trio, including Jody Cundy and Jaco van Gass, who would go on to win gold in the Team Sprint velodrome cycling. And this was just one of a number of monumental moments which will forever make me see Sunday, September 1st, 2024, as a “Super Sunday.”
With the local activities going in the region Enrych operates in, we hope that via our own Boccia & Multisports Group, and other inclusive sports teams such as the Coalville Town Inclusive Football Team, that we can see better overall health outcomes, and who knows, maybe more potential success stories such as Kadeena Cox. Watch this space!
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