SHORT COMMUNICATION SPORTS PARTICIPATION AND THE ‘OBESITY/HEALTH CRISIS’ Reflections on the Case of Young People in England Andrew Smith and Ken Green University College Chester, UK Ken Roberts University of Liverpool, UK Abstract There has been growing concern in recent years about the emergence of a supposed ‘health crisis’ — in the form of an ‘obesity epidemic’ — among young people, one of the main causes of which, it is assumed, is their declining levels of involvement in sport and physical activity. This brief paper offers some critical comments on the taken-for-granted relationship between these two emergent ‘crises’ and argues that, in contrast to popular opinion, young people are, in fact, doing more sport and physical activity than at any other time in the past, but that this process has co- occurred, and continues to co-occur, with increasing levels of obesity and overweight. In order to begin to adequately explain these co-occurring processes, it is argued that we need to examine young people’s lives in their total context, while noting, in particular, the continuing significance of broader social processes and the networks of relationships in which they are involved. Key words • health • obesity • physical activity • sports participation • young people Young People and ‘The Obesity/Health Crisis’ In many developed and developing countries primarily in the western world, there is a broad consensus that a ‘health crisis’ — in the form of rising levels of overweight and obesity — is rapidly emerging among all age groups but particu- larly among children and youth (British Medical Association, 2003; Department of Health, 2002, 2003; National Audit Office, 2001; Royal College of Physicians et al., 2004; World Health Organization, 2002). Indeed, it appears that growing levels of obesity, overweight and fatness among young people have come to be viewed as constituting one of the most serious and ‘biggest public health challenges of the new century’ (DoH, 2002: 3). In the UK, while there is no con- sensus on the prevalence of obesity and overweight among young people, since this varies according to the measures used (Winsley and Armstrong, forth- coming), data from several studies suggest that between 2 and 15 percent of school-aged children are obese and 18–31 percent are overweight, with girls and INTERNATIONAL REVIEW FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF SPORT 39/4(2004) 457–464 457 © Copyright ISSA and SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA, New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com 10.1177/1012690204049081