Sport's not just for champions but for all

Every child in the island gets a chance to take part in this biennial event either in Year 5 or Year 6.

And though it is competitive, and someone comes out as the winner – this year, as often in recent times, it was the West district – competition comes a very distant second to simple participation and having good fun in sport.

Some 700 children were split across 20 sports, with the encouragement given to try something new. Hence boys are not allowed to take part in football.

While it is a day of tremendous fun and excitement, the challenge for the Guernsey Sports Commission and ultimately, in part, the wider States, is to capture this enthusiasm and channel it into regular participation.

Good to hear Jenny Murphy from the Sports Commission say on Saturday: ‘A lot of these children have said that they’re going to take up that sport and sign up for the longer term.’

Sport is genuinely inclusive and crosses many social barriers, but not enough.

The challenge from the Youth Games will be to uncover how many youngsters still felt excluded or overlooked, probably due to family or social circumstances – many will be surprised at how many children this is – and how many actually will return to the sports they enjoyed so much for a couple of hours.

Sport can be inclusive and break down barriers but it can also be elitist, exclusive and rather intimidating for first-timers of all ages, and particularly so the older we get.

Maybe there is an opportunity for sports to run a similar event for adults to do more to break down barriers. After all often it is the sports people at the lower end of the performance spectrum who become the regulars, the hard core, and the volunteers who do the behind-the-scenes stuff to keep clubs up and running.

While we embrace excellence in sport, let’s do all we can to embrace participation too, just like the Youth Games.