Sport England, the government organization that invests £100M ($153M) a year in grassroots sport, is to pour an extra £24M ($37M) into a program "designed to get teenagers and young adults involved in new sports," according to Owen Gibson of the London GUARDIAN. The Sportivate scheme, part of a wider attempt to deliver on promises to use the £9.3B ($14.2B) invested in hosting the London Olympics, "is designed to help teenagers and young people find a sport that is right for them." The additional investment, which comes from the National Lottery, will allow Sport England to top up the £8M ($12.2M) already announced over the next two years to £10M ($15.3M) per year and extend the scheme for a further two years to '17. It said that 190,000 14-25-year-olds "had already benefited from free or discounted six- to eight-week sports courses in a wide range of activities." The government claims that "Sport England's strategy, and recent figures showing an uplift in the number of adults playing sport at least once a week, demonstrate that its investment is paying off" (GUARDIAN, 4/9).
