TAFISA WORLD CONGRESS 2015
Sport for All – The Ultimate Legacy
Parallel Session 1
Beyond the Bright Lights
A National Diagnosis of Sports and the creation of a National System of Sport in Brazil
Abstract
Sport in Brazil is going through a fruitful and unprecedented moment. It is often heeded it is
the Decade of Sport due to major events hosted by the country, in a period started in 2007with the Pan American Games - that will culminate with the 2016 Olympic Games.
In addition, several social sectors have been thinking about the access and management of
sport in a country of continental dimensions and a population of over 204 million. Aiming to
take advantage of the tangible and intangible legacies of this moment, the Ministry of Sports
lead a coordinated action, gathering specialists from private and governmental areas, civil
organizations, sports federations and confederations to create the National System of Sport.
The guidelines were: raising the state of the art, developing diagnosis and connecting sectors
and Ministries. Above all, consider sport in a wider form, beyond competition, paying attention
to the sport for all and focusing on its various expressions and types of public.
Many references were used to design the System such as international models of recognized
local structures, outcomes from National Conferences and the deep analysis of existing
legislation. In order to support and generate basic indicators from the joint effort between
universities, public and private institutions - such as SESC - a National Diagnosis of Sport was
completed with four elected variables: i) sports infrastructure; ii) financing; iii) legislation and
iv) practitioners or non-practitioners of sport and physical activity. After consulting 8,902
Brazilians, the survey showed that in spite of 54.1% of the population declared to be
practitioners of sport or physical activity at the time of reference, yet 67 million Brazilians do
not include the practice in daily life.
The survey also unveiled the most sedentary region/state; the sedentary tendency with
increasing age (between 65 and 74 years, 64.4% are not practitioners); the main causes for
leaving behind (69.8% reported lack of time); preferred modalities (highlight to walking and
football) and the most used spaces for the practice (61.5% use sports facilities). Thus, we
observe that in addition to the commitment in the directive grounding and the structural
preparation for the Olympic Games Rio 2016, we still have a lot to do to assure that the
Brazilian population has, in fact, guaranteed access to Sport and Physical Activity, a right
quoted in the Brazilian Constitution. With emphasis, the sport is recognized in its broad
spectrum and the National System didactically appoints as "Sports Formation", "Sports
Excellence" and "Sport for Life".
The talks in this scenario require the sum of efforts of several areas, notably Sport, Health and
Education with inter sectoral articulation and partnerships at various levels. Strategically, the
focus and standpoint is the continuity of policies already created, the decentralization of
management and reducing bureaucracy of processes for: i) creating public policies that enable
inclusion and access to Sport, ii) promotion of Physical Activity in primary health care and
consequently prevention of disease intensified by sedentariness and, iii) greater influence of
School Physical Education to qualify experiences during the educational period and create a
motivating and enjoyable link with diverse practices that may be incorporated and evoked
during the stages of life.