Summer is here so it’s a great time to get out and about as a family, getting active together in the sunshine.

Most children do have an appetite for sport, but new research by Nestle as part of the ‘Go Free’ sports campaign shows that too many of them are still not getting enough exercise. Over a quarter of children in the UK still get less than the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day.

In addition, with the current economic climate putting the squeeze on finances, the poll has also found that seven out of ten parents say the economic downturn means they can’t spend as much on keeping their kids active this summer.

So what can we do to make sure kids are still getting into sports this summer without breaking the family bank account?

Olympic gold medallist decathlete Daley Thompson joins us in the studio for a live web chat to help tell us how with Nestle Go Free we can enjoy a range of fun, family activities for free this summer…. .

As it is a live webchat you’ll be able to submit all your questions to our special guest, so log-on and find out how to get the kids – and you – enjoying sport together for free this summer!

For more information visit www.nestle-gofree.co.uk

H: Lis Speight, host

D: Daley Thompson, Olympic decathlete

N: Nilani Sritharan, Nestle nutritionist

H: Hello and welcome to the Sport and Leisure show, I’m Lis Speight.  Now, summer is here despite what the weather tells us, and it no doubt conjures up happy memories of being outdoors as a child playing sport in the glorious sunshine.   But there’s a black cloud forming on the horizon for millions of children this summer with the current economic climate putting the squeeze on finances, a new poll has also found that seven out of ten parents say the economic downturn means they can’t spend as much on keeping their kids active this summer. So here with some tips to make sure kids are getting sporty this summer, I’m delighted to say that we’re joined by Olympic decathlete Daley Thompson, welcome along Daley, great to see you today

D: Hi Lis

H: And also Nestle nutritionist Nilani Sritharan, welcome along Nilani, great to see you both today.  Now Daley, let’s start off by talking a little bit about your career.  I have to say you were a little bit of a hero in our household when we were growing up, you were like Superman, on the Olympics, sports – 10 sports - you always seemed to be doing so much more than everybody else.  You won a Gold in the ’84 and the 1980 Olympics, fantastic stuff.  What was your training like back then?  It must have been a nightmare!

D: No to be honest it was all part of the fun of it, back in the day when I was actually doing it it used to be a 6-8 hours a day, 7 days a week, 350 days a year

H: Wow, that’s a lot of commitment isn’t it? 

D: Well it’s just like going to work to be honest

H: Yes

D: Bit more fun I like to think

H: Yes, you obviously enjoyed it

D: It’s like having a full time job

H: Yes.  Now we’ve had some questions in already actually and Dave Gallagher said “do you still keep yourself fit?  What is your current exercise regime?”

D: Yes I go to the gym, or go out to the park probably 5 days a week, and nowadays I kind of stop as soon as I start getting sweaty or I start breathing heavily!

H: Ok so you’re obviously still quite fit then.  You’ve got 5 children, I don’t know how on earth you found the time for them – but are they quite sporty?

D: Not really, I mean

H: No

D: Take – two of my kids are in bands, another one is – likes messing around on the computer, and the two littlest ones well they’re not into that much trouble yet

H: No.  They’ll get there I’m sure!  Did you have quite a sporty childhood though, did your parents sort of encourage you to get into sport?

D: No they wanted me to be a bit more academic, but all kids, I suspect, have got things that they like to do, and mine just happened to be you know, I wanted to play football all day, or be running

H: Yes ok.  Now Nilani I’m bringing you in here, Daley obviously had quite a sporty upbringing – how important is it, sport for children?

N: I think it’s really important, in terms of getting the balance right in between both good nutrition and getting active, sports is fantastic.  It’s also something that kids can really enjoy, and rather than feeling like they’re doing activity, they’re actually just having fun as well which is so important I think – wouldn’t you agree?

D: No for sure

H: Got a question in on that actually from Sophie Allen, she says “hi Daley –

D: Hi Sophie

H: “do you encourage a particular diet for kids?  Mine are 7 and 9 and both are not as active as they should be.  I’m looking to change this – any tips?”

