We’re feeling inspired by the Olympics. Four (or in this case five) years of commitment and dedication to your sport for sometimes only a few seconds of your life on the big stage and then it’s all over. Was it worth it? All those sacrifices made and sometimes, as Adam Peaty explained in his post race interview, it doesn’t matter how good you are, what matters is whether or not you’re the best on the day. Fortunately for him, he was, but it hasn’t been that way for all the GB athletes, some of whom have had a very bad day at the office and spare a thought for the poor rowing team who seemingly forgot how to steer in the crucial moments.
What about Tom Daley though!? At the age of 11 he told a BBC reporter that he wanted to go to the Olympics and win a gold medal. 16 years on and he finally realises his dream! Now, if that isn’t inspirational, we don’t know what is. Don’t get me wrong, we have no interest in wearing a pair of tiny, tight speedos and jumping off a 10m diving board but we’ll certainly be visiting the local pool a bit more this summer. Hopefully lots of other people will have been given an incentive to check out what’s on offer at their local sports facilities, maybe try something new or just get involved in the broad programme of community sport.
We’ve been fortunate enough to work with lots of local authorities, sports bodies and schools over the years who see the value of investing in their facilities to make sport more accessible to a broader community. Indoor venues provide a comfortable environment for people to participate all year round and in all weather conditions, which in turn offers maximum ROI. Schools open up their facilities to the public during the holidays as another means of increasing revenue and we’re all the better for it. Who knows what talent is being nurtured but we do know that it all starts with grassroots at school or local level.
After the tumultuous 18 months we’ve had, there seems to be a real appetite for people to get together again and have new experiences. Nothing does that quite as well as sport.
