Enquiry question: How does the policies of sports in the society affects Hong Kong people?

A. Problem Definition
In order to raise the awareness of sports habits among Hong Kong people, the
government has implemented different policies to promote the culture of Sport for All, for
example, Sport for All day. Sports for All refers to creating opportunities and favourable
environment to enable all people to participate freely in sports, regardless of gender, age,
ability, socio-economic status or ethnicity.

It is observed that most Hong Kong people do not have enough exercise.
Lack of exercise can have bad impacts, for example, overweight and obesity.
Moreover, a research has found that insufficient exercise can cause a higher chance
of suffering from breast cancer1. The impacts of insufficient exercise may have been
recognised by most people in the society. However, most people are not willing to
have exercise for different reasons. It shows that it is necessary for the government
to promote sports in the society. As a result, the expenditure of government on
community sports is increasing over time2.

Despite that the government promotes the culture of Sports for All, the
policies may not be effective. As most Hong Kong people are busy at work, they can
only spare a little, or even no time on sports. Also influencing by the tradition thinking
of that people playing sports cannot have a bright future, people in the society are
not willing to play sports. The younger generation prefer spending most time on
studying to increase their competitiveness in the future.

The importance of sports should be aware by all people in Hong Kong.

However, few people play sports regularly. Therefore, in this enquiry, the aim is to
evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility and the coverage of the government policies on
promoting the culture of Sport for All and to suggest appropriate means to improve
the sports culture in Hong Kong.
Focus questions

1. What is the factor affecting Hong Kong people’s willingness of playing sports?
2. What is the existing policies that encourage people to play sports?
3. Evaluate the effectiveness of government policies in affecting the sports
habit of Hong Kong citizens.
4. The suggestions to enhance the culture of sports.

Methodology

Second-hand data

Facts and statisics will be collected from official research. The effectiveness of
the policies will be evaluated based on news and reports. Questionaires will be
given to different people to collect different opinions.
 B. Relevant Concepts and Knowledge/ Facts/ Data

Sufficient sports

National Association of Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and US Center

for Disease Control (USCDC)/US Department of Health and Human Services
(USDHHS) recommends:

for children, engaging in five days a week of at least 60 minutes (accumulated) of

age-appropriate and developmental appropriate physical activity (recommended to
be of moderate to vigorous intensity);

for adolescents, engaging in at least three days a week of physical activity that last
at least 20 minutes at a time that require moderate to vigorous intensity of exertion;
and

for adults aged 20 or above, engaging in moderately intense physical activity for at
least five times a week and for at least 30 minutes (accumulated) per day.3

Work-life balance

Work-life balance refers to the balance between work and other aspects of life, such as family, leisure, sports and

social activities. Nowadays, Hong Kong people put a lot of time on their academy or work, which makes their life

imbalance. This creates pressure on them. Excess pressure can make them perform badly, have negative emotion.

Playing sports, as a way to release their pressure can help them achieve a good work life balance, relax and think

positively.
The possible harms of insufficient sports and benefits of doing sports

Coronary Heart Disease, strokes, high blood pressure, breathlessness, flabby

body, little energy, stiff joints, osteoporosis, poor posture, overweight are possible
harms to the individual.1 On the other hand, having enough exercise can increase
our productivity as our body is healthier. Also, one can make friends with other
through sports.

Existing policies or scheme

Community Sports Club Programmes

Organised by non-profit-making community sports clubs throughout Hong Kong, the
Community Sports Club Programmes form a partnership scheme co-organised by
the LCSD and national sports associations. Developing life-long, community level
participation, the Programmes are offered in a wide range of sports.

Healthy Exercise for All Campaign

The LCSD and the Department of Health have co-organised the Healthy Exercise for
All Campaign since 2000. With the slogan of “Daily exercise keeps us fit, people of
all ages can do it”, the Campaign aims at encouraging the general public to
participate regularly in sports and physical activities to stay healthy.
The Campaign includes recreational and sports activities for different target groups,
such as fitness programmes for children, the elderly and persons with disabilities;
“Hiking Scheme”, “QualiWalk Scheme”, “Dance for Health” and “Rope Skipping for
Fun”, which help encourage people of all ages to exercise daily for good health and
lead a healthy life style.

Factors affecting willingness of HK people to play sports

The factors affecting HK people's willingness will be evaluated in following aspects:

Time management: whether most people in HK have extra time or can spare time to play sports.

Facilities: The quality of sports facilitie

Ability: whether the facilities are user-friendly to people with different age groups or ability.

1
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/features/health/healthyliving/exerciserisk.shtml
Accessibility: whether citizens in HK can access the sports facilities easily, for example, booking of sportsground,

sufficiency of sports facilities of specific sports.

Effectiveness of government policies

The effectiveness of government policies will be evaluated in the following aspects:

Coverage: the government policies should benefit a wide range of people, for example, elderly, disabled.

They should encourage most of the people in HK to play sports, so that improve their sports

awareness.