### 1. Increasing sport opportunities for children at schools and in local communities

## Policy Goal

Towards the enrichment of sport opportunities for children, improving sport environments so that all children can enjoy sport at schools and in local communities.

As a result of such measures, the aim is to sustain and stabilize an upward trend in children's physical strength over the coming five years, so that they can surpass the level in the late 1980s within a decade.

## (1) Promotion of policies for improving children’s physical strength from an early age

• Establish improvement cycles for initiatives to raise physical strength based upon the National Survey on Physical Strength and Athletic Performance

• Promote nationwide awareness through initiatives and research based upon the Early Childhood Exercise Guideline

## (2) Enrichment of physical education activities at school

• Enrich instructional environments by dispatching physical education teachers and specialists called Coordinators for Physical Education Activities in Elementary School and other efforts

• Enrich teaching skills and facilities for the new compulsory subject of martial arts, Budo

• Promote advanced approaches such as joint sport clubs among schools and sport clubs that conduct different sports every season, etc.

• Promote cooperation between schools and specialists from local medical institutions and provide training opportunities for safety improvement

• Promote progressive approaches concerning effective teaching methods for students with disabilities in elementary, junior high and high school

## (3) Improvement of sport environments surrounding children

• Promote provision of sport opportunities for children at Comprehensive Community Sport Clubs and the Junior Sports Clubs in response to the bipolarization trend seen in children’s participation in sport

• Promote outdoor activities, sport and recreational activities as opportunities for enjoying exercise

### 2. Promotion of sport activities in line with the life stages – such as increased sport opportunities for the young and support for the physical fitness of the elderly

## Policy Goal

In order to promote sport activities at each life stage, promoting the improvement of environments to realize a life-long sport society where everyone can safely enjoy sport whenever, wherever and for however long they want, in accordance with their physical strength, age, skill, interest and purpose.

Through such measures, the aim is to achieve as early as possible a society in which two out of three adults (about 65%) engage in sport once or more a week and one out of three adults (about 30%) engage in sport three or more times weekly.

In addition, with due consideration to people for whom it is difficult to engage in sport due to factors such as the state of their health, the aim is to reduce the number of adults who do not engage in any sport (do not play any sport in a one-year period) to close to zero.

## (1) Promotion of sport activities in line with the life stages

• Implement investigative research and other efforts to grasp the actual situation surrounding sport activities in line with the life stages

• Establish guidelines providing benchmarks for amounts of desirable daily exercise by age, gender and other categories

• Promote research and development of manuals and sport equipment to host people with disabilities at community sport facilities

• Promote Sport Volunteering through the introduction of actual cases and other efforts

• Improve sport opportunities by promoting sport tourism that offers opportunities to enjoy various sports while traveling

## (2) Ensuring safety in sport

• Promote epidemiological research in sport medicine and science to grasp actual situation pertaining to nationwide sport accidents, injuries, impediments, etc. and develop ways to prevent such occurrences

• Promote training opportunities and other initiatives for instructors and other specialists to acquire the latest knowledge on accidents, injuries, impediments, etc. for sport instructors

• Disseminate information and promote awareness for the installation and use of AED