Rutherford Joins Asda To Get Britain Moving
Asda has joined up with Olympic gold medallist Greg Rutherford to present new research from the supermarket, which reveals that parents believe the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has had a positive effect on primary school children across Britain to do more sport.
Of the 2,000 parents that were surveyed, 53% felt inspired to encourage their child to take part in sport following London 2012 with 34% encouraging their child to do more sport and 20% encouraging their child to take up sport altogether.
Despite the positive results, parents do have some concerns about the access primary school children have to sport. With the one year anniversary of London 2012 less than two weeks away, the research highlights that 72% of parents think more sport should be made available to primary school children.
To help deliver on the ‘Inspire a Generation’ promises laid out as part of the bid, Asda this year launched Asda Active, designed to ‘Get Britain Moving’ by encouraging families in local communities to get healthy and active.
The programme, fronted by London 2012 long jump champion Greg Rutherford, was developed in partnership with Asda’s own focus group panel of 5,000 Asda Mums at the end of 2012 who said they were worried about the access their children had to physical activity, particularly at primary school level.
Tim Scott, Asda community projects manager, said: ‘We are passionate about supporting our communities and the Asda Active programme plays a major role in helping us to do this. We are determined that the Olympic spirit lives on post 2012 and want to support parents across Britain by providing access to sport for their children.’
‘Our research showed that 76% of parents thought ambassadors had an important role to play in the legacy of London 2012 and we are delighted to have an Olympic Champion in Greg on board to turbo-charge engagement within the community and advise us on the programme.’
As an Asda Active ambassador, Greg will encourage youngsters to get active both at school and in the community. As well as attending events, Greg will draw on his own experiences of growing up with sport to get parents and school children excited about getting active.
Speaking about his involvement with Asda Active Greg added: ‘It’s vital that we do as much as we can to build on the success and excitement of last year’s Games. Asda Active gives families a great opportunity to access sporting opportunities in their area and it’s great to see so many people already getting involved.’
‘For me and others involved in London 2012, it’s a source of great pride to know that children felt inspired by the efforts of Team GB to do more sport. We can’t let this enthusiasm go to waste by not providing enough sporting opportunities for them to take advantage of, and the commitment of companies such as Asda is vital to help us satisfy the demand.’
As part of the Asda Active campaign, Asda is partnering with Sports Leaders UK, a charity that awards young people with nationally recognised qualifications that give them the skills and motivation to create and run sporting activities in the community.
This summer, qualified Sports Leaders will deliver 400 free sports days in primary schools across Britain, aimed to harness the spirit of London 2012 and provide young people with a chance to improve their lives by getting active.
In 2013, more than 150,000 young people will take part in Sports Leaders UK courses and use the skills they develop to inspire another 750,000 in their local communities with the support of local Asda stores and national ambassador Greg Rutherford.
This year Asda has also signed up 50 regional ambassadors as part of an ongoing partnership with the charity SportsAid to help the next generation of sporting talent. Since 2008, Asda has provided funding to more than 2,000 SportsAid athletes to help them on their sporting pathway. These regional ambassadors will attend events and help to promote the Asda Active initiatives in their local communities.
