What if young people one day began losing interest in sport? And what if, a few years from now, youngsters stopped playing sport altogether, turning their backs in particular on competitive sport for its supposed insistence on effort, discipline and sacrifice? Addressing these questions has little to do with painting tomorrow’s youngsters as the caricatures some presume they have already become: namely, obese quasi-mutants glued to their couches, immobile, static, and forever staring at computer screens. The true issue lies elsewhere, and it is fair to wonder if the values, concepts and history of sport will still resonate with people in the 2030s.
Far from being a purely theoretical exercise, that is a debate which the sporting world is very serious about having. In October 2009, at its 13th Congress in Copenhagen, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked itself those very same questions. It even attempted to formulate a response through its recommendations on the theme of ‘Olympism and Youth’, with points 51 to 55 especially enlightening. “Everyone involved in the Olympic Movement must become aware of the fundamental importance of physical activity and sport for a healthy life style, not least in the growing battle against obesity, and must reach out to parents and schools as part of a strategy to counter the rising inactivity of young people,” read one recommendation, while another stated: “The Olympic Movement should develop and implement programmes which extend beyond the encouragement of young people in competitive sport and which enable the widespread practice of sport and recreation to become an embedded mantra in sports delivery programmes.” For certain IOC members, turning away from the logic of competitive sport – even slightly – would represent a kind of cultural revolution.
Is sport threatened by disaffection among young people?
To date, no study has been able to draw that conclusion. In fact, in the major industrialised nations, which boast reliable figures for the number of licensed athletes as well as other statistical tools, the data tends to suggest the opposite. The number of active sportsmen and women affiliated with sporting associations continues to grow, including among young people. In addition, it is possible to observe the spread of independent sporting practices not tied to any association, with jogging perhaps the most obvious example: while jogging itself is undoubtedly a physical pursuit, for the most part joggers have no links to any organised body or federation.
That said, a number of senior sporting officials have remarked that today’s youngsters, in the developed world at least, are less receptive than previous generations to traditional sports. The primary reason for that has to be a marked increase in the number of temptations luring youngsters away, whether those temptations be other sports (it is now possible to practice any discipline in the West and Japan) or not.
Computers, video games and the internet had nowhere near the same presence 20 years ago. Today, they are a part of daily life and take up a huge amount of our time. “Because of the development of these new technologies, [young people’s] connection with leisure pursuits is more static than it used to be,” states Philippe Tétard, a sports historian.
“Added to that,” notes Denis Masseglia, President of the French National Olympic Committee, “we’re living in the age of ‘everything, right now’.” That demand for immediacy is incompatible with sport and competition, which require work, effort and dedication. A former teacher of Physics and Chemistry, Masseglia is therefore convinced that “the sporting movement must adapt itself to this new paradigm.”
For his part, erstwhile Physical Education teacher Yohann Blondel argues that today’s youngsters are “more volatile in their commitments”. The researcher at the Centre for Research and Innovation in Sport, based in Lyons, believes that the supposed decline in interest among adolescents can be explained by the fact that “having to train twice a week to play every Sunday is not necessarily compatible with the desire to lead a full social life”.
All agree, meanwhile, that adolescents are far less likely to obey norms than before. More independent, freer from authority as well as being resistant to it, today’s youths have a much harder time respecting the constraints that still come with belonging to a sports club. The philosopher and sociologist Georges Vigarello puts that down to the rise of individualism, an integral part of living in a consumer society. A specialist in the representation of the body, he nonetheless remains persuaded that adolescents possess a natural need to move around and be active. Physical activity in itself is not under threat, even if, in the future, it will take on altogether different forms from those on offer today.
How to adapt to the new demands of today’s youngsters?
It is proving to be a time of reflection, not only at the IOC but also within national Olympic committees, individual sporting associations and even at club level. These groups have not been afraid of a few honest self-criticisms either, with the possibility existing that the sporting movement might be responsible for this dangerous disaffection due to an insistence on old approaches out of sync with people’s, and especially young people’s, aspirations. To give a crude example, picture taking a child between 8 and 10 to a sports club: the child will quickly be introduced to the notion of selection and watch as the most gifted children receive the most attention, the emphasis having been put more on effort than fun.
“We undoubtedly have to rethink how we welcome newcomers,” says Denis Masseglia, “placing the accent on fun and recreation, while slowly introducing young athletes to the idea of competition.” Ideally, the desire to compete should come from the youngsters themselves. Putting on his philosopher’s hat, Georges Vigarello concurs: “At a time when people are turning their backs on authority, it’s necessary to seduce them.”
One handball club has responded to that need by creating a leisure section destined for parents who want to learn more about the sport their child is playing. Other clubs have attempted to broaden their appeal by introducing new services. The French Athletics Federation, for example, has devised a system of personalised training, with instructors and coaches available to help out each licensed athlete for no extra cost.
At the global level, the IOC will be launching its first Youth Olympic Games this year. Held in Singapore, they will be open to young athletes between the ages of 15 and 18, an age group that, as some observers have commented, tends not to watch the Olympics on television and feels little connection with the Games.
Those holding the reins in global sport maintain that the goal of the Youth Olympic Games is to reaffirm and promote the Olympic ideal, and they insist that the educational and cultural dimensions of the new event will be just as central as sport itself. The idea, they say, is “to attract young athletes in a fun and festive way to Olympism and Olympic values”, the core values being excellence, friendship and respect.
As Gilbert Felli, Executive Director of the Olympic Games, puts it: “The Youth Olympic Games are more than a sporting event; they’re a festival bringing together youngsters from all over the world to learn about each other’s cultures, as well as the Olympic movement and Olympic values, in a modern and captivating environment.”
The Summer Youth Olympics
Around 3,600 athletes are expected to compete in Singapore between 14 and 26 August this year, when 26 sports will be contested – exactly as many as are planned for the 2012 Olympics in London. Education figures prominently in the programme too, with meetings, workshops, excursions, forums and both cultural and artistic activities scheduled to coincide with the main event, all organised around themes entitled ‘learn to know’, ‘learn to do’, ‘learn to be’ and ‘learn to live together’.
Devised as a kind of university campus, the Olympic village will serve as a venue for discussions with senior athletes from all over the world, who will explain to their younger counterparts how to carry themselves on and off the track. Likewise, a World Cultural Village with booths hosted by Singaporean students will promote the history and culture of all 205 of the nations represented. Performances will be given by local and international artists every evening as well, while naturally it will also be possible to dance to the rhythms of DJs from five continents.
Significantly, the athletes will reside in the village for the duration of the Games, in contrast to the traditional Olympic Games, when athletes leave as soon as they have finished competing. “The spirit of apprenticeship and sharing is an integral part of these Games,” adds Gilbert Felli. The athletes will thus get to experience the whole event from start to finish.
Trips have also been planned away from the village, with one such excursion designed to show the athletes Singapore. Another date on the calendar has been set aside for learning ‘how to motivate a team’, plus how to ‘build friendships’. Lastly, the young athletes can look forward to an adventure game on an island off the coast of Singapore.
The Olympic movement is clearly not willing to let its ties with young people be cut, whether in the short or long term. Though the danger of that happening may not be immediate – not yet, anyway – it is always better to act before it is too late. Prevention is always better than the cure, as the saying goes – and that old adage, supposedly the entire basis of Chinese medicine, has never been forgotten in Singapore.
