Sport Australia has reported that COVID-19 is acting as a serious deterrent to participation in some organised sports across Australia.
Acting Chief Executive of Sport Australia, Rob Dalton said data from Sport Australia’s AusPlay and Community Perceptions Monitor surveys found that while the pandemic resulted in a dip in participation for some sports, there had been a rise in others.
“The pandemic has driven up rates of participation in socially-distanced sports and recreational activities,” Mr Dalton said.
“While men drove the increases in golf, tennis and mountain biking, women contributed more than men to the increases in walking, running, bushwalking, swimming and yoga participation,” he said.
“Sports like golf and tennis, which were not as affected by lockdowns and restrictions, have seen significant increases in overall participation over the past 12 months.”
Mr Dalton said an estimated 253,000 more Australian adults participated in golf in 2020 compared with 2019, while 185,000 more participants played tennis.
The Chief Executive said the report, Ongoing impact of COVID-19 on sport and physical activity participation June 2021 update, revealed that by March this year, 80 per cent of adults and children who played organised sport before COVID-19 had returned to at least one of their sports.
“However, restrictions on junior sport had resulted in the percentage of children who played organised sport outside of school at least once a week dropping from 55 in 2019 to 43 per cent in 2020,” he said.
Mr Dalton said the top reasons children hadn’t returned to sport, as of March, were because junior competition hadn’t re-started (37 per cent) or concerns about COVID-19 (31 per cent).
He said the top reasons for adults not returning to organised sport included COVID-19 concerns (38 per cent); other commitments (36 per cent); or because organised sport was yet to re-start (31 per cent).
Mr Dalton said the research also found adults became more physically active on purpose during COVID-19; 44 per cent of Australians said they missed sport being in their life through the early phases of COVID-19; 53 per cent of adults who volunteered before COVID-19 were back volunteering by March; and five per cent of adults had started volunteering in an organised sport for the first time since COVID-19.
Sport Australia’s 17-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
