ENG-2020 — Page 354

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Recreation, Sport, Culture and the Arts

as to promote the culture of 'Sport for All In 2020, the LCSD organised some 9,800 recreation and sports programmes for about 580,000 participants of all ages and abilities.

District Sports Teams Training Scheme

A total of 5,762 young people took part in 119 district team events about basketball, football, handball and fencing.

Young Athletes Training Scheme

Training was conducted for 17,268 teenagers in 32 sports disciplines.

Community Sports Club Project

The project, organised by the LCSD in collaboration with the NSAs, supports about 430 community sports clubs in organising 1,110 training activities for 24,000 participants. Seminars and management development programmes were conducted for over 210 sports volunteers to help them run the clubs.

Promotion of School Sports

The School Sports Programme provided 984 sporting events for 260,030 students at 435 primary and secondary schools through seven subsidiary programmes: Sport Education, Easy Sport, Outreach Coaching, Joint Schools Sports Training, Sport Captain, the Badges Award Scheme and the Sports Award Scheme. Fewer programmes were held than usual because of school closures due to COVID-19.

The Student Athlete Support Scheme, a collaboration between the HAB and the Hong Kong Schools Sports Federation, helps students with financial needs develop their sports potential and pursue sporting goals. In the 2019-20 school year, $5.45 million was allocated to 534 participating schools, benefiting over 15,000 students.

The Opening Up School Facilities for Promotion of Sports Development Scheme provides a subsidy to encourage schools to make their facilities available to sports organisations. COVID-19 reduced the number of sports programmes in the 2019-20 school year, but 123 sports programmes were held by 28 sports organisations at 48 schools under the scheme.

Major Sports Events

Hong Kong is a hub for major international sports events. The 'M' Mark system aims to solicit commercial and community support for NSAs to develop sustainable major international sports events. Under this system, the HAB provides comprehensive support, including matching funds, direct grants, and venue and marketing subsidy support, to NSAs to hold world-class sports events. COVID-19 meant that only one 'M' Mark event could be held in 2020.

'Healthy Exercise for All Campaign' and 'Sport For All Day'

The 'Healthy Exercise for All Campaign' is organised jointly by the LCSD and the Department of Health to encourage regular exercise. Owing to COVID-19, only 382 programmes were held (instead of the usual 1,000) with attendance of around 17,000. The LCSD's annual 'Sport For All Day' went virtual because of the pandemic, with a series of online physical fitness

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