D: Well firstly I think that one of the great things that she can do is to actually spend some time playing with her kids

H: Yes

D: Because I think that’s, you know pretty easy to do, and also it’s not difficult to find a bit of time, but in terms of diet I think that we do, in our family, do anything religiously but what we do tend to do is try and have a fairly well-balanced diet in terms of vegetables, meat, fish and fruit, and you know just mix it up, and we have once or twice a week we have a day where we splurge and we maybe have chips or the stuff that’s not quite so good for you

H: Yes, so everyone needs a treat now and again don’t they?

D: Yes I think you’re right, I think if you try and make it too difficult then it’s too hard and you’re going to fall by the wayside and not be able to keep it up, but if you can make it fun and you know treat yourself once in a while I think you’re much more likely to be able to continue with it

H: Yes, we’ve had a question in from Lee in Chesterfield and he said “Daley what was the best sporting advice you were given when yo9u were growing up, and did you take any notice of it?”

D: Lee the best sporting advice I ever had, I think was the fact that every time you go into a competition you’re going to make a statement about yourself, so what do you want the statement to be?

H: Yes.  Wow.  And you made a lot of big statements didn’t you?

D: I tried to, you know I think that you know that’s your showcase and people are going to remember you for that, and I tried to you know do as well as I could

H: You were a real character out there weren’t you which was what we loved, we liked to see you on the telly. But not everyone can do 10 sports like you can they, so – I know  - this recent survey that was done by Nestle actually showed that swimming, football and dancing were the most popular sports, not really sports dancing, for kids to do – not everyone’s got so much money knocking around these days have they?  How can we get kids involved without spending too much money over the summer?

D: Well actually Nestle have come up with this great initiative of which I’m an ambassador, and it’s called Go Free, and basically you either collect some confectionery wrappers like Smarties or Milky Way, or you can get some cereal tops ,and you can get a sports experience for just a couple of wrappers, and as you said you can either do tennis or golf or football or swimming or ice skating, or if you want to, if you’ve got 6 or 7 wrappers you’ll be able to get an experience like quad biking or surfing

H: Yes

D: And it’s all for free.  I think Nestle are hoping that it’s going to, hopefully, get parents to do stuff with kids because I think again parents these days are time precious, they don’t have a lot of spare time

H: Yes.  Quite often both parents are working these days

D: Yes

H: Which wasn’t necessarily the case when we were growing up was it?

D: Exactly, and with money being a bit tighter Nestle are offering this opportunity where you combine the two and hopefully not cost you anything

H: And maybe do something a bit different as well if you’ve not done one of those sports before.  I mean who knows, you could be really good at surfing but you’ve never had a go at it

D: Sure, and dance and gymnastics and all that kind of stuff.   I think there are, I think at the moment we’ve got 10 or 12 sports and we’re hoping to expand it.  But I think you’re right, I think mostly kids are out there playing football or whatever, which is great fun but I actually think there’s maybe, there’s a whole universe of sports out there that they might equally enjoy

H: Yes ok.  But it doesn’t have to cost money though does it?  I mean the summer’s not always brilliant is it, the weather, but you could get out there on the playing field can’t you with a rounders kit and –

D: You see that – I spend, I try and do two or three times a week try and take two or three of my kids out, and we go out there and we climb trees and we run around and you know we play chase, and you know all that kind of stuff – it’s very, very basic, but you know we have a good time – well I have a good time –

H: Yes.  But adults and kids need good food for keeping that sort of energy levels up, I mean kids they have energy, I don’t know where they get it from, but what sort of food should they be eating Nilani, kind of to stay sporty, stay healthy, and have lots of energy?

N: Essentially it’s still just as important to have a healthy diet

H: Yes

N: And that’s probably the most fundamental thing. The other thing that’s really important during sport is hydration, because dehydration can really lead to fatigue, effect your mental ability to really think, you know clearly I suppose, but definitely healthy eating is one of the most important things, so plan your day, think about snacks, make sure the kids have got something to snack on when they finish their activity, fruit is a great one because it’s so portable, easy to grab, cereal bars is another, milk or a fruity yogurt would be a great one as well

H: Yes

N: So you know there are a number of other options, just really the important thing is plan the day, think about health without a doubt and hydration being the really key one

H: Yes.  Do you think kids have too much sugar in their diet these days?

