The LCSD organised some 29 000 recreational and sports programmes for over 1.67 million participants of all ages and abilities during the year at a total cost of $107 million.

District Sports Teams

In order to generate more community interest in sports and foster a stronger sense of belonging among residents, the LCSD, with the assistance of the respective NSAs, set up basketball, football, badminton and table tennis teams in the 18 districts. About 14 700 youngsters participated in more than 300 activities organised in 2005.

'Healthy Exercise for All' Campaign

The LCSD and the Department of Health continued to co-organise the 'Healthy Exercise for All' campaign. A variety of promotional activities were organised to convey the message that people of all ages should take daily exercise and should make time to do so. They included specially designed fitness programmes for different target groups, walking schemes, dancing and rope-skipping activities to promote health, a series of sports and health roving exhibitions and a 26-week RTHK radio promotional programme. In 2005, over 74 000 people took part in some 1 400 programmes. During the year, the LCSD launched a 'Physical Fitness Test for the Community' project to obtain data on Hong Kong people and identify the correlation between exercise patterns and physical condition.

Territory-wide Events

The Corporate Games, which are aimed specially at the working population, attracted about 10 000 participants from nearly 280 industrial and commercial organisations in 16 activities in 2005. The Masters Games, for people aged 35 and above, attracted some 4 200 participants in 10 competitions during the year.

Young Athletes Training Scheme

In 2005, the LCSD subvented 14 NSAs to provide systematic training to teenagers at the intermediate levels under the Young Athletes Training Scheme. Some 21 500 participants joined the scheme. Talented young players were referred to the relevant NSAs for further training.

School Sports Programme

The School Sports Programme aims to provide more opportunities for primary, secondary and special school students to participate in sports. Progressive training is provided for students with particular potential to raise the standard of sports in schools. The programme has six subsidiary programmes: the Sport Education Programme, Easy Sport Programme, Outreach Coaching Programme, Sport Captain Programme, Joint School Sport Training Programme and Badges Award Scheme. In 2005, more than 7 000 sports activities were organised for about 500 000 students.

Community Sports Club Project

The Community Sports Club Project is organised by the LCSD in collaboration with the NSAs. In 2005, the department provided support to 240 community sports clubs to organise 1 130 sports training activities for 29 000 participants. Seminars and management development programmes were organised for 710 sports volunteers to help them administer community sports clubs.

During the year, the department introduced the Community Sports Club Enhancement Programme to encourage community sports clubs to utilise non-peak hours at LCSD venues to organise more sports training programmes for their members. Community sports clubs were also encouraged to organise more inter-club competitions with the objective of raising the standards of sports at the community level.