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Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson was interviewed on stage as she stepped down from her role as ukactive chair
People now recognise what we do as a sector and that has been a big change
Grey-Thompson. The paralympic legend spent more than six years in the role, having been appointed in early 2015.
She has been instrumental in raising the national profile of sport and physical activity and, perhaps more importantly, promoting the sector’s role and importance in delivering preventative healthcare.
Her leadership was also seen as instrumental in supporting the sector through the pandemic and to help its survival and recovery, as well as plotting the course for its development.
When asked how the sport, fitness and physical activity sector had changed during her near-seven year tenure, Dame Tanni said: “The sector has matured. We now have a seat at the table – at the highest level.
“Also, what I saw during the pandemic was that, in its darkest time, the sector came together. And we can’t lose that.
We developed a central voice and that’s great because as a sector, we’re incredibly powerful if we work together. People
now recognise what we do as a sector and that has been a big change.”
According to Dame Tanni, there are now better, stronger ties between the different sector organisations, such as ukactive, Sport England, Sport and Recreation Alliance, CIMSPA and the Youth Sport Trust.
She also described how the relationship between the sector and the government has changed.
“They now have to listen to us,” Dame Tanni said, adding that the sector was now in a “good place”. She was also confident that the incoming chair, former NHS chief Mike Farrar, who will begin
his tenure as ukactive chair in August, will further improve and expand the relationships within departments.
“Mike, I’m sure, can unlock doors to new relationships, including one with the Department of Health which would’ve taken me a lot longer to do,” Dame
Tanni said. “So the relationships are only going to get better and stronger.” ●
28 SPORTSNATION.ORG.UK JUL/AUG 2022
CONFERENCE PICS: © ACTIVE UPRISING / DARREN HARVEY PHOTOGRAPHY