N: I think there’s an assumption that kids have too much sugar in their diet.  In fact what you actually look at is the inactivity that’s really crept in if you like

H: Right. So you need to be able to keep a balance

N: Absolutely, absolutely, and this is why this is such a great initiative, because it’s actually – you just continue to eat the Nestle foods that you love, and you only have to collect even just one voucher in many cases, from confectionery, from your cereal bars, from even water, and you can go free which is a fantastic thing

H: That’s brilliant. And if you’ve got lots of kids you just have to eat a bit more don’t you?

N: Yes

H: We’ve had a question in from Phil Davis, he said “hi can you recommend an activity that I can enjoy with my two younger sons and daughter, all aged between 7 and 11.”  It’s a little bit difficult mixing the sexes sometimes, because not all girls like football although some do.  I know my little girl loves football, she’s only 2 I would never have thought of that, so Daley can you think of anything that would appeal to kids that age?

D: Yes I mean Phil I would personally I would take the kids down the local climbing wall or something like that, or maybe ice skating

H: Yes

D: Because they’re great fun activities, and as I say if you do it with Go Free it doesn’t cost anything and I think that you know, it’s just great that Phil’s actually out there thinking about it, because I do think that a lot of sports are quite family orientated

H: Yes that’s right, and I know that this Nestle survey actually showed that a lot of mums don’t get involved, although the dads do, but then maybe the mums are driving all the kids round all the different clubs, so it’s important for mums to get involved as well you say?

D: Well I – I think that if the kids see that mum and dad are playing a real active part in the healthy outlook of the family I think the kids take it in much more and they take it much more seriously

H: Yes good role models

N: Yes absolutely, completely agree, yes.  But also mums may just want to get together.  I mean sometimes mums drop the kids off at the nursery or school and find they’ve got a little bit of time.  If you can club together with another mum and get out there and do something together, sometimes that helps as well

H: It encourages you doesn’t it?

D: Bit of walking and stuff yes

H: Bit of incentive to get you out there.  Right we’ve had lots of your questions in actually so keep them coming.  Eric Davidson said “hi Daley.  My little boy whose 6 loves watching sports but he’s smaller than his peers and often feels inhibited when it comes to playing football or the like. Can you recommend any sports he could get into to help grow his confidence?”  Well he’ll probably grow as well won’t he?

D: Yes he certainly will.  But I mean I guess you probably looking at something like gymnastics or diving, but I don’t think, even though he’s small it shouldn’t preclude him from learning some more skill based things.  You know, even take things like table tennis and archery, and that kind of stuff.  There’s probably nothing he can’t do, and by the – when he grows up and he’s already got the skills he’ll be better than all his mates

H: Exactly!  And football is often what boys concentrate on because it is free, and you can get out there with your mates, but if you use these Nestle tokens he can go and try different things and he might find something that he really likes that isn’t football and he can say football sucks to all his mates can’t he?  So what are the benefits of sport for children would you say?  Is it good for self esteem, good for –

D: Yes I think you’re right it teaches you the difference between aggression and assertion, it’s great for your confidence, it helps you with team building, it helps you with you know – learn the difference, and this is probably the most important lesson, between winning and losing and that sometimes –

H: You don’t always win, yes, yes

D: Exactly.  And one of the things about school these days is that they try and isolate kids from the difference between winning and losing and –

H: Everyone’s a winner and it’s not always healthy is it?

D: Yes from a personal point of view, I don’t think it is

N: And I think in terms of starting early, I mean it really helps that habit track into later life which is fantastic

H: Yes

N: And also weight bearing activity is great for bone health, so there are a number of other benefits as well as absolutely the confidence and psychological aspect which I  think are really important too

H: So Nilani do you think if you start sport when you’re young that you’re likely to carry it through, and what sorts of benefits would that have to you in later life?

N: I think the research suggests that that is the case, but that doesn’t mean to say that if you didn’t start young you shouldn’t get involved

H: No

N: Absolutely not, I think I would say, you know if you want to get involved go for it, you know it’s really important to start at any point in your life, but certainly yes I do agree that children who tend to be encouraged to be more active when they’re younger tend to keep on that activity into later life

H: It’s sort of a habit of a lifetime

N: Yes exactly

H: Building up good, healthy habits when you’re a youngster sees you through doesn’t it?  Now dancing seems to be quite a popular exercise, especially for girls I guess because of programs like Strictly Come Dancing.  Do you think boys will get involved in that as well Daley or –

D: If they’re smart boys they’ll get involved in it because then you’ve got girls around!  To be honest I think a lot of the kids, particularly from in the city, a lot of the boys, they’ll like dancing –

H: Yes

D: Because it’s all part of the culture isn’t it?

