“Seeing sport as a problem solver would be a good New Year’s resolution”

In view of the ongoing negotiations about the creation of a federal government, the federal sports organization Sport Austria emphasizes the importance of organized sport: Sport and exercise are health and economic engines and can therefore contribute to solving economic problems.

Sport Austria President Hans Niessl: “There is a lot of media reporting about the economic situation and whether there will be an austerity package or not. That’s why it’s important to recognize the economic importance of sport. Investing in sport will, on the one hand, combat the crisis and, on the other hand, create the opportunity for Austrians to do more sport. Anyone who is concerned about escalating costs in the health sector must consider sport and exercise as a basis for maintaining health and offer low-threshold offers to the population from kindergarten through to senior age. This drastically reduces costs and increases the quality of life of the population enormously! The coming legislative period should therefore be used to inform us of one Sports country to a sports nation to develop further. We have how to do this in ours 9 point program with sports infrastructure, more prevention instead of rehabilitation and increasing the status of sport. It is clear that we need a paradigm shift quickly: away from sport as a supplicant and towards sport as a problem solver – so to speak as a New Year’s resolution for sports policy. I hope that the responsible politicians will take a similar view in the future and finally take advantage of the opportunities offered by the cross-sectional subject of sport, as Scandinavian countries, for example, have long been doing successfully. I am already looking forward to discussions on this matter in the new year with the future ministers responsible for sports, health, education, economics, labor and finance.”