From the Yorkshire Post:
Don Foster: The race is on to give our children a sporting chance of healthier lives
“SPORT – perhaps unlike anything else – has the ability to inspire, entertain, and even exasperate us, in equal measure.
Whether we’re shouting at the television as England’s last hope crashes out of Wimbledon, working up a sweat playing a game of rugby, or watching a child take part in their first school sports day, there’s something very special about the way we respond to sport…
The statistics on the impact of inactivity make worrying reading for anyone concerned with the cost to our health and our wallets. Currently, one in four adults in this country is obese, and if that trend continues, by 2012, one in five children will be as well. The problems associated with obesity are so dire that the Government estimates it could cost us £50bn a year by 2050. That’s hardly surprising with up to 50 per cent of people giving up sport soon after they leave school.”
Mr. Foster, the Culture, Media and Sport spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in the UK Parliament is sounding the alarm in England - for more play time, more play facilities and more money committed to ensuring the health and welfare of the future stewards of UK society. Foster recognizes that an investment in play - in the health and welfare of the youth now - is wiser and less costly than investing in the state medical infrastructure that must treat the catastrophic results of a sedentary, obese, sickly population down the road.
Play is the key.
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