CASE STUDY 2 The Clare Sports Partnership Health and Fitness programme In recent years the issue of poor physical health, low levels of physical activity, high levels of obesity and the effects of these factors on the mental health of the Irish population in general and in particular on the youth population have become apparent and led to a coordinated public health strategy to change these growing trends. This includes Healthy Ireland Get Ireland Active! The National Physical Activity Plan for Ireland 2016, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014-2020) and National Youth Strategy 2015-2020 all of which target the increased participation in sports and physical activity. The baseline study involved a literature review assisted by our colleagues in the Clare Sports Partnership and meetings with their staff to hear their experiences. Existing individual CYS Sports Programmes were examined through desk research and interviews with individual youth workers.
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| The COURAGE Project
The main findings were; •
The ESRI Report ‘Keeping them in the Game’ shows a widening socio-economic gap as people progress through adulthood – the less well-off are more likely to drop out from sport as young adults and less likely to take up new activities.
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The Children’s Sports Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) conducted by University of Limerick, University College Cork and Dublin City University shows that just 19% of primary school pupils and 12% of post-primary pupils receive the amount of exercise recommended by the Department of Health. One in four children is unfit, overweight or obese and has elevated blood pressure.
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Both studies are agreed that female participation particularly slips as age increases in the teenage years.
