5/05/00
Active Australia?
Summary:
Twenty-five years ago, the "Life Be In It" campaign was launched in Australia. Norm, the average Australian sports-loving bloke, was urged to leave his armchair and his TV, and go fly a kite. The campaign generated, for the first time, huge public awareness of the importance of physical activity on health and well-being.
Neverthless, 41% of adult Australians still don't engage in any form of sport or physical activity. BRIAN DIXON, the founder of "Life Be In It", reflects on his campaign and on what needs to be done now to encourage inactive Australians to get active.
Plus, what's happening with sport and physical education in our schools? Is there still a crisis? JEFF EMMEL, from the Australian Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation discusses the pros and cons of compulsory school sport.
And we'll find out about an approach to teaching sport to children called "Game Sense". NICOLE DEN DUYN from the Australian Coaching Council, and IAN GREENER from the Victorian Soccer Federation, explain what they see as the benefits of this approach for getting children to play and enjoy sport.
Details or Transcript:
THEME
Amanda Smith: On The Sports Factor this week: How are Australians shaping up these days, when it comes to active involvement in sport and recreation?
Towards the end of last year, a report called 'Shaping Up' was published, a major review of the Federal Government's role in sport and recreation. And one of the key findings of the review was that too many of us are still physically inactive, and that more Commonwealth resources need to go into participation programs and campaigns. At the time of the release of the report, Ross Oakley, the Chairperson of the Review Task Force, spoke on The Sports Factor about the cost of too many Australians being inactive.
Ross Oakley: It's a huge concern, and we were told during our investigations and inquiry that if we could increase the level of activity in Australians by 10% that we would save $500-million a year in our health bill. Now, as a businessman, that's not a bad investment. For a government to spend maybe another $20-million to increase activity through all sorts of programs and promotion, to get a $500-million health bill saving is just sensational.
Amanda Smith: Now we're still waiting on a Federal Government response to that review and report, with no clear indication to date from the Minister for Sport's office as to when this might happen.
But talking about participation in sport and recreation, or the lack of it, amongst Australians, remember this?
TV AD: 'Life - Be in it!'
Norm: Wouldn't you know it? Here it is, it's Saturday, just look at that, I've got a flat on the FJ.
TV Good Fairy: Don't worry, Norm.
Norm: Who's that?
TV Good Fairy: It's me, the TV Good Fairy. You will get to the TAB today Norm.
Norm: How?
TV Good Fairy: You'll walk, son.
Norm: Walk?
TWINKLE OF MAGIC WAND
Norm: I'm standing!
TWINKLE OF MAGIC WAND
Norm: I'm walking. Ha ha!
SONG: Be in it today, live more of your life
Amanda Smith: Norm, the cartoon character of the 'Life be in it' campaign, the average Aussie sports-loving bloke, who in his unreconstructed phase liked nothing more than to 'warm the set and cool the tinnies'. 'Life be in it' was the brainchild of Brian Dixon, a former Australian Rules Football champion, who became the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation in Victoria under Dick Hamer's Liberal Government in 1973. 'Life be in it' began in Victoria in 1975, and then went national. And it was really the first time that we'd been made aware, through a high-profile public campaign, that we needed to get off the couch and go fly a kite.
Brian Dixon: It was glaringly obvious, through some surveys that had been done by the National Fitness Council and Bert Willie at Melbourne University in particular, that our children were unfit and that the general population was becoming more and more obese. So we decided that we really did need some sort of a motivation or awareness campaign, and we did a survey and research document and basically the message we discovered is that people would love to be fit, but they didn't want to do anything about it, they preferred to have social outings and to watch TV rather than undertake any sort of activity programs, and that applied to about 80% of the population. So we gave this information to MDA, the advertising agency, and Alex Stitt and Phillip Adams ...
Amanda Smith: Yes, Phillip Adams, my colleague here at Radio National was involved in that campaign.
Brian Dixon: He was, certainly. And they came up with I think an exceptional campaign called 'Life be in it' and the Department decided that it was very worthwhile, although strangely enough at the time a lot of the phys.ed. teachers that we tried the campaign on before we actually launched it publicly, thought it was a bit of a joke, and really didn't think it would have much impact, and thought the whole thing would be a waste of money.
Amanda Smith: Why was that, what were their objection's?
Brian Dixon: I think they felt that really the only way to get health benefits and fitness benefits was to undertake programs which were much more difficult than getting up off the armchair and turning off the telly, and of course such a short walk of six metres wouldn't do a lot for your health and fitness, but if that decided you having turned off the telly, to go and have a bit of a walk with friends, or the dog, or with the family, then that actually would have significant health benefits. We know today that people who are moderately physically active, that's 30 minutes a day three or four times a week, are eight times less likely to die than people who are inactive. So really we're on the right track.
