London Sport and partners in the physical activity and sport sector continued to take steps towards working together to make London the most physically active city in the world. 1,000,000 More Active, kindly supported by The Association of Sports Development in London (ASDiL) and Sport England was held at The Kia Oval on 6 July 2016. The event brought together over 200 people from the sector, including Local Authorities, National Governing Bodies of Sport, Trusts, Universities and more, to discuss how the sector can help 1,000,000 Londoners to be more physically active by 2020.
The day opened with keynote addresses from policy makers and central bodies. Including Kate Hoey, MP and Chair of London Sport talking about the importance of working together to deliver genuine impact, the sector’s focus on physically inactive people and the idea that 1,000,000 people more active in London can absolutely become real. Phil Smith, Director of Sport at Sport England delivered another keynote, setting up the day’s discussions with the five new outcomes Government wants to achieve, as outlined in Sport England’s Towards An Active Nation Strategy 2016-2021.
Finally, Peter Fitzboydon, Chief Executive of London Sport addressed the delegates by sharing the sector’s progress towards our 2020 target of getting 1,000,000 Londoners more physically active. With London’s population moving towards a staggering 10,000,000, we can’t underestimate the challenges ahead. Despite these challenges, London is well placed within Sport England and London Sport’s strategies. The Blueprint for a Physically Active City is owned by the whole of London, so we ask that partners like those who attended this event and anyone else working in the physical activity and sport sector, continue to work with us and get behind it.
As well as keynotes, The Kia Oval welcomed 18 exhibitors, including Cap2, Oomph, LK2, The Behavioural Architects, Million Miles Together and many more.
Thoughts behind helping 1,000,000 Londoners to be more physically active
Workshops explored a range of topics, from behaviour change, localising national campaigns, developing sustainable facilities, measuring impact and more. Each workshop was thought provoking and addressed a range of issues and challenges the sector is facing, whilst also sharing successes.
Sarah Davies and Rachel Abbott from the Behavioural Architects led a workshop on ‘Nudging participation: applying behavior change tools to create an active city.’ Covering themes such as strategy myth, priming, body language and peak end rule, Sarah and Rachel shared a range of practical tools when trying to engage with physically inactive people. Lindsey Sills, Senior Public Health Specialist from Public Health England said of this session, “really interesting, very clear and a lot of thinking for the future.”
Another workshop led by James Noble from New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), discussed measuring impact. James spoke about data being currency, that data and the stories with it explain impact better than data on its own and shared NPC’s theory of change approach to measuring impact. A lot of discussions took place, highlighting the need for future and ongoing discussions around this topic.
With a whole range of different workshops, speakers, exhibitors and delegates, our 1,000,000 More Active event showed the breadth and depth of working in partnership. Our sector needs the right structures, the right people and the right systems for us to be able to work effectively and really cater for the needs of inactive Londoners. A lot of great work has already started, but we all need to work together, with pace, to make real progress.
London Sport thanks all those who attended the event and showed their ongoing commitment to working together – only then can we achieve London’s ambitions for a happier, healthier and more prosperous city for all.
