'EVERDAY SPORT' TARGETS THE ASIAN COMMUNITY
(15 September 2005)

The 'Everyday Sport' campaign was launched on Thursday 15th September 2005 at City Hall, London.The campaign encourages people to build physical activity and sport into their everyday lives and is set to get England moving in the battle against obesity and in the countdown to London 2012. Young Asian children from Marion Richardson Primary School, E1, showcased an array of everyday sporting activites from tennis, cricket to rugby union.

Matthew Delaney, Regional Director of Sport England London, said: 'Independent research confirmed the effectiveness of the Everyday Sport campaign and presented us with a powerful case for now taking Everyday Sport nationwide. Campaigns of this nature are an absolute priority for Sport England in helping us to increase participation in sport and physical activity amongst the asian population, in particular pakistani and bengali communities."

He added: 'Taking part in physical activity and sport has a whole range of benefits ' from losing weight and dramatically improving your health to beating stress or simply helping you to feel more confident and making your smile.

'So many campaigns tell people what they shouldn't be doing ' don't smoke, don't eat too much salt, don't drink and drive. Everyday Sport is quite unusual in that it is positive, telling people what they can do'.

Everyday Sport goes live on the back of ongoing evidence from the Department of Health, which reveals that 74% of women and 68% of men in London are not doing the recommended amount of activity for a healthy life (30 minutes five times a week).

Research conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Sport England to mark the launch of Everyday Sport, has also uncovered some staggering facts - 74% of people in London would like to do more sport and active recreation but do not get round to it.

• In fact, 34% of people in London spend more time in the shower/bath than exercising and a further 22% spend more time playing computer games than getting involved in sport/recreation. 9% spend more time doing their hair than taking part in exercise.
  
  
• Top motivators for the region doing more exercise are better health (63%) and losing weight (57%), whilst 38% would exercise more if they thought it would improve their sex appeal and 29% would get involved to make new friends.
  
  
• Other research in the capital reveals that the favourite room in the house for exercise is the lounge with 29%, closely followed by the bedroom (19%) and the garden (8%). Most popular unusual locations for exercise are underwater (17%) and the top of a mountain (14%) with 2% limbering up in church and another 2% in the supermarket. Nationally, summer is the most popular season with 22%, morning is the favourite time of the day with 27% and weekends are the best time of the week for getting active.

Sport England has been set a target by Government of increasing participation in sport and physical activity by 3% in the next three years. Everyday Sport is the first major initiative in this long-term plan. The campaign already has the support of more than 60 famous faces from the worlds of politics, celebrity and sport, including Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, Sports Minister Richard Caborn, Rio Ferdinand, James Cracknell, Jonny Wilkinson, Steve Cram, sports commentating legend Barry Davies, Jonathan Edwards, Nell McAndrew, Donna Air and Jayne Middlemiss.

To find out how you can incorporate Everyday Sport into your lives, to find out where you can take up a new sport or activity or for more information about the campaign, log on to www.everydaysport.com or call the Everyday Sport hotline: 0800 587 6000.