It has been fashionable of late to talk of sport as a cure. Running, cycling, picking up clubs or racquets or bats, these are highly effective forms of therapy for many people – tackling a leaflet filling list of symptoms from high blood pressure, muscle tension, and obesity to more intangible complaints like low self-esteem,…
We’ve all been there. In a well-intentioned moment during a post prandial Christmas torpor or when put on the spot over a glass of fizz at New Year, you set a goal. You’ll join a gym, buy a bike, run a marathon. Then, in the February (or, often, January) gloom, regret sets in. The evenings…
2021 has been a momentous year in sport. As we look back at the triumphs and challenges of another year of pandemic, here are ten of our favourite insights and findings from 2021. 30% of Asian Golfers expect to play more on a golf course than before the pandemic. The Asian Playing Habits study was…
This December, take on SMS’ fiendishly difficult sporting cryptic crossword. Recapping some of the biggest sporting stories and successes in 2021, will you be the first to crack the puzzle? All answers are related to sporting people and places in 2021. Where answers relate to a player, the answer may be either the first…
Download the report A fresh report has found that 48% of women take a break from and return to their sport. This means that potentially 8.3 million women in England are likely to take a break from their main sport at some point in their sporting journey. If sports can better support women to take…
Understanding and segmenting sports participation is essential to anyone hoping to build a product, market an offer, deliver a program, or develop a strategy. Now, a special discount on interactive participation data makes insights on almost a hundred US Sports more accessible, actionable and affordable than ever. The underlying research comes from 18,000 nationally…
Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson once quipped that a week is a long time in politics. Governments may change but the wisdom of his words abides. In 2021, three weeks is more than enough time for ministers to forget their old departments. Until September 15th, Oliver Dowden was the Secretary of State for Digital,…
The 2021 State of the Industry report has shown the sports industry strongly outperforming the overall economy in the USA. Since the start of the pandemic, the sports and leisure industry has outperformed other sectors of the US economy. Despite COVID-restrictions, sporting goods sales recovered to post a small growth of 0.6% compared to…
Hannah Sprake joined SMS in 2019. Initially overseeing the cycling market data service, Hannah is now launching a new series of projects for SMS with a focus on grassroots sport. The first project of the series, Sporting Journeys, looks at how Britain’s sports and leisure playing habits change over the course of people’s lives. It…
The only gold that usually lurks in the land of Bermuda comes in the form of the sunshine. Even its world famous beaches are more pink sand than pure gold grains. All that changed on the 26th July 2021 as Flora Duffy won the island nation’s first ever gold medal. Thanks to Clarence Hill’s…
