To promote Sport for All and encourage people of different age groups and levels of ability to lead active and healthy lives, the LCSD organises a wide range of recreational and sports activities for different target groups. These include district-based sports training courses, competitions, and recreational activities. Major events and territory-wide projects include the Hong Kong Games, Sport For All Day, and the Healthy Exercise for All Campaign.
In 2015-16, we organised around 38 000 recreational and sports activities for more than 2 495 000 participants of all ages and abilities, at a total cost of around $157.6 million.
Healthy Exercise for All Campaign
Stimulating public interest in sport and encouraging a healthy lifestyle through regular participation in sports and physical activities are two of the department's key missions.
The LCSD has been running the Healthy Exercise for All Campaign in conjunction with the Department of Health since 2000. Among the community activities organised in Hong Kong's 18 districts in 2015-16 as part of this campaign were a series of fitness programmes for children, people with disabilities and the elderly, hiking and quality walking (QualiWalk) schemes, Dance for Health programmes, and rope-skipping activities.
The department also organised a variety of activities to raise awareness of the campaign. They included a series of roving exhibitions held in shopping malls, schools, youth centres, elderly centres, residential clubhouses, LCSD holiday camps, parks, sports centres, and public libraries. The response was encouraging, with over 80 000 participants taking part in 1 500 activities in 2015-16. The department also enlisted the support of 24 local sports celebrities as Healthy Exercise Ambassadors. In addition, information relating to health education and physical exercise was disseminated in the form of DVDs, leaflets and booklets, and also placed on a purpose-built website.
Sport For All Day 2015
To promote Sport for All in the community, Sport For All Day (SFAD) 2015 was held on August 2. It adopted 'Fitness for Health' as its main theme, under the slogan 'Stay Active, Stay Healthy'. SFAD 2015 encouraged members of the public to exercise regularly and incorporate simple physical activities into their daily lives, for a better and more healthy lifestyle.
Most of the department's leisure and sports facilities were open for free use by individual members of the public on the day of the event. In addition, a wide range of free programmes were organised at designated sports centres in the 18 districts.
Over 220 000 people took part in SFAD 2015, with more than 31 800 people enjoying the free programmes and over 191 000 people using the sports facilities free of charge.
School Sports Programme
The School Sports Programme (SSP) is organised by various National Sports Associations (NSAs), and coordinated and subvented by the LCSD in collaboration with the Education Bureau. This programme aims to increase the opportunities available for students to participate in sport regularly, to raise sporting standards among students, to identify sporting talents for further training, and more generally to foster a sporting culture on school campuses.
The SSP covers seven subsidiary programmes and schemes: the Sport Education Programme, the Easy Sport Programme, the Outreach Coaching Programme, the Sport Captain Programme, the Joint Schools Sports Training Programme, the Badges Award Scheme, and the Sports Award Scheme. In 2015-16, 41 NSAs organised 8 138 sports activities under the SSP for about 611 500 participants.
Launched in September 2012, the three-year School Sports Programme Coordinator Pilot Scheme, as jointly organised with the Home Affairs Bureau and co-organised by the Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Sports Institute, was smoothly completed in the 2014-15 school year. The comprehensive review that followed confirmed that the scheme had achieved its intended outcomes of promoting a sporting culture on school campuses and providing a platform by which retired athletes could facilitate career planning and development. In view of the positive feedback received from the schools, students and retired athletes that took part, the scheme is now being implemented from 2015-16 to 2017-18, while the school quota has been increased from 15 to 23 to enable more students and retired athletes to benefit from the scheme.
Community Sports Club Project
The Community Sports Club (CSC) Project aims to broaden the base of sports development in Hong Kong, and improve sporting standards at the community level. The project also aims to promote and strengthen youth sports development, encourage lifelong participation in sports, and attract sports volunteers.
Under the project, CSCs get technical and financial support for organising sports development programmes. In addition, seminars, training courses and workshops are arranged to improve the management skills and technical knowledge of club leaders. A total of 30 NSAs and around 430 CSCs have now joined the CSC Project. In 2015-16, about 2 350 CSC programmes were organised for some 51 000 participants.
District Sports Teams Training Scheme
The 18 districts formed their own football, basketball, handball and fencing teams with support from the respective NSAs. In 2015-16, a total of 10 426 people enrolled in these district teams, taking part in 265 training activities and inter-district competitions throughout the year.
Young Athletes Training Scheme
The main goals of the Young Athletes Training Scheme (YATS) are to enhance sports training for young people, and to identify young sporting talent. Young athletes who show potential have the chance to be selected for further training by the NSAs. The best may be selected for national squads, and get the opportunity to take part in international competitions.
In 2015-16, the scheme attracted 30 327 participants, who took part in 906 activities in 30 sports disciplines, while 345 talented young athletes were identified by NSAs and offered further training.
Bun Carnival 2015
The Cheung Chau Bun Carnival, held from May 3 to 25, 2015, attracted many thousands of local and overseas visitors. More than 6 000 members of the public participated in the many events, including training for bun tower climbing, selection of finalists for the Bun Scrambling Competition, and the Climbing Carnival. Unfortunately, the Bun Scrambling Competition scheduled for May 25 had to be cancelled due to inclement weather.
