By Owen Lewis, Sport Wales Director of Sport Systems
Wales stands at a once-in-a-generation moment: the chance to become a true cultural and sporting powerhouse. With the call for evidence phase of the Welsh Government’s new strategy open until 18 December, we all have a powerful opportunity to shape what that ambition means in practice—and to champion the transformative role of sport and physical activity in improving lives across the nation.
We believe that sport and physical activity are national assets with untapped potential. They can help prevent ill health, improve children’s life chances, strengthen communities, support economic prosperity and enhance Wales’s national identity and international profile. We will be taking this opportunity to share, as part of the call for evidence, the steps and changes we believe are needed to realise this full potential.
At the heart of our approach is an ambition we want Welsh Government to embrace: By 2037, every child will be active for life, so that they and Wales can fulfil their potential.
We are in regular contact with those coordinating the Welsh Government’s call for evidence and are using every available opportunity to communicate our key points at this crucial stage. Our views are strong and informed by evidence and insight, and we will be calling for changes to how we operate, how sport is viewed across Government and the level of resource invested in it.
We will, of course, submit our own official response to the call for evidence, and we encourage all partners to do the same. It is important that Government sees the range of perspectives and the breadth of potential across our sector. We will also speak with a range of Government Ministers and officials, partners and others across the sport and wider sectors, bringing together our evidence, expertise and relationships to help inform Government’s thinking.
Over the coming weeks, we will share the themes of our intended response with all funded partners. We are doing this to be transparent about what we are calling for and our ambition for the future. For partners who are less experienced or resourced in submitting consultation responses, we hope that it may provide helpful structure for your own.
We are not looking to consult on a collective response; we are calling on all partners to submit individually to the call for evidence. We firmly believe that no single organisation or sector can make Wales a sporting powerhouse on their own. We will be looking to identify shared evidence, experience and priorities to strengthen a collective case.
Sport Wales Relationship Managers will be in touch over the coming weeks to share and discuss the themes of our response and explore any shared evidence and priorities. In the meantime, we encourage everyone to:
- Think about what you want to be different by 2037. What is working that should be protected or accelerated; what continues to get in the way; what Government could do differently; and what might the sector need to do differently together.
- Gather evidence and examples from your own work that demonstrate what is working, where the challenges remain and what could make the biggest difference.
- Take opportunities to contribute — through Welsh Government engagement and Sport Wales conversations through your relationship manager during October and November.