Amanda Smith: Yes, you had in a way quite modest ambitions in what you wanted to get people to do, but you were, as you say, on the right track in terms of what we know now about just a small amount of activity each day makes a big difference.
Brian Dixon: Yes, absolutely. Anyway, MDA came up with this campaign and we put it to air, and really, within five minutes, people were talking about Norm, and people were talking about 'Life be in it', and we were also very fortunate that the Federal Government had a policy of community service announcements, so we got an enormous amount of TV time for free, and we budgeted to spend $1-million over five years, $200,000 a year, which was very, very modest. But because it was so successful in Victoria, Frank Stewart and the Federal Government, which was then opposing us politically, made recommendations that the whole thing should go national, and then the Liberal Party under Malcolm Fraser decided that it would carry on with that campaign and there was a budget for something like $1-million Australia-wide, and that did have, I believe, a significant impact on the minds of Australians, to understand that physical activity was really very good for you and that having stairs in a house wasn't an inconvenience, it was actually a big plus, because you got to do a bit of involuntary physical activity.
Amanda Smith: Well the 'Life be in it' campaign went national in 1977, and by 1979 I think 83% of all Australians were familiar with it, and by 1982 it was something like 94%. That surely must be one of the most prominent public awareness campaigns that's ever been conducted in Australia?
Brian Dixon: I think so, and I think also it's one of the highest rating, if not the highest rating campaign that's ever been conducted world-wide, because I belong to an organisation called The Trim And Fitness International Sport For All Association, which brings together 120 countries from all round the world, many of which have campaigns to encourage people to be fit and active, and I believe that the awareness level of the 'Life be in it' campaign hasn't been exceeded by any other campaign in the world. So that was a huge plus. And one of the surprising things, while I've got nothing against the Active Australia campaign, and I think it's a tremendous campaign ...
Amanda Smith: This is the current participation program of the Federal Government.
Brian Dixon: And millions of dollars are going into that Active Australia campaign, which is terrific, but at the same time, the awareness level of 'Life be in it' is still around 85%. The awareness of people for Active Australia is virtually zip! And it seems a bit of a tragedy that the name 'Life be in it' hasn't been supported by successive governments.
Amanda Smith: Well I'm interested to know your thoughts now, with the experience of the 'Life be in it' campaign as well as your ongoing involvement in international sports participation movements, in what you think motivates people to be physically active, because I think the dominant idea at the moment is that if we spend a lot of government money on elite sport, and on international sporting success, then this will produce a kind of trickle-down effect, that champions like Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe or whoever, will inspire us to want to jog or swim.
Brian Dixon: Well I think that that's true, I think that there is a trickle-down effect, but I think that the sort of trickle-up effect is more significant. Certainly from the point of view of Australia's economy and Australia's health. It's very important for people to have some physical activity, and that that can be done cumulatively. We used to think in the old days that you needed 30 minutes of continuous exercise; we've now discovered through scientific research that 10 minutes plus 10 minutes plus 10 minutes throughout the day will give you the same benefits as 30 minutes continuously. And the saving which has been estimated by the 'Shaping Up' report, chaired by Ross Oakley, is that if something like 10% more Australians became more active, then the savings to the National Health budget would be of the order of $500-million, which is not a bad dividend in anyone's terms.
But I think that people who decide that they would like to have some physical activity really do feel the benefits of it, and it's wonderful to see the way in which the private sector has taken up the challenge, all of the sort of aerobic classes, the recreation groups, the programs for the elderly, the programs for the disabled; local government has also taken it up as a major factor in their services to their community, so private sector and public sector programs are occurring, but we obviously have to do more, because we've still got 41% of Australians who are physically inactive, and that's diabolical for the health budget, and it's diabolical for the feelings of wellbeing, and it's diabolical for your old age, because if you have been physically inactive as you age, well then you feel far less well.
Amanda Smith: And yet the Australian Sports Commission in the current financial year is spending just 10% of its budget on participation programs, Brian, is that balance wrong: 90% on elite sport, 10% on community sport?
Brian Dixon: Well I think the balance is absolutely wrong. But what happened in Montreal in 1976 when Australia didn't win a gold medal, prompted the Federal Government to say, 'Well we've got to do something about this', and to do the Federal Government justice, we have set up an elite sports program which is the envy of most countries in the world. So the government is to be congratulated upon that.
Amanda Smith: But have we done that at the expense of the rest of us?