N: Yes, well I used to dance as a child as well so it’s very much part of my –

D: Hope you’re still dancing now?

N: Yes, yes, not quite so much

H: And that’s something parents can really get involved with isn’t it, sort of have Friday disco evening or something because we all like a bit of a dance as well don’t we?

N: Yes exactly

D: If they’re playing ‘80s music –

H: I’m going to a party at the weekend actually, I’m hoping that they’re going to have ‘80s music there because it’s about the only exercise I get, a bit of dancing now and again. Now we’ve got the Olympics coming up in London, 2012, Daley do you think that’s going to encourage more kids into sport?

D: Well I think one of the things about having the Olympics is that it shouldn’t just be about the two or three weeks that the games is on

H: No

D: I think the big opportunity is to literally be able to change the health of the nation and get sport and participation right up in the forefront of people’s thinking and I think if we don’t do that then we’ve missed a trick and I believe that the biggest thing that London 2012 can do is to get kids interested in sport and their own health

H: Yes. And so something like the Nestle campaign is good because it again, it encourages kids into sport and we’re going to see the Olympiads of the future hopefully because –

D: Yes.  I think at some point we will, but in all honesty I think this is much more about participation, trying to have fun, as you say get the habits of a lifetime and you know if we’re lucky enough that some young 10, 11 or 12 year old kids has gone through this and found a sport that he loves

H: That he would maybe never have tried before –

D: Badminton or something, and comes out at the other end, that’s really great.  But this is really more about participation and just healthy living

H: Yes.  And sport is enjoyable isn’t it?  I mean we bang on don’t we about kids not being active enough, but it’s great fun isn’t it?  I mean what do you get out of it?

D: I think you’re right, I mean I love, I love the feeling of feeling healthy

H: Yes

D: I love being with my friends and people of a similar outlook, and I just like winning!

H: Just likes winning, well that’s just as well you were so good then isn’t it or you’d have given up long ago!  Now we were talking earlier Daley about how some of your kids, they like their X Box or their computer consoles or what have you, and this research by Nestle actually showed that one in five kids spends an hour on the computer every day and 11% spend two or more hours a day – so how do you drag them away from that and get them out doing some sport, doing something a bit more active?

D: From my own point of view I suspect one of my boys is a two hour plus man on his computer, and it’s a question of education to be honest, you know I let him do this if he does this for me, and I try and find things that I know he’s going to enjoy so we started doing a little bit of biking and that kind of stuff, to get him out and he seems to be reacting well to it

H: Bit of bribery then

D: Yes I think so

H: And then they enjoy it when they get out there don’t they?

D: Yes I think they do and it’s also the same with one whose slightly older, whose 17 at the moment, he’s started to come to the gym with me just in the last couple of months, and it’s been off his own back and I’m really happy –

H: Really happy yes

D: That he’s actually taking a bit of interest just in himself, but I think it’s because he wants to look nice for the ladies

H: Well that’s it if they can see results then as kids get a bit older they get a bit more conscious don’t they about building up a bit of muscle.  There we go.  Had some more questions in actually.  Michelle said, what was your favourite decathlon event?

D: My favourite decathlon event was the last little bit when you get off on the rostrum and the bloke gives you the medal, because you’ve obviously done a good job by the end of it!  The pole vault I think because that normally settled it.  Usually if you did well in the pole vault you know where your finishing position is going to be

H: That’s got to be tough that pole vault, I mean I always wondered how on earth they do that, it’s incredible

D: Well it’s like anything when you first start, for the first couple of years when you’re learning to pole vault you don’t look like –

H: It’s scary!

D: Yes you don’t look anything like you see the people on telly, and it’s just the kind of natural progression, you start very low and you’ll work up

H: And you’ll build up.  And what was your sort of most hated event, or the one that you were worst at that you dreaded?

