Here is a radical new philosophy: making sport fun again | Cath Bishop

England’s Test captain Ben Stokes turned his team around by prioritising fun and there are moves to do this in children’s sport

Can it be true that there are new, radical moves at play across all levels of sport based on a fresh, innovative philosophy: allowing sport to be fun again? In the buildup to the first Ashes Test, Ben Stokes revealed the philosophy and culture of the England cricket team’s turnaround has been to “make it as fun as you can”. No mention of sophisticated marginal gains or advanced data analytics. And at the other end of sport, there are serious (and long overdue) moves to boost children’s activity levels through improving how youngsters experience sport.

Sport England recently launched a national campaign, Play Their Way, to put “children’s enjoyment at the heart of all sport and physical activity”. But the fact we need a national campaign to do this offers a damning indictment of the state of youth sport and activity. What has gone wrong, what have we learned, and what is actually going to make this work?