Brian Dixon: Well to an extent, yes. And it's going to be interesting after the Olympics, when all of the hoo-ha dies down, what's going to happen to the sport and recreation budget, and it may well be that the governments are going to have to look much more seriously at spending a higher proportion of the Australian Sports Commission budget on sport for all programs, there's no doubt about that.
Song: 'Life - Be In It!'
Rover appreciates a walk around the block;
Time for a picnic in the park;
Tick-tock, tick-tock;
Get up and go, have a throw;
Or go for a row;
Be in it today, live more of your life.
Amanda Smith: Still a very recognisable tune, isn't it, after all these years.
And that was Brian Dixon, the founder of 'Life be in it', which was launched as a public health and fitness campaign 25 years ago.
Now of course, most advocates of public health and fitness argue that the best way to achieve an active and healthy adult population is to begin with educating children.
SCHOOLCHILDREN YELLING AT A SCHOOL SPORTS DAY
Amanda Smith: In 1992, a Senate Inquiry into Physical Education in Schools found a 'decline in the quality and content of physical education' right around Australia'. This prompted a lot of efforts to increase the time that schools give to sport and physical education. And yet surveys are still suggesting that obesity levels in children are increasing, and fitness levels are decreasing.
Jeff Emmel, the Executive Director of the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, thinks there needs to be a radical shift in the way sport and phys.ed. are taught in primary schools.
Jeff Emmel: I have a very strong belief, and I've held it for some time, that we should be providing our specialist teaching and coaching in the primary schools, and that we shouldn't be relying unnecessarily and sometimes unfairly, on the teachers in primary schools to provide what young children need. Now if we were to transfer all of our specialists out of high schools into the primary schools and concentrate on three things: one, the provision of skills in a progressive way that really gives children the chance to not only learn the skills, but to practice them regularly, and to really build their confidence; two, it gives them a chance to develop their skills in that wonderful primary school environment that is so supportive and caring, and it's just a good environment. You get much greater support from parents than you will in a high school, it's just the right thing; and thirdly, that you can then make the links with the local clubs around the primary school, to try and add the extra support for young children in sport.
I believe if we could talk our specialists and talk our governments into re-thinking the way they provide for health, phys.ed. and sport teaching in our schools, we could actually revitalise the whole system, and I think we'd have a lot more young children coming out of primary schools with confidence, with skills, with commitment, and not just commitment to a particular sport, but a commitment to a more healthy lifestyle if you like, a broader sense of wanting to be involved in sport from a social, physical and even mental health point of view.
Amanda Smith: To what extent do you think that the way children experience sport and physical education at school influences the way they view physical activity and therefore health and fitness, their health and fitness, into adolescence and adulthood?
Jeff Emmel: I think the school experience and the school environment is absolutely critical, particularly in those early years. The school has a wonderful capacity to be able to promote those instincts of play in young children, and to gradually change behaviours in play into more organised and focused activities which in the end become sports. But you take a primary school: it's the centre of a child's life. I mean we know the family and peers are critical influences, but the role of the school in the early years is absolutely essential to the social, physical and mental development of children. I don't think we've yet tapped the best ways to do it in a phys.ed. and sport context.
Amanda Smith: Do you think that physical activity for children links to mental health as well as physical health?
Jeff Emmel: Yes, I do, and if we followed the research that we know about play, and socialisation, and learning to communicate, and learning to work in teams, physical education, physical activity, while it has health benefits (and we just don't want to consider only the health benefits here) it certainly has social benefits, it certainly has mental health benefits. There is evidence to suggest that depression is decreased as a result of regular involvement in physical activity, and certainly the social side of sport is absolutely critical. And that's why we shouldn't always be talking about sport for children in a competitive sense. There's another level that they can be involved that isn't highly competitive, which of course for some people can be the cause of mental health problems if it is too competitive.
Amanda Smith: Yes, yes, there are plenty of stories that we all have I suppose about being put off physical activity from our experiences in schools of competitive sport.
Jeff Emmel: Yes, that's true, and I think that's been one of the constraining factors that operates against children having a life long commitment to physical activity. There are many factors that operate against it, and some of those negative experiences may have been the wrong word at the wrong time in a period of a child's development, and the feeling of being put down. It happens to girls in particular through their pre-puberty years and into adolescence, where they have to deal with put-downs and their self-esteem and confidence as their bodies change has always been a factor in their own confidence and their capacity to participate. So yes, those sort of negative experiences have not been good. And the insensitive coach who may demand too much, the parent; we all know of the ugly parent, and we still have them. I mean that was an issue from the '70s where we really started to have a look at how we might control the ugly parent, but that still prevails, even though I believe it's much more controlled now, and I think sporting clubs and schools have been pretty strong in that regard.
