Scotland must play ball to cut obesity

CHILDHOOD obesity is one of the biggest health issues facing our society, with all efforts being pulled together to fight the epidemic. Encouraging healthy eating, banning junk food adverts and promoting sport in schools are all part of the obesity-busting masterplan.

You can't escape the debate, and with recent figures showing almost one in ten primary one child is obese, Scotland is slowly waking up to the frightening reality of the computer generation.

It is often argued that the best way to keep youngsters from becoming obese is for them to go out and kick a ball around instead of sitting in front of a computer.

That's all well and good in the summer, when even the kids realise that playing outside with their friends is better than being shut inside all day.

But what about in the cold, dark days of winter?

With the most popular sports of football and rugby being played in the winter months – where muddy pitches, freezing temperatures and cancelled matches are all too common – are we doing everything we can to encourage children to swap their control pads for shin pads?

Shinty has moved its playing season from winter to summer following a two-year pilot, and one argument is that hockey, rugby and football should follow suit in a bid to encourage more kids to get involved. In England, rugby league now avoids the winter months and is playing to larger audiences than for some years.

With figures from 2006 showing 9.1 per cent of Scottish primary one schoolchildren are officially obese and 4.4 per cent severely obese, it is obvious that every possible action needs to be taken to increase uptake in sports.

Scotland was named and shamed in research last year, which put it in second place behind the US as the most overweight nation in the world.

Despite the grim statistics, in the nine years since Edinburgh Leisure was established to manage 30 sports venues, the number of adults and children using the city's leisure facilities has risen by almost 20 per cent.

And most encouragingly figures from the council show schoolchildren in Edinburgh are on the right track.

The number of children taking part in the city's Active Schools programme almost doubled between 2004/5 and 2005/6.

And with youngsters in the city all having to take some kind of PE class until they reach fifth year, the picture looks positive.

But are the increasing numbers of children participating in sport after school due to more seeking a healthier lifestyle or largely due to enjoying activities indoors or in better weather? And how many more might be tempted to try sports like football , rugby and hockey if the season coincided with sunshine?

While he admits switching winter sports to the summer would pose a lot of problems, Edinburgh's Labour education spokesman, Councillor Andrew Burns, believes there is a strong case for moving the traditional winter sports if it would increase levels of participation.

The issue of season switching has been prevalent of late, with Rangers boss Walter Smith speaking out in favour of a winter break for football. He says most matches are cancelled in January and February, so feels a football freeze during these months would be the ideal option.

Scottish Rugby agrees that the beginning of the year proves the biggest problem, with pitches suffering the effect of prolonged rainy spells, which can lead to cancelled coaching sessions and matches – and ultimately and most importantly, disappointed children.

However, the association feels the biggest hurdle to young people getting involved in sports is not the weather or season – it is simply poor facilities.

Colin Thomson, head of community rugby at the SRU, said Edinburgh would see an upsurge in young participants if the city boasted, for instance, state-of-the-art artificial pitches.

And while he agrees that bad weather undoubtedly "hinders sports development", he says making the switch to summer would involve re-arranging the whole academic year and having exams held in winter instead of May.

His argument is backed by colleagues in hockey and football.

Although they can see the possible benefits of switching to summer, they believe the negatives outweigh any positives.

The main pro-summer argument is that bad weather leads to waterlogged pitches and cancelled games, which can be discouraging. But John Watson, general secretary of the Scottish Schools Football Association, believes summer matches – particularly those played in high temperatures – would not be "conducive" either.

Scottish Hockey's youth development officer, Alistair Blair, says private schools in particular would struggle with any changeover.

He says: "They would find it difficult to swap things about for what is a traditional sport in their winter term. This is mainly because schools use their Astroturf pitches for tennis in the summer, and it generally wouldn't be able to be played in the winter. Moving to winter would also clash with a lot of their cricket."

While the child obesity statistics have sparked a host of initiatives – including healthy options in the school dining room – maybe we should be thinking outside the box.

While the sporting bodies insist playing traditional winter sports in summer would be unfeasible, what we need to remember is that the health of our youngsters is the most important thing.

And whether doing more to promote healthy lifestyles for schoolchildren means juggling season schedules, having a winter break or investing in our facilities and pitches, we as a nation have an obligation to do whatever it takes.