I was nervous of sports. Even the ones I enjoyed, like netball, I wasn't very good at and was therefore not a great asset to any team. My parents were also not confident to participate in sports and neither of them could swim so couldn't teach me. I didn't learn to swim until I was in my late 30's.
We paid for our children to have intensive swimming courses during the Easter holidays and they are both very strong swimmers. My son still organises and plays five-a-side football with his work colleagues, goes to the gym (which is in the basement of his workplace) some lunchtimes and has recently taken up distance running. my daughter is not at all sporty but walks a lot and remains slim.
The most important thing is to keep active - whether it is through non-competitive things like dance, jogging, aerobics, walking, tai chi, etc., or through team sports. I think the emphasis on competition often puts off people who are never going to be first class athletes or valuable team members and I think as Ana said, to some extent, the Olympics created unrealistic expectations. This obsession with competition has, I think, prevented people taking up all sorts of hobbies and activities because, increasingly, nothing is seen as being done for pleasure but always with a view to being better than someone else or in order to improve employment prospects. That is why so many adult education classes have been cut, with priority given to those relating to employment.
It is a shame that those people who lead particularly stressed lives and who might benefit the most from de-stressing with a swim or a run are perhaps the least likely to have the time or energy to be more physically active. In my view, unless we call a halt to the growing number of unnecessary and unnatural anti-social shifts that people are increasingly having to do - and allow families more time together - physical and mental health will suffer.
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