Some days ago I really found it useful co-ordinating a discussion where a number of our top people and associations in sports took part. Instead of making long speeches and boring the people present, I listened carefully to what they had to say about the problems they face and how we can solve them. There was a general agreement that sports should be given top priority in our country so that we introduce a culture of sports for all as this helps us to be more healthy, physically and mentally.
In his introduction, Dr Kiril Micallef Stafrace, who is an expert in sports medicine explained how obesity has become a serious problem in our country and is causing lots of diseases such as heart attacks, diabetes and high blood pressure. Dr Micallef Stafrace said that sports help children to build and improve their self-esteem.
Dr Micallef Stafrace said that health problems have increased in Malta and Gozo as we are living a more sedentary life and lots of people are spending most of their time sitting to watch television, to play video games, to use their computer, using lifts instead of walking up steps and taking the car whenever they need to go somewhere, even a short distance.
He said that we are spending millions of euros on healthcare trying to repair the damage after it has happened, instead of preventing diseases by leading a healthier lifestyle. Dr Micallef Stafrace said that sports activities in our country are starved of money and resources and it is only thanks to the generosity of spirit and deep commitment of many volunteers that sports survives in Malta and Gozo.
In the discussion that followed the education system was mentioned by nearly everybody as the main culprit for the lack of sports participation in our country. A person who was born and brought up in Australia talked about the shock he had going to school in Malta and finding that there were only 45 minutes allotted to sports every week while in Australia schools devoted six hours a week to sports. Many local educators and parents consider sports a waste of time.
All the people present also mentioned the lack of sports facilities in our towns and villages and the lack of open spaces where children can play safely. I could feel a bitter sense of frustration in most of the participants saying that they have heard the same arguments over the years and politicians and policy makers have moved very slowly and haphazardly to address the factors constraining sports in our country. Many promises are made, especially at election time, and then nothing or very little happens.
Some of the participants said that government should help more by encouraging investment in sports through fiscal incentives and make better use of public funds and European Union funds to mobilise the private sector to develop and run more sports facilities in public private partnerships. A mayor stressed that the law should be changed to enable local councils to assist sports associations and individuals in their locality. More sports facilities needed to be developed and designed in such a way to make them accessible and affordable not only for the local population but also for sports tourism, taking advantage of our climate to attract sports organizations to train in Malta and Gozo during their harsh winters.
In a short closing speech I shared with them the vast programme we had in the Labour government 1996 to 1998 when, as sports minister, I transferred a lot of public property to many sports organizations around Malta and Gozo so that they could be in a better position to carry out their sports activities with children and young people.
I also made the point that we need to change the conditions binding sports associations in the use of this public property so that they can make better use of bank loans and make it possible for business people to involve themselves in developing and running sports facilities.
I believe that we should invest much more in sports as this is the best way to prevent lots of diseases and mental illness in our country. We should also stop thinking of sports as being relevant only for children and young people. We need to spread a culture that encourages people of all ages to participate actively in sports.
We need to change our education system, make education less stressful for our students; also by devoting more time for sports both during and outside formal school hours and we need to invest more in school sports facilities. We can have general management agreements between schools, local councils and sports associations to make much better use of the sports facilities we have in our state schools