Why Local Sports Clubs are Vital Parts of Our Communities
Local sports clubs are something we've taken for granted. The weekends spent dragging the whole family along to playing fields in the freezing cold aren't the first thing you think of when listing everything the pandemic has taken away from ordinary life. How crucial these communities are, however, is now more apparent than ever.
Community is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. We're all experiencing feelings we've never felt before during the current pandemic because of things we never realised we missed. Who would have thought we'd yearn for the early morning commute or running to catch a bus in the rain. Little things like that we don't realise we need. Community sports are no different.
Local sports clubs are part and parcel of so many people's lives across the UK. For lots of us, childhoods were spent running around a cricket pitch or sitting with family and friends on a running track's side-line. This can seem like a tiresome, heteronormative and masculinised tradition from the outside. Many of the images the local sports clubs bring up are rowdy fathers on the touchline and the women making tea behind them; not anything we should miss.
But the benefits to local sports clubs run deep. For starters, the sense of community I've just mentioned. For many children and adults alike, their chance to socialise on the weekend is at a local club. The event for many is a family one. It is rare to find an activity which is open to everyone, age regardless. Travelling to and from games and enduring wins and losses together is part of these communities' bonds. Without this, they won't be the same.
The community aspect though is important beyond families. Vulnerable children and those isolated in society often find a way out through sport. Countless clubs and trusts place themselves in the most troubled communities' centre. Change4Life has created 10,500 sports clubs to keep children off the streets and engage them in healthy and productive activities. Whether it be community philanthropists or trusts through schools, this exemplifies how vital and necessary local clubs are.
Alongside the benefits of community and protecting the vulnerable is fitness. All genders have to go through a school system which treats those not talented at sport harshly. People get to 18 so scarred by the exposing nature of "PE" that they don't even want to run let alone join a club. Community clubs are the best way to involve everyone. Even if it's just a group to run with and chat along the way, local clubs are crucial to keeping the population fit and happy.
If you head to the BBC's Get Active site (Get Inspired's comprehensive list of club finders for different sports and activities - BBC Sport). You can find a club for any sport in any part of the country.
So while the stresses of a global pandemic hit us hard, remember to keep your head up. Although it seems like a small thing, your local sports clubs will be there for you if you're there for them. Remember to communicate within the community, go to fundraisers and invite as many friends along as you can bring. If you're not part of a club, now is the best time to reach out. Make friends, strengthen your community and more important than all of this….keep running!
Written by Joly Cox
Hi, I'm Joly. I'm a student at the University of Bristol in my final year doing Politics. I love writing about things I love: music and it's relationship with social movements, travel and current affairs (particularly with a focus on Africa) and food (especially the teesside parmo). More than this though, my true passion is sports. Football, cricket, basketball; in fact anything athletic I love to play, watch and write about.