D: There was none I dreaded to be honest, but there was some I wasn’t so good at and probably my, the one I wasn’t so good at was the 1500 and I like to think that the reason for that is that Seb Coe or Steve Cram, they were fantastic, the best in the world, they weighed 8 ½ or 9 stone and I was 15

H: That’s it because you’ve got to have – be good at everything –

D: And better looking of course

H: Haven’t you?  Well obviously, goes without saying, but you’ve got to be, you’ve got to have incredible stamina haven’t you for that, because you’ve got to do 10 events.  How do you keep your stamina up, I mean that’s amazing?

D: It comes from practice, you know because a lot of people think oh it must be so hard, but the thing is when you go training and you pretend you’re throwing the shot put, in a day you might do 50 or 60 throws but in the competition it’s only 3, so it’s not –

H: Not quite as much no

D: Yes it’s more intense but it’s not as tiring, it’s a much more of a mental game, trying to keep up, trying to keep pushing yourself to do 100% performance, you know 3, 4, 5 or 6 times in the day then it is a physical thing

H: Yes trying to keep your mental, keep you in the zone kind of thing.  So Beijing Olympics coming up, do you really still follow all the –

D: Yes I’m still following it, I mean quite avidly and I think – I think we’ll do ok, I think we’ve hit the bottom of the cycle of the last two or three years and I think we’re actually getting a bit better now.  I think we had one guy whose a triple jumper

H: Yes

D: Whose probably the best in the world, Philips Idowu, I think he’s a definite medal I would have thought

H: Yes fingers crossed.  Don’t jinx him

D: I won’t.  He’s got no chance!  There’s two girls in the 400, and they got, they got gold and silver in the world championships last year, so they’ve obviously got great potential, we’ve got a girl Kelly Sutherton in the heptathlon, and I’m sure one of our relays will do us proud

H: Yes.  But how often do you get an athlete like you coming along, I mean the decathlon, it’s – we don’t really hear of it any more now you’re not in it!

D: I like to think never!  Just the once

H: To be an all-rounder like you is – I mean it’s almost more special isn’t it than –

D: Oh I think so

H: Well I would say it is – well I’m building up his ego now, but you know it’s kind of more of a difficult thing I would have thought to be –

D: Well I think, I think one of the difficulties these days is because sport is becoming more and more serious, there are less and less personalities involved

H: Yes

D: And the thing about 20 years ago is that you can see people on telly and you kind of decide whether you like them or not

H: Yes yes

D: And you had an emotion about them.  Some people don’t like you but they’re still happy to turn the telly on, and watch, whereas today because everybody’s much more kind of robotic

H: Yes, it’s much more serious isn’t it

D: You haven’t got any feelings for them so you don’t, you can’t be bothered to turn the telly on and watch it

H: No that’s true isn’t it, whereas you were always a good character

D: Yes I like to think so

H: Ok we’re almost out of time actually.  Before we go just some top tips Nilani quickly on how to keep your kids active, how to keep their diet active?

N:  How to keep your kids active, well I think the Nestle promotion’s a great example of it, you just need to collect one token in many cases, sometimes 3 wrappers for confectionery, and you can go free, you go on an activity, try something new, why not, I think that’s a great example of you know it doesn’t need to cost you anything, try something new.  In terms of healthy eating I would say think about snacks that are going to keep your energy going for a bit longer, so something with perhaps some wholegrain in it, some fibre, fruit, something like that I would say.  Snacks and sort of confectionery can be an occasional treat and keep it that way

H: Ok.  And Daley before we go, any tips on how to get your kids away from the games console and out in this lovely sunshine?

D: I think it’s all down to bribery!

H: Good bribery!

D: Good bribery!

H: Ok you heard it here first!  Well thanks very much to ~Daley and Nilani for coming in, it’s been really interesting stuff.  All we need now is some nice weather so we can get out there and enjoy all these fantastic sports.  And do take part in the Go Free campaign because it really is worthwhile and if you want some more information you can go to the website which is www.nestle-gofree.co.uk.  Well we hope that Daley and Nilani have given you some inspiration to get out there and get sporty, well thanks very much for watching and we’ll see you next time.  Bye bye

Still got a question or comment?

Name

Your question Question

Enter code