Figures released from Sport Wales today show that nearly 47% of young people across the county are keeping active and taking part in sporting activities – an increase of 6.9 per cent compared to 40% in 2013.
There’s been a huge increase in the number of girls taking part in sporting activity three or more times a week currently at 42.9% compared to 34.5% in 2013.
Carmarthenshire is up on the national average of youngsters participating in extra curricular sporting activities by over one per cent. Sporting club memberships in youngsters is also higher than the national average by over two per cent.
The survey also showed that almost half of children in Wales (48%) are participating in sport three or more times a week.
The council’s executive board for leisure, Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “It’s encouraging to see that so many of our young people in Carmarthenshire are taking part in sport and more importantly enjoying it.
“It’s fantastic to see that there’s been such a dramatic increase in the number of girls taking part in sport and I’d like to congratulate our sport and leisure team for the hard work they put in to encourage as many young people to become more active, more often and the figures certainly reflect this.”
The new figures, which form part of a survey of over 116,000 Welsh school children making it the biggest survey of children carried out in the UK to date, show an increase in sports participation across the board with significant increases being reported for those pupils less likely to be hooked.
Education Executive Board Member Cllr Gareth Jones said: “These figures are really encouraging, it is good news that more young people in Carmarthenshire are now enjoying sport.
“What is particularly pleasing is the high number of girls who are participating in sport now, compared to recent years.
“Our sports and leisure officers work well in partnership with schools to encourage more youngsters to take part in sport, the benefits are widely known, not only does it help them to become more fit and active, but it also encourages teamwork and develops leadership skills.
“Congratulations to all concerned on these results, clearly there is always more that can be done, and I am confident that we will continue to make good progress in this area.”
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