Amanda Smith: Now there's also been reports over the last couple of years that for example, obesity is increasing among our children. Is there a link there with children not having enough encouragement or opportunity to engage in physical activity at school?
Jeff Emmel: Well I can tell you that the research that we have available now clearly shows an increasing trend in overweight and obesity in young people. There are some estimates that 1 in 10 Australian school-age children is certainly overweight and heading towards obesity. And we are concerned not only from the risk of disease point of view, but we're concerned because those children are the ones who'll drop out of physical activity quicker than others. And so it's a vicious circle for them. So while we're trying to keep them in and run programs to help them control their weight and to hopefully assist them not to lose too much confidence and self-esteem, on the other hand we know the health risks. So it's a pretty alarming area. If we follow the United States, Amanda, the trends there, I mean this sounds alarming, the trends there mean that if we kept going at their rate of increasing overweight and obesity in their whole society, we'd be heading towards a 90-something percent of our population by the year 2020. That's how alarming. Some cardiologists suggest that it's on the verge of epidemic proportions. Now I'm not an alarmist, I'm an optimist, and I would hope that we could do something about that, and I believe that we can provide the environments in Australia to do something about it.
Amanda Smith: Now you mention there's long been concerns expressed over the drop-out rate of teenagers from physical activity, particularly adolescent girls. A lot of people have looked into the various reasons for this, but are there any inroads actually been made into reversing the trend?
Jeff Emmel: There are some researchers around who are trying to do more in this area, but it's an area we must be vigilant about all of the time; we can't just assume because we did a couple of great studies in the 1980s and we pushed the issues of girls in sport, we can't just assume that the participation rates are going to get to the levels we'd like them to. But the good news is in sports like soccer, girls' participation is just increasing all the time. It's a sport that girls seem to be taking up with great enthusiasm, and that's a great sign.
Amanda Smith: Jeff Emmel, from the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, based in Adelaide.
Now, one of the ways of teaching sport to children that's been developed in Australia over the past couple of years, is an approach called 'Game Sense'. The theory behind this approach is that it's more encouraging, it's more motivating, and it's more fun for children. But what exactly is 'Game Sense'?
Nicole den Duyn is a sport education consultant with the Australian Coaching Council in Canberra.
Nicole den Duyn: Well 'Game Sense' is an approach to teaching and coaching that really emphasises the tactical aspects of a number of games and a number of sports. So we're talking about deception and decision-making, spatial awareness, those sorts of concepts, trying to actually teach those to kids at a young age, through the use of games, and an approach that we've called 'Game Sense' that really tries to encourage the development of those sorts of skills.
Amanda Smith: What problem in the teaching of sport to children is this approach trying to solve?
Nicole den Duyn: Well I guess it's trying to improve some of those skills in kids. A lot of people have talked for a long time with elite athletes, some people think, 'Oh they're just naturally good decision makers, or they know when to take a risky shot' or whatever, and what we've always talked about is, well maybe that can actually be taught, maybe that's not just something that some people have naturally, and we can teach that to kids at a younger age. So we've looked at I guess, trying to use games and trying to use I guess the naturally fun side of sport that kids really want to be involved with, to try and achieve a number of different aims.
Amanda Smith: So how do you do that?
Nicole den Duyn: Well I guess it's an approach that a lot of teachers and coaches would have been using for a long, long time, and it's about modifying the games and using a lot of questions and challenges to the kids, to really try and make them think for themselves. So rather than an approach where the kids rock in and they just do a very kind of technique-centred thing, and you know, 20 passes here, and we'll do this drill here, what we're trying to do is set up an environment where the kids are really learning for themselves, having to experience a whole bunch of different situations and make decisions. And I suppose, as people have already said, 'How do you get a good decision-maker?' well, get them to make lots and lots of decisions, and by using games and putting it in the context of what they would really face in a real-life game, it actually encourages the kids to try and use those sorts of skills.
Amanda Smith: And is the idea that this is less likely to turn children off playing sport?
Nicole den Duyn: Yes. Well that's very true, and I think that's a problem that we're always seeking to address. Obviously the Coaching Council's looking at things like having good coaches out there, and that's why we do a lot of the programs that we do to train and educate coaches, to make them I guess more skilled to deal with kids and make the kids have a more fun experience. But I think that's one of the benefits of using a 'Game Sense' approach, is that hopefully kids are being turned on by sport and not turned off, that they're having a fun time getting to do lots of different things, different games, finding out what their strengths may be, and for some kids who may be aren't as good, they might not be as fast or as strong or whatever, as other kids, but they may be better strategic thinkers, and we've done some work with some disability groups as well, trying to incorporate some of these sort of strategic approaches with them, with kids with a disability. And you know, just because they haven't got the physical skills all of them are pretty sneaky little thinkers actually, and some of the tactics that they come up with are pretty neat. So it does I think, turn kids on in that way. They find out they might be good at the thinking side of it, as opposed to the physical side.
