cadence comments about sport

17 Oct 2008

Olympic parade and school sport

This week the Government released a press release saying that record number are now doing PE and school sport. This is a success story, but does it have anything at all to do with the Olympics? ... more

10 Oct 2008

Olympic legacy and financial crisis

With high profile Premier League football teams' sponsors going bust or being bailed out (if there is a difference between those two events) the implications of the credit crunch on sport have already been highlighted in the media. There has also been some discussion of how the 2012 Olympics will need to be cheaper/nationalised/smaller. More worrying is that it sounds like the financial crisis is also offering the opportunity for the planners of the Games to wriggle out of their commitments to grassroots sport and increased participation ... more

8 Sep 2008

Team sports to blame for obesity?

A BBC report on Loughborough University research has suggested that, 'an over-emphasis on competitive team sports in schools is being blamed for "marginalising" the wider efforts to promote physical exercise'. The Government say they are 'bemused' ... more

11 Aug 2008

Women, role models, Gold and participation

Great performances by Nicole Cooke and Rebecca Adlington in the first few days of the Olympics. The Cooke victory was particularly impressive and gritty. But, will these Golds do anything to increase female participation in cycling and walkking? History suggests not ... more

4 Mar 2008

Unfit children

England footballer Michael Owen says: "We all know that kids don't take as much exercise as they used to. When I was young, my mum was quite happy to let me go outdoors on my own but she'd think twice about it now because the streets are no longer as safe. I certainly wouldn't be keen to let my kids go to the park on their own. So kids tend to stay at home much more and watch TV ... more

14 Feb 2008

The power of sport and money

It seems as though the athletics world is ganging up on Dwain Chambers and trying to demonise him. There is an over romantic view of sport sometimes and people like him are bad for business, because that's what it is business and action only happens when money is the issue ... more

29 Jan 2008

Culture vulture

CIDS and Cadence Works have been succesful in a bid to develop a Creative Industries Strategy for Derbyshire County and Derby City Councils. Previous DCMS Minister James Purnell came up in the interview ... more

27 Nov 2007

Sport and Government

There is some suggestion that the Government are about to change their approach to driving up participation in sport... more

19 Jul 2007

Tour de France offers political opportunity

The Tour de France's incredibly successful visit to London seemed to go unnoticed by Gordon Brown's new Government, amazing considering it went spectacularly past his new front door at Number 10. The fact that over 2 million people enjoyed the race means that at least you can't blame the people who did the marketing and it was of course a triumph for Mayor Ken. Some of the British press initially seemed more interested in the fact that Ken can't ride a bike ... well that's one thing potential candidate Boris clearly beats him on ... but in the end the coverage was overwhelmingly positive and cadence family and friends enjoyed a great day out in Hyde Park ... more

16 Jul 2007

Sport up for grabs

Honeymoon periods can be cruelly short when a long-standing number two takes over the top job. If Gordon Brown has any doubts about this he should take a look how little time it took for, new England Football Manager, Steve McClaren, to be unfavourably compared with his predecessor Sven Goran Eriksson ... more from this piece that appeared in Whitehall and Westminter World ...