Jackson hopes lockdowns do not create any more hurdles

TRACK legend Colin Jackson has urged the government not to close leisure centres for a third time as sports facilities reopen once again this week.

With the November lockdown in England ending yesterday, sports centres and gyms are opening up in a bid to get people active again and their businesses back on track.

Jackson, a double world 110metres hurdles champion and Olympic silver medallist, is an ambassador for leading leisure operator Everyone Active and insisted there is no sense in facing more closures in the new year.

‘My message to the government would be, “Don’t close us down again”,’ he told Metro. ‘The announcement that we can open up again is happier news but they should have allowed us to stay open this time after closing everything for months during the first lockdown.

‘It’s really important we stay open this time for people’s physical and mental health. People will want to get back on track but we can’t keep closing and reopening. Leisure centres are probably one of the safest environments.’

Jackson explains it is not an issue concerning elite sport but sport for all, especially children whose own interest in keeping active may have lapsed during the second lockdown. Indeed he believes some youngsters will already have been lost to sport as a result of the recent closure of facilities.

‘We celebrate our British sporting champions but forget that sport goes all the way down to the person in the street and they are the ones affected by this,’ he added.

‘I know, for me, once I was distracted from training and got out of practice, I wouldn’t have gone back as a youngster. I would have found other things to do.

‘So there is no doubt in my mind we are losing a lot of kids who won’t continue to take part in sport.

‘We can’t let kids drift and we have to give them no excuses to not do exercise. We need them to see there is a life outside of their devices and video games.’ And Jackson, speaking in support of Metro’s Save Grassroots Sport campaign, warned of the dangers of taking people’s fitness goals away from them, even during a national lockdown.

The 53-year-old Welshman added: ‘We need to be as fit and healthy as we can as a nation. During the first lockdown, it would have been good to have had (leisure) centres open for people to use, to benefit their mind as well as their body. ‘Sport is a social thing – you might go for a gossip, you might be someone who enjoys classes or doing the warm-up, chatting, playing sport. ‘Everyone has their reason to go and swim or work out, and we can’t let that be taken away again.’

Colin Jackson (left) is an ambassador for Everyone Active. The UK’s leading leisure operator reopened the doors to their leisure centres and activities yesterday. Find out about how to get active at your local centre here: www. everyoneactive.com