Amanda Smith: How though do you gauge its success as a way of teaching sport to children?
Nicole den Duyn: I think a lot of that is anecdotal evidence. We probably don't have any scientific facts to say 'Yes, kids are having a much better time now that they're using 'Game Sense''. But the response that we've had from teachers and coaches who are using the approach have said 'Yes, we're finding that kids in our classes, or our teams, are enjoying this sort of approach'. The coaches themselves are enjoying it, because they're more challenged by having to sort of think up these games and questions and challenges and all that sort of thing, so it really sparks the coaches and teachers to really think about what they're doing as well. So I suppose on two sides we've had a lot of anecdotal evidence from people saying 'Yes', they think it works, they think it's a great idea and want to keep using it.
Amanda Smith: Nicole den Duyn, from the Australian Coaching Council.
And someone who coaches children using 'Game Sense' is Ian Greener, who's the Manager of Coaching and Development at the Victorian Soccer Federation. Although his own background in soccer emphasised technique and drills, Ian Greener has adopted this problem-solving approach.
Ian Greener: I break it down to where, when and how, that's my style. For example, the coaches will tell kids where to kick the ball. What I would say to them is for them to freeze-frame the activities, look around and instead of me as the coach saying 'You must kick the ball across there', then I'll say to the kids, 'OK, you kicked it that way, but where else could you have kicked the ball?' and give them the opportunity to look at the situation, look at it in a relaxed state where there's nothing much happening, but they can start looking around and making the choices.
Amanda Smith: Do girls in particular respond better to a 'Game Sense' approach in learning to play soccer than the sort of technique approach, or the more traditional approaches to coaching?
Ian Greener: Based on the experience which I've had, certainly in primary schools the girls are taking on board a lot easier. Some of the boys tend to be 'Oh, we don't need to be told, we know what to do'. The girls like to investigate and like to come back with all kinds of questions and answers, so I'd say Yes, that the girls, based on the primary school programs that we run, are certainly very, very keen on the 'Game Sense' approach.
Amanda Smith: So do children who are coached using a 'Game Sense' approach develop a different attitude to sport, and in this case to soccer?
Ian Greener: I would hope so. I would hope it's an attitude that anybody can play the game of soccer. Sometimes we tend to get a little bit of an elite kind of attitude, and when you're looking at the technique-based programs, the only kids who are going to get success from the technique programs are those who can actually do the techniques. So you'll find that a lot of the children get a bit frustrated when you just focus on technique. Technique in the 'Game Sense', there's not just one answer; we're looking at different ways of coming to the answer, and that's the attraction where you've got different levels of children can compete within a 'Game Sense' focus. Whereas on a technique-based program you'll find that the better kids will dominate, and the ones who aren't particularly gifted from a technical point of view can get a little bit frustrated and a little bit turned off the game.
Amanda Smith: Does that mean though that using 'Game Sense' children don't really learn the technique?
Ian Greener: Oh no, no. 'Game Sense' still involves technique work, but it's a matter of looking at the end result, and then the coach making a decision as to, instead of trying to change the technique of the young child, may be giving them some sort of alternative to that kind of activity. So certainly technique can be taught and is taught, and from my background I'm still very much keen on technique programs, but it's certainly not the whole point of the game.
Amanda Smith: Ian Greener, from the Victorian Soccer Federation, and his 'Game Sense' approach to teaching soccer for children.
Well that's The Sports Factor for now. Michael Shirrefs is the producer, and I'm Amanda Smith. Have a good weekend. Go for a jog ... go walk the dog ... and join me next week.
SONG: 'Life - Be In It!'
Guests on this program:
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Brian Dixon Founder of the 'Life - Be In It! campaign, former Minister for Youth, Sport & Recreation in Victoria and former VFL footballer. |
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Jeff Emmel Executive Director of the Australian Council For Health, Physical Education and Recreation. |
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Nicole Den Duyn Sport Education Consultant with the Australian Coaching Council in Canberra. |
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Ian Greener Manager of Coaching and Development at the Victorian Soccer Federation. |
Musical Items:
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Life - Be In It! (TV ad campaign music) Time to Air: 0830-0900 Artist: Peter Best Composer: Peter Best |
Presenter:
Amanda Smith
Producer:
Michael Shirrefs
©1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation