ABSTRACT
Sport develops all of the attributes that are necessary for mental and physical well-being, and yet the benefits of PE and Games for children and young people are often overlooked by educational authorities, with physical activity sidelined as an optional extra in the curriculum. The number of children participating in sport has declined over recent years. In 2006, 70 per cent of boys and 59 per cent of girls were meeting daily recommended activity levels. In 2008, 28 per cent of thirteen-to-fifteen-year-old boys were taking the recommended amount of exercise. By 2012, when the Olympics took place in London, this number had halved to 14 per cent. For girls over the same period, the figure fell from 14 per cent to 8 per cent (Health and Social Care Information Centre 2015).
