RECREATIONAL AND
SPORTS PROGRAMMES
In line with its mission 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.
In 2016-17, we organised around 38 000 recreational and sports activities for about 2 214 000 participants of all ages and abilities, at a total cost of around $160 million. Major events and territory-wide projects organised by the department included the Hong Kong Games, Sport For All Day, and the Healthy Exercise for All Campaign.
Every year, the LCSD runs the Healthy Exercise for All Campaign in conjunction with the Department of Health. The campaign includes a series of community activities held across Hong Kong's 18 districts, including fitness programmes for children, people with disabilities and the elderly, hiking and quality walking (QualiWalk) schemes, Dance for Health programmes, and rope-skipping activities. This year, over 80 000 participants took part in the 1 400 different activities.
Under the campaign, a free exhibition panel loan service was made available to local organisations. This helped these different organisations organise and promote events to encourage different sectors of the community to embrace a sporting culture and a healthy lifestyle.
In addition, we disseminated information on health education and physical exercise in the form of DVDs, leaflets and booklets. The information was also placed on a purpose-built website (www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/healthy).
To promote Sport for All in the community, Sport For All Day (SFAD) 2016 was held on August 7. The theme of SFAD 2016 was 'Scale New Heights', and its catchy slogan was Stay Active, Scale New Heights. The event aimed to encourage good habits of regular exercise, and to rally support for Hong Kong athletes taking part in international sports competitions.
On SFAD 2016, most of the department's leisure and sports facilities were open for free use by individual members of the public. A wide range of free programmes were also organised at designated sports centres in the 18 districts. More than 35 800 people enjoyed the free programmes, while over 200 000 people used the sports facilities free of charge.
The Corporate Games is a major multi-sport event held every two years, specifically for employees of local public and private sector organisations. Its goal is to encourage regular exercise among these workers, while also promoting team spirit and fostering a sense of belonging to an organisation.
The Corporate Games 2016 was held from February to November 2016 at various recreational venues throughout Hong Kong. Over 9 000 people from 233 organisations took part in its 11 sports competitions.
The Masters Games, held biennially, has as its aim to inspire people aged 35 or above to maintain their physical and mental health by competing against individuals of a similar age. The Masters Games 2016 was held from July to December 2016 and attracted 4 815 competitors in six events: tai chi, tennis, table tennis, swimming, badminton and distance run.
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 2016-17, 41 NSAs organised 8 180 sports activities under the SSP in which around 611 800 school students participated.
The School Sports Programme Coordinator Pilot Scheme, jointly organised with the Home Affairs Bureau and co-organised by the Education Bureau and the Hong Kong Sports Institute, was 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. 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.
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.
The project gives CSCs both 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 CSC leaders. A total of 30 NSAs and around 430 CSCs have now joined the CSC Project. In 2016-17, about 2 350 CSC programmes were organised for some 51 000 participants.
Each of the 18 districts has their own football, basketball, handball and fencing teams, with support from the respective NSAs. In 2016-17, a total of 9 567 people were enrolled in these district teams, and took part in 255 training activities and inter-district competitions throughout the year.
The main goals of the Young Athletes Training Scheme (YATS) are to enhance the sports training available for young people, and to identify promising young sporting talent in Hong Kong. Under the scheme, young athletes with 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 2016-17, the scheme attracted 30 255 participants, who took part in 906 activities in 30 sports disciplines. In total 352 talented young athletes were identified by NSAs and offered further training.
The iconic Cheung Chau Bun Carnival, held from April 24 to May 15, 2016, attracted many thousands of local and overseas visitors. More than 8 500 members of the public participated in the many events organised for the carnival. Training was given to those participants involved in climbing the bun tower. The department also oversaw the selection of finalists for the Bun Scrambling Competition, and the Climbing Carnival.
