With seven sports on the shortlist for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics Games, the International Golf Federation (IGF) set out its bid to the IOC last week with the youth-engagement work of the UK Golf Foundation a central topic of discussion.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has said consistently since the 2004 Games in Athens that the IOC is looking to do everything possible to open up the Olympic Games to young people, and the ability of a prospective Olympic sport to make a younger generation passionate about sport is believed to be a crucial factor for selection.
The IGF, alongside the representatives of the six other sports competing to fill two Olympic slots, gave a presentation last Friday at IOC headquarters in Lausanne stressing the importance of the work of the UK Golf Foundation. The nationwide Foundation has developed initiatives to encourage young people to learn and practice basic golf skills to promote psychological and physical benefits associated with improvement, personal achievement and life-long participation in sport.
“All of the member federations are making significant progress to attract youth,” Ty Votaw, executive director of the IGF Olympic Golf Committee and PGA Tour executive, told BritSport Weekly.
“The UK Golf Foundation has exposed golf to hundreds and thousands of children in the UK. There are examples of both in amateur and professional golf that people are dedicated to it and it is a growing sport.”
The Golf Foundation - founded over 50 years ago and based in Hertfordshire – was formed to tackle the problem of falling participation levels in golf and diminishing playing standards by promoting golf activity in schools. The Foundation is a public-funded charity and supports the national golf partnerships of England, Scotland and Wales in their work to increase golf access for youngsters.
One of the current Foundation initiatives is a scheme in support of England Golf’s ‘Whole Sport Plan for Golf’: a strategy of introducing golf to schools and then linking those schools to golf clubs. Government figures released last month show that the number of schools delivering golf has increased to 38 per cent. This marks the number of schools delivering golf doubling from 19 per cent in four years, making golf second only to cycling in terms of the fastest growing sport measured by the survey.
With rugby and roller sports also providing attractive youth-engaging proposals at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, IGF representatives believe golf now has an ever-growing attraction to a wide-ranging age range, helped enormously at the lower end by the Foundation’s work.
“[Golf] continues to grow with new initiatives being implemented all over the world to teach the game to both young and old,” added Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A and joint secretary of the IGF.
Mike Round, chief executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “In these challenging economic times and in a period that has witnessed decreasing golf club membership, latest government figures testify to the real progress of the Golf Foundation’s work in developing golf in schools and forming links between schools and golf clubs and driving ranges.
“Linking this to golf's desire to become an Olympic sport in 2016, I believe that we're demonstrating that golf is committed to the development of young people - as golfers and as members of society - and how golf is trying very hard to modernise and become accessible to all,” he added. “Also, our emphasis on promoting positive life skills - based on golf's emphasis on ‘etiquette’ - and the positive messages promoted by the Olympic movement.”
The IGF will submit its response to a detailed questionnaire in March 2009 that will constitute a formal and technical bid, with the final IOC vote taking place in October 2009.
