we are still not spending anything like the 5GDP on sport/recreation as other EU countries. if we are serious about tackling obesity then we have to make time for children to participate in exercise/sport. that means the PE gas to be sacrosanct and become a higher priority in schools. all too often PE is dropped when the pressure is on in schools. in addition a greater emphasis has to be given to encouraging parents & children to exercise together. after-scholl classes for both parent/child would increase the likliehood of success in maintining participation in sport.

I am a member of the local rugby club, i help raise money for my club, yet we are constantly told that we have to involve the club as a whole, this i dont have a problem with, but our junior section continuously bail out our senior section, we sponsor games and give donations for one thing or another for our senior team yet when fund raising comes up we are shouted down, we dont care where r money goes so long as its back into the club. as a junior member we have a lot of support but should we be called down for trying to help the club via junior funds.

I think its great to incourage youths and teenagers to take part in sport, keep fit and interact with one another. But I hope the government realises that not all young people like and enjoy doing sports! I can remember being in school years ago and dreading the days we had to do football or rugby because I really didnt enjoy it. There were days when it would rain and we'd still have to do football and id stand there freezing and I hated every second of it! I certainly didnt enjoy rugby and having guys twice my size rugby tackling me. I still dont really have any interest in sports now and im 25. Granted Ive never been unfit and needed to watch my health, but even if a person does we need to make sure we're not pressuring them into something activities they dont like or enjoy! There is a huge stigma in schools the ever boy should do football and be obsessed with football and if you feel weird if you dont enjoy it. We need alot more choices in schools with sports and not to just stick certain groups, with set activities. Let them choose what sports to do, whether it be football, rugby, basketball, cricket or badmington or long distance or weight lifting! To force kids to just do one or two things can lead to them hating physical education!

I can say with pride as a Sports Facilities Manager within local Government for over 25 years,that under the Labour council following recent funding from the Lottery we now have a magnificent new state of the art sports facilities in our town, which had historically been Tory,who in the past had on one vote removed ,sold off a fantastic venue ,following years of typical Tory management which basically means spend nothing on nowt then it will have to close , invest on nothing as they always do unless you are the well off and priviledged well done New Labour keep up the good work ,at least you have the drive for excellence ,the Olympics are a dream come true . nothing like this for years you should all be proud of the chance to have this event and the efforts by all involved

I coach disabled children voluntary I've spent the last twelve months fighting for funding, my funding has gone from zero to me having to pay to get equipment myself. All these millions seem to go to elite sports and not to grass roots where it's needed. never mind in the end Labour will do what it always does, claim to have made people fitter healthier and into sport when in fact nothing has changed.

I am a Table Tennis Coach but find that facilities at schools are charged at rates that make it too expensive for the youngsters even though my time is provided free of charge. Surely some of the funding could be given to allow willing sportsclub coaches to use facilities in shools. I agree that just providing the equipment without good teaching (Coaching) will not get the required results.

I like the way misguided people think that if you give people sport it will "turn their lives around". I live in a relatively deprived area, and yet we have a leisure centre where you can do the lot, swim, football, tennis, cricket, rugby, squash, dance, basketball, netball, skubadiving. And yet I live in one of the worst areas in the country concerning youth crime and yobs hanging out in the streets. It's a simple fact that you can't just fight crime by sticking a leisure centre in there, you're going to need to fight it. You're going to need policemen with tasers and the latest satellite tracking technology to catch it, not just give kids the change to play a bit of footie. The sooner people learn that these yobs have plenty to do, but just simply do not respect the law, the sooner we can start rebuilding the damage they have done.

Clearly "sticking a leisure centre in" won't work, but that's not the idea of the investment. I think if facilities targeting youngsters with nothing to do, for instance, football courts in close proximity and clubs that actively engage young people by finding members can make a difference. It's not the answer, but it's one of many things that can make communities better.

spend the money on cleaning the streets of drunken yobs instead,re-housing the homeless,fixing our schools instaed of closing them who asked for olympics anyway i didnt and gordon brown who voted him prime minister did you did anyone no.if there was a party who did care about england labour would be out but there all the same tax this tax that.

I think sports facilities can be the answer to safer streets ... getting kids occupied in stuff that engages them means they're less likely to have nothing to do. Extra-curricular sport also helps with schooling and means youngsters will be more willing to commit to their education when they know they will be rewarded.

Exactly Peter

all this talk about the olympics wasting millions of pounds gordon brown stands harsh against prison officers who risk there lives every day while ppl get paid thousands to kick a football about some government labour are

Yes great idea - 5 hours of sport a week, per kid - it used to be called P.E. and was a lot cheaper.

PE was hell... I've just left school and let me tell you, two hours a week was enough. You can't just play a game of football, oh no... there are targets and grades to think about, so they grade you on your performance and stuff. I don't see what was wrong with just enjoying sport, instead now you worry about what level you're going to get at the end of the match.

2.4 billion seems like alot - we better be winning a lot of gold medals at the Olypics thanks to this investment!! Who says you can't buy success hey?!

As the Chair of an independent charitable Community Sports Trust for 6 years, that was associated with a League One and now Championship football club, I have seen first hand the incredible positive impact that sport has on young people. This is particularly true with regard to raising aspirations and giving young people access to some excellent positive role models. I believe we need to ensure that investment in local community facilities, e.g. adequate changing rooms suitable for young people on recreation grounds is coupled with support for voluntary clubs and organisations. However I also believe that the arts and cultural sector can have a similarly positive impact. I am Chair of a local Creative Partnerships organisation, funding by the Arts Council, which is also doing amazing work in schools to engender creativity and raise aspirations. Check out www.creative-partnerships.com/

all this investment in sport is making the arts really suffer. The funding for musical teaching in schools is becoming depressing,third world countries (venezuela) are putting us to shame. Giving instruments for free in the favelas. Although, my cousin has just started althletics through his state funded club and is enjoying it tremendousy hoping he will be at London 2012. So the sports investment is needed but not at the expense of the arts....

In my school, music was not a very popular option at GCSE. There were about 15 people taking it. There were loads of people taking PE (I was NOT one of them).

Protecting the arts is important - but from what I've seen sports is better value and appeals to a wider audience.

I've seen how sport can turn the lives of kids around. One of my kids friends fell into hanging around with the wrong crowd and it was only her football practice that gave her life structure and disapline. Simply locking up kids isn't going to solve a...thing - we need to invest in sport and youth clubs so that they actually have something TO DO. If hanging around on a street corner was the highlight of your weekend wouldn't you look for a bit of adventure? The truth is we all - as a community - benefit from this kind of investment. We must look at the bigger picture.

Your right locking kids up is not the answer to all our problems but you might have heard the odd isolated story about sport helping the odd kid out of a loal but i really do not believe you can make the argument that 100,000,000 on sports is going to have mass impact on crime levels in this country. What do you thinks going to happen. Do think kids are going to leave their gangs in the ghetto and swap their knifes for badminton rackets.

I actually agree with Lilly... if there was something for "kids" to do then things would change. I'm not saying it has to be sports, it could be anything. When I look around my area, I see a lot of potential in the "kids" that hang around... some are really good at fixing up cars and stuff, some can rap (not my favourite genre but they are good at what they do) etc. Oh, and I resent being labelled a knife-carrying, gang member just because I'm a teenager

Sorry michael you mis understand me. I was in know way genralising about all teenage kids. i am however saying that it would not reach those kids in any mass way that are in that category and to say it would is just pure nievity.

In a world of famine, war, Kids shooting each other, fundermentalists that want nothing more than are complete annihilation, who cares about investment in sport.