The Sports Minister Hugh Robertson today set out the 2012 Legacy Plan in a written Ministerial Statement ahead of the Recess. Normally statements put out in this way are just to hit a deadline. I can imagine there was a desperate need to head into the September recess with some form of statement in the public domain.

What we have is enclosed in the attachment. We will try to analyse the document more fully but here is a quick assessment.

First we have to say it is not a strategy or a plan - but a list of what is happening. Very.. Read More »

Inspire a Generation – The Legacy of 2012

Much has been said of what the legacy should be from the London Olympic Games and how it should be developed. The motto of the games has been "Inspire a Generation". From the moment the opening ceremony introduced not only the world, but a generation of young people to an abridged version of our history, to Sir Steve Redgrave passing the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron on to 7 young athletes, this Olympic Games has captured the imagination of the next generation as well as everyone else. Listening to phone-ins parents are wanting to take children to.. Read More »

It is now a week after the Olympics and stories have filled page after page in our national media. This week we have seen articles about the athletes (and their private lives in some) and the legacy. But the political pages have been full too of stories about school playing fields and the growth of self confidence in multi cultural Britain. There have been unexpected legacies from these Games.

Here are a few of the stories from today which have caught our eye.

In the NewStatesman Alan White has written an interesting.. Read More »

No one can deny that the London 2012 Olympic Games have been a resounding success for Team GB, and Great Britain as a whole. The upsurge in support and patriotism for Team GB, and the third place in the medals table, have given us all something to shout about and celebrate.

Inevitably, we now have politicians making announcements and statements on their thoughts and plans for the future, and of course we must welcome these if they are to create the crucial sporting legacy of increased sports participation, and sustain excellence in elite.. Read More »

For those who have been going on about Sport Policy for years and been dismissed as rather strange we finally have our moment to make an impact. I have bored everybody for years talking about 'Legacy'.

The gaze of the nation is momentarily on the massive success of @TeamGB in the Olympics and all those Gold medals and amazingly gutsy performances of those who didn't quite 'medal'.

Suddenly there is so much to say in the short span of time there will be in the media scrum to be THE newspaper campaigning for sport. The problem as usual is the.. Read More »

School Sport Campaign

Our success in the Olympics is widely welcomed. Whilst there is a throught provoking blog on whether we should be funding our Gold medal tally through the taxpayer elsewhere on this site the challenge of school sport has raised its legacy head again.

We raised this subject before the Games started and we are delighted by the amount of interest the spotlight of the Olympics has once again thrown on the Gove cuts to school sport. Those cuts make it almost impossible for the government to claim a legacy when so many children will be denied an.. Read More »

The Olympic and Paralympic Games have been part of my life for almost as long as I can remember. I can remember all the talks of boycotts at the 1980 Games, and who could forget the men on space packs at the Opening Ceremony of LA in 1984. But to have a Games on home soil is something that I think we should celebrate.

One of the reasons that I got involved in the bid process was because I saw how important it could be for shaping inclusion of disabled young people, not just in school sport, but also from grass roots to elite. To put it in to context.. Read More »