* we need to define 'fitness'. In this instance we are looking at young people living a healthy life style, eating the correct foods, and taking care of personal hygiene. We are aiming to reduce obesity and ensure young people sustain some sporting activity after leaving school. Fitness for purpose is something completely different and Lord Coe will endeavour to provide the resources and facilities for our elite young sports people to reach Olympic standards. Being fit for running is different from being fit for rugby, sailing, rowing and so on.
* PE in secondary schools whilst part of the core curriculum does not have the time allocation to make a significant impact on ensuring healthy adolescent growth. PE and sport teachers devote a large number of hours in voluntary, unpaid time in providing after school sessions for students to take part. This in addition to running teams and trying to give the school success in sporting competitions. However this is no comparison to the independent sector where sport is embedded into the week and is viewed as important to the development of character.
* PE in primary schools should be the focus of developing positive attitudes and understanding in children to sport and being healthy. Where the development of competition and the desire to win is installed. The same arguments are often put forward for youngsters learning a modern language - start early to establish and embed.
* the love of sport and the desire to take part must be part of the home environment. It comes as little surprise that middle class families are the ones who partake in sport, join local sports clubs and encourage their children to participate in a sporting activity. The ones who are likely to take there children into the outdoors, cycling, hill walking and experiencing a range of activities. It could be argued that these same parents stand on the touch line at weekend soccer and sometimes rugby matches berating their offspring.
* My Love of sport started on the field outside my house with a dustbin lid as a wicket, jumpers as goalposts and 20 aside football matches. It was nurtured through good PE teachers who encouraged us to take part and win! It took place without the backdrop of play stations, wii, virtual games and the enormous other alternatives and choices today's young people have. But lets not forget there were people who didn't take part in sport who skived PE and also those who were obese .
There are no easy answers to this problem and today's youngsters mature much quicker resulting in a stronger emphasis on personal and physical development in primary schools. The school sport partnership went a long way to tackling these problems and many secondary schools have continued to fund a sports coordinator to go into primary schools to ensure standards are set, all this despite the funding cuts.
I am delighted that in my academy we recognise that we have have lots to do in order to generate more participation in sporting activities and proud that our year 8 girls rugby team is playing at Twickenham next weekend prior to the England v France international. So may it continue.
Together we can make a difference , we need a holistic approach to tackling obesity,we need time to nurture children towards healthy lifestyles, we need to publicise more the cycle ways and other outdoor areas that children can use, the government must put funding aside to develop more coaching for high performers at local and county level not just elite athletes. We should also remember the society we now live in is very different from that of 30years ago. When we rode our bikes we had no helmets, we would play outside all day until the street lights came on, we didn't have mobile phones, we broke bones and got cuts and grazes, not everyone made the team and we learnt to live with the disappointment.
