There were a couple of interesting Canadian-based stories making the rounds this week that make me wonder about our spending priorities in the field of sport and fitness.
A topic popular in national media was the recommendation that our kids need more outdoor play and freedom to help boost their physical activity level and make them healthier.
But that snippet of news was contained in a larger report that was more alarming on a wider scale, another in a growing list of warnings about how our Canadian kids specifically aren’t getting the daily physical activity they require.
The numbers, as they have been for several years, continue to be disheartening.
According to ParticipAction’s annual Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, only 14 per cent of kids aged 5-11 and five per cent of the 12-17 group received the recommended “60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity every day.” The experts say those levels are important in maintaining proper fitness and health standards.
That exercise could come from organized sport or any sporting or recreational activity where there’s a strong fitness component or equally robust play.
The bottom line is that our kids are continuing to fall far short of the recommended levels and that generally doesn’t bode well for their future physical fitness or health.
Of course, the obvious solution is to increase the physically active quota for kids, often directing them toward organized sport if they aren’t getting enough physical activity on their own.
But there’s a roadblock in this seemingly obvious solution.
The report also has interesting information on “barriers that prevent three- to 17-year-olds in Canada from participating in organized sports.” The very telling data comes from a 2014 CIBC-KidSport Report.
According to the figures, the cost of enrolment fees was a barrier for 61 per cent of families surveyed. And the cost of equipment ranked second, at a 52 per cent level.
There was also information that “Canadian families spend an average of $953 annually for one child to play in organized sport,” making it understandable why cost is the No. 1 barrier to having more kids participate.
Let’s balance this report and its findings with another prominent amateur sport topic of the week — the constant updates on the upcoming Pan American Games in Toronto.
The Pan Am Games, set for July 10-26, will bring together elite athletes from 41 countries in North America, South America and the Caribbean region. It’s really not a hugely followed event in Canada, drawing nowhere near Olympic attention, but it is a legitimate member of the B class of international sports events.
I appreciate that Canada needs to host international sporting events, partly as our obligation to the international sporting community, and also the desire of host cities to upgrade their sporting infrastructure with financial help from other levels of government.
But there’s a point where the priorities of being an international host and looking after the concerns at home appear to clash.
Are the Pan Am Games, with an unofficial price tag now estimated at more than $2.5 billion, really so important when compared with more local concerns?
On one hand, we’re spending billions of dollars for Toronto to host what’s basically a second-tier international sporting event.
On the other hand, we know that it’s a lack of household money that keeps so many of our kids from realizing the benefits of even playing organized sport. And that inability to play can harm their development and health, and possibly their future, in so many ways.
I’d prefer any of my tax dollars directed toward sport be spent closer to home where they can help more Canadian kids.
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