TCSF Trustee Phil Lomax, welcomes the launch of the new Community Sports Foundation

In life, positive experiences reinforce our behaviours and negative experiences lead us to avoid them. That is why for young people, early positive experience of sport and recreation is so important. It can lead to a lifetime of healthy activity, friendship and enjoyment. The Community Sports Foundation aims to provide every child and young person we work with, with the opportunity to experience sport and recreation in a positive way. The Government's report 'Game Plan' states that key components for the provision of positive sporting experiences for young people are:

• Suitable facilities;
• Trained staff; and
• Well structured programmes.

The Foundation aims to provide all of these.

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated the vital importance of healthy active lifestyles to the physical development of children. They have also demonstrated the positive influences that sports participation can have on behaviour. No less an authority than the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) states in its public health guidance that:

"Physical activity is important for children and young people's health and wellbeing and contributes to their physical, social, emotional and psychological development."

As a leisure professional and as a sports coach, I have seen for myself the power of sport to transform lives, from building confidence in individuals to bringing whole communities together. That is why I am delighted to be a Trustee of the new Community Sports Foundation which aims to spread the benefits of sport to every individual and every community - even those that are hardest to each.