Dialogue: Caught in the cosy rut of inactivity

My friend's mother has just been selected for one of the mature tennis squads for New Zealand.

She's a poster granny for Active New Zealand and a great role model for her more sedentary kids and her admiring grandchildren.

Meanwhile, I drive past a tennis club once infamous for being a closed shop with a waiting list longer than a private school and see that new members are (finally) welcome.

Oh, I think, so now you want me. Sorry, I'd love to but I've no time.

When it comes to sport I fall into the inactive category, a cosy little rut I apparently share with one in three New Zealanders.

It wasn't always this way but right now between working and motherhood all I want to do is have a cup of tea and a lie down.

Although being a busy working mother didn't seem to stop Susan Devoy from running a marathon, it almost never occurs to me to actually take up a sport as a form of exercise. It's easier to go walking or do some lame callisthenics in front of the telly.

That's why I embrace the sentiment behind Active New Zealand. I grant that the suggested strategy of getting the teachers to embrace a longer working day is riddled with controversy, but I can't help admiring the idea of more compulsory recreational sport to reboot our sporting culture.

Let's face it, we are forgetting how to play sport on both the national and individual levels.

Growing up we merrily played social sport in our backyards and sometimes even on the road (there were fewer cars back then).

We'd wander down the road to a park to play, as there seemed to be no boundaries as long as we were back before tea.

As a result, sporting skills developed informally and naturally.

But somewhere along the way as we got older the concept of sport gave way to the premise of simply exercising and, thus, playing sport started taking a back seat.

My neighbour sat bursary PE last year. I asked her what was the most difficult part to which she replied aerobics. Huh? Let's remember that this is just jazzercise once removed.

I apportion some blame for the demise of sports to aerobics and all that indoor gym stuff.

Gyms seem to promote fitness for the sake of fitness, the skill involved being minimal.

Gym fanatics protest that the gym is a social event. But it's less about planned social interaction and more about individual body gratification performed in the presence of others.

Technology has made us lazy. We have been letting our fingers do the walking for some years now and, on top of this, instead of running up the road to post that letter, we simply push a button.

It follows that technology has also eaten into the role that sport played in socialising.

In previous years when one wanted to meet new friends, the rule of thumb was to join a club.

These days singles get a far greater strike rate meeting dates through internet chat rooms or telephone chat lines than at a sports club, which all seems like too much effort with a high risk-factor for embarrassment.

Sporting skills are being lost as lifestyles become busier for both parents and kids.

We seem to prefer sports to be more formalised for our children so the responsibility of ferrying them to and from games can be shared with other parents. And also formal commitments are easier to diarise so quality sport time with kids can be scheduled in.

Most parents are too exhausted to kick balls around when they get home from work. They have barely the energy to face the mayhem of home.

Why not force kids out of their every day comfort zones with more compulsory post-academic recreational sport?

Sure it cuts into valuable PlayStation time but then again getting some oxygen pumping through their veins may give them a long overdue jolt back into the real world - a world where team and social skills are vital, and where sometimes you have to do things you don't like.

Surely sport is a help for teenage stress, and surely it helps to teach an individually motivated younger generation a lesson in commitment.

I know I sound about 87, particularly when I hear myself saying things to the kids of our extended family such as you should get some fresh air, play outside it's a beautiful day or go fly a kite.

I guess they are thinking, "Why don't you?"