Polymers in Sport and Leisure

Polymers in Sport and Leisure
1 Introduction
The general social and economic trend is that people
live longer, work shorter hours, retire earlier, and have
more free time and more disposable income. The
obvious result is that increasingly they have more time
and money to spend on leisure activities. Relatively
recently, there has been something of a crusade to
persuade people that they should actively exercise to
improve health and fitness. The result, not surprisingly,
is that now the majority of the population in, for
example, the United Kingdom participate is some form
of sport or exercise on a regular basis. It is unlikely
that this trend will change in the near future.
Governments and sports bodies have been aware of the
value of sport in contributing to health and have
encouraged participation, particularly amongst children
and those nearing retirement. Large sums of both public
and private money have been invested in improved
facilities for sports activities.
It is rather difficult to define the boundaries of what
constitutes sport and leisure, which impacts on making
sensible estimates of the total size of the market. Games
such as soccer, baseball, cricket and hockey, together
with athletics, are quite clearly understood to be sports.
Many people consider angling to be a sport although
in some of its forms it does not involve great exercise.
Walking can be considered a sport or simply a leisure
activity which involves exercise, but it certainly
represents a significant market in footwear and clothing.
Similarly, much of the participation in sailing, horse
riding, cycling and motoring is a pastime rather than a
sport but would generally be considered in the sport
and leisure market. Gardening is an extremely popular
leisure activity but is not thought of as sport. In terms
of the market it is also possible to consider the
expenditure by spectators rather than participants on
items such as promotional clothing to disposable
binoculars for viewing. Defining the market accurately
is perhaps not important but it can easily be appreciated
that it is very large and very diverse.
Whilst the participation in sport and leisure activities,
and hence the market for sports goods, has been
generally increasing there have been, and doubtless will
continue to be, marked changes in the popularity of
particular activities. The growth of some activities can
be related to the availability of facilities. Several
decades ago there were few golf courses, squash courts
or gymnasia available to the public and the range of
sports which could be called popular was much more
limited than now. The increase in popularity and the
availability of facilities inevitably have a financial link
both in the level of investment by the public and private
sectors and the ability of the population to afford the
activity. An obvious example is skiing and other winter
sports which previously were afforded by very few
people. Inevitably, the widening of the range of
available activities has adversely affected some
traditional sports, notably team games, although this
has been largely masked by the overall increase in
participation.
Fashion has a significant effect on sport popularity; it
is doubtful that the enormous rises in the use of
gymnasia or walking were predicted in advance, nor
what causes the rise and fall in interest in skate
boarding. Fashions can change rapidly and, as with
most things, vigorous marketing by commercial
interests can be very persuasive on the public. Hence,
it is probably impossible to confidently predict which
areas will enjoy significant growth and which will suffer
decline in the next decade. However, it is likely that
the largest growth will be in individual sports rather
than team games and that diversification will continue.
Figures for the USA show that overall spending on
sports goods rose at 3%-6% annually through the
1990s but was a little less in 1999 (130). This included
a significant drop in footwear, particularly for
basketball, but an increase in demand for exercise and
soccer equipment! It is significant that the spend on
athletic footwear was said to be twice that on sports
equipment. The US sales for sports equipment and
recreational transport was reported as about $40
billion in 1998 (171).
The expansion of the sports and leisure industry has
been nothing but good news for the polymer industry.
This has not simply been because of the volume
increase in sports goods but because of the inroads
polymers have made in replacing traditional
materials in this sector. Rubbers or plastics are found
in a huge range of sports-related products from
playing surfaces to footwear and clothing and there
are extremely few areas where they have not become
important. One facet of this is the immense variety
of products, and materials, that make up the market,
some being in very significant quantity but others
that are small niche markets.
Sport is competitive and although there are often cost
advantages in using polymers the main impetus for their
adoption has been performance. It follows that many
applications are for technically superior materials. The
participants are often prepared to pay whatever it takes
to have the best equipment at the top end of the market
and this applies even for amateur and recreational use
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