After-school sport, golf and tennis all to return

PM’S roadmap to get nation playing again next month

Children’s sport and physical activity will be at the heart of Boris Johnson’s lockdown roadmap today as part of a mass Easter reopening of grass-roots sport.

In another massive success for The Telegraph’s Keep Kids Active campaign, after-school sport and activity will be cleared to resume when schools fully reopen on March 8 and will then be followed three weeks later by the resumption of outdoor community sport.

New “Step One” guidance will be given in a statement to parliament and will allow organised outdoor adult and children’s sport to resume from March 29, the Monday before Easter. This is set to include grassroots football and cricket for adults and children, as well as the reopening of tennis courts and golf courses.

The Keep Kids Active campaign had called on the Government to prioritise the physical and mental health of young people by restarting children’s sport at the earliest opportunity as part of five key campaign aims. And this will be written into Johnson’s four-step lockdown roadmap that will initially focus on education, physical activity and an increase in outdoor social contact.

This first step will come in two phases, with the reopening of schools to specifically also include extra-curricular sport on top of regular PE as a means to reintegrate children in organised sport.

Although some community sports clubs did continue during December, extra-curricular sport has been non-existent in a large number of schools since November.

National lockdown brought an end to all organised sport from the beginning of January.

Resumption of outdoor grassroots sports for children and adults from the end of March will be widely welcomed and is earlier than many governing bodies had expected. The big caveat is the three-week gap following the full reopening of schools.

The Government will carefully monitor the impact of each stage of its roadmap on Covid-19 transmission rates and will be watching for any significant increases in infections during March. It is significant, though, that grass-roots sport has been prioritised ahead of nonessential retail and leisure.

Fewer than one in five children consider themselves physically literate and there is particular concern at rising obesity levels and declining mental health.

There was a drop of almost 100,000 in the number of children who hit recommended daily activity levels last summer compared to 2019 and around three-quarters of teachers reported concern at the fitness of pupils when they did return last September.

The return of grass-roots sport in time for the Easter holidays is also significant for sports clubs and follows the Government announcement of a £10million fund to help schools open sports facilities outside of teaching times.

The money will be distributed from the Department for Education to Sport England to support schools in making facilities available at evenings, weekends and during forthcoming holidays. Ali Oliver, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, also wants the Government to organise a special “recovery term” that prioritises sport, activity, physical education and time spent outdoors following the Easter break.

“We urge government to put children’s overall well-being at the heart of thinking,” she said. “It will be vital that clear guidance is provided around the safe provision of daily physical activity, PE and after school sport so teachers and coaches can feel confident in their delivery on reopening.”