From gymnastics as a tiny kid to picking up my first badminton racquet to slogging my way round school cross-country races to becoming a professional athlete to now, writing about sport in these pages, sport has always been dominant in my life.
Without sport, my life would look entirely different and, unquestionably, worse than it is.
Which is exactly why I was quite so concerned to read the report released this week by Scotland’s Accounts Commission.
The report detailed the decline in local authority spending within Scotland on culture and leisure services in the past five years, despite the fact that income earned from charges for these services has risen by 27 percent in the same time frame.
The services hit by these cuts are widespread – from libraries to swimming pools to leisure centres to ice rinks, there’s almost no end to the list of sporting and cultural facilities that are taking a hit.
It’s the cuts to sporting facilities that hit so close to home for me.
I grew up playing sport in council-run leisure facilities and although these beginnings ultimately led me onto the path of becoming an elite athlete, I’m well aware that elite sport is far from the most important piece of this jigsaw when it comes to the wider sporting picture within Scotland.
Elite athletes are nice to have and certainly Scotland has produced more than its fair share.
But, in the grand scheme of things, elite athletes have very little impact on society as a whole.
Rather, it’s sport within the community and physical activity levels across the general population that really make a difference to a nation.
Several ice rinks are closed, or are due for closure (Image: Moray Leisure Centre)
Sport and physical activity must, absolutely must, be accessible and affordable for all. And these latest local authority spending cuts are making sure that these two basic goals are not being fulfilled, and will continue to be unfulfilled in the coming months and years.
The importance of sport and physical activity within society cannot be overstated. From physical health to mental health, and everything in-between, being physically active helps.
Despite this, for too long, the importance of sport and physical activity has been down-played, and even ignored.
There is, of course, not a bottomless pit of money to fund every public service but there has to be an entire rethink when it comes to where on the list of priorities sport and physical activity lie. As things stand, it is unacceptably far down the list.
The chair of the Accounts Commission, Jo Armstrong, noted that cultural and leisure services are a ‘vital’ aspect of ensuring health and wellbeing in Scotland’s communities saying: “Gaps in national data need to be addressed to better understand how these reductions in spending on culture and leisure are impacting communities.
“As councils manage continued pressures due to increasing demands and costs, culture and leisure services have experienced a disproportionate share of council savings measures.
“Communities must be fully consulted on decisions to close, centralise facilities or changes to charging. Failing to do this risks deepening inequalities and legal action by communities.”
Armstrong hit the nail on the head here. Most people accept that, in the current financial climate, cuts to public services have to be made. But why are cultural and leisure services being hit so drastically?
It is, of course, impossible to measure with precision what exactly the impact of having a physically active population is. But we know for certainty that it’s a positive impact and the benefits are far-reaching and significant.
It’s all very well attracting high-level sporting events to this country – Scotland, despite its size, hosts an incredibly large number of elite sporting events – but this only matters if there’s support for grassroots leisure facilities to complement it.
The Commonwealth Games will come to Glasgow next summer and the following year, the Tour de France will begin in Edinburgh. These are two behemoths within the elite sporting world.
But without support for sport on the other end of the spectrum – by ensuring physical activity is accessible within communities – the benefits of attracting these elite sporting events will be severely limited.
I don’t believe that, in general, people in Scotland don’t want to be healthy and physically active. But all too often, it’s far more difficult for them than it should be. From closures of leisure centres, swimming pools and ice rinks to rising prices to attend these facilities which remain open, it’s excessively difficult for people within this country, and specifically those from less well-off areas, to access them.
As it stands, there is little joined-up thinking when it comes to finding solutions to the question of how can it be made easier, more accessible and more affordable for Scots to become physically active and take part in sport? There is, of course, no single answer to this question, but councils, as well as the Scottish government, must work harder to find an acceptable answer.
If a reversal of these funding cuts happens, coupled with a higher prioritisation of sport and physical activity, the benefits will be incalculable.
Yes, easier access to leisure facilities might mean Scotland will likely produce a few more Olympic champions but far more importantly, it’ll means Scotland becomes a healthier, more active nation. And that’s worth any number of Olympic gold medals.
AND ANOTHER THING…
One of the most troubling stories within Olympic sport in recent years was that of Russian figure skater, Kamila Valieva.
Kamila Valieva will make her comeback soon
To recap, Valieva failed a doping test in December 2021 but her positive result didn’t emerge until midway through the 2022 Winter Olympics.
At the time, the Russian was only 15 years old and despite her youth, had headed into Beijing 2022 as a gold medal favourite but the scandal that erupted following her positive test, unsurprisingly, derailed her medal ambitions and the teenager was subsequently banned from her sport for four years.
It soon became clear that Valieva had been chock-full of substances given to her by coaches and managers, who may well have been taking advantage of her young age.
Valieva’s suspension is now almost at and end and she’s set to make a comeback.
It remains to be seen if she can scale the heights she had previously but regardless of the performances she’s able to produce in the coming months and years, he return is a timely reminder that athletes shouldn’t be used as a commodity and especially those as young as Valieva must be looked after, even if that means their Olympic medal hopes are dented somewhat.
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