Sporting academy takes first step

A massive consultation exercise was launched yesterday as a first step to establishing the British Academy for Sport.

The Sports Council has sent out proposal documents and questionnaires to 10,000 British competitors, coaches, and administrators seeking their views on the best way to realise the idea, introduced by the Government in a policy statement Sport: Raising The Game.

The Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra is widely seen as a model for the project, intended to spur a "sea change" in the development of sporting excellence in the UK. A key question is whether there should be one big centre or a network of regional centres.

News analysis, page 17