Let’s All Review Our Own Personal Sporting Year

This is the week when the BBC asks us to vote for this year’s Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY). The annual event, which has been held every year since 1954, is the celebration of the sporting year and an opportunity for us all to re-live the moments of national and international sporting achievements.

This is also the time of year when I feel we should all be reviewing our own personal sporting years, or to widen the scope of that statement a bit, review our own personal activities for the year.

I have watched SPOTY and voted for my personal favourite almost every year since 1967, and I attended the live event when it was held in Scotland in 2014 and 2019, so I’m a fan of the programme. However, I believe with an absolute passion that there is something far more important than watching world class sports people, and that is being active, at our own personal levels, in our own lives.

I will be watching the programme on Sunday evening, but of far greater importance than that, I will be running a parkrun on Saturday morning and going hillwalking on Sunday. My own personal activities keep me fit and active, and provide me with the sheer joy of being outdoors and moving around. Nobody is going to pay money to watch me dive into a swimming pool, ride a bike or kick a ball, but that’s of no concern to me, I just take part in the activities I do for my own pleasure and benefit.

I’m well aware that there will be lots of people out there that won’t be watching the programme because they are just not into competitive sport, and yet they will be into some kind of physical activity, whether it be hillwalking, cycle touring, sea kayaking, recreational skiing, jogging, or even gardening or commuting by bike.

There will also be those who are into competitive sport, and might well be watching on Sunday, but are never going to be up for awards at a national event like SPOTY. Whether you play football for a professional club or your work’s team, or run for one of the home nations in the Commonwealth Games or your local club in the over 70s category, you are going to have a personal highlight from 2021.

For many people, their highlight of the year about to end could be something very personal like running with your granddaughter at junior parkrun, enjoying a stunning view from a mountain top or cycling home from work on a beautiful summer’s evening.

Something I have suggested in my book, Find Time for Exercise, is to celebrate our own personal activity year on social media by posting one photograph that highlights our main sporting or activity moment of the year. To bring all our photos and stories together, I suggest using the hashtags #MySportingHighlight2021 and #MyActivityHighlight2021. The word ‘Sporting’ may be more relevant for some, whereas ‘Activity’ will be more appropriate for others, which is why I’ve come up with the option of using either word, or both.

Anyone can take part in this, but whoever you are, at whatever level of achievement, it has to be something that you achieved yourself. It’s not about watching your team win the cup (by the way, my team won two cups this year - #justsaying), because it’s about doing something in your own right, however simple, however personal, however insignificant you think it might be to other people.

Here are a few lines from Find Time for Exercise in which I discuss the sharing of our own modest achievements on social media:

“They’re not going to win awards on SPOTY, but they’re fantastic memories to re-live and fun to share. Most importantly, they have the effect of inspiring other people.

We all tend to make improvements in our lives when something happens to inspire us, and while the achievements of Team GB Olympians on our television screens can inspire us to become more active, so too can the more down-to-earth achievements of our friends, relatives, work colleagues and contacts on social media. The point I’m making is that we need to recognise and celebrate achievement at all levels, because achievement inspires, whatever the level of achievement.”

My challenge to people, between now and the end of the year, is to post one photograph with as much commentary as you like, and one or both of the hashtags #MySportingHighlight2021 and/or #MyActivityHighlight2021.

To kick this off, here is my own personal highlight of 2021. On July 15th, I walked into the remote Letterewe area in the northwest of Scotland to climb the impressive mountain Beinn Lair. The views were stunning in all directions, to the south towards the Torridon mountains, west to the Outer Hebrides and north to An Teallach and the Fisherfield mountains. In Find Time for Exercise, I describe days like that as five-course-meal days because they stand out as special compared to the many bread ‘n’ butter days when I take my regular exercise journeys closer to home.

Have fun reviewing your own year, treasure the memories you come up with, and you never know how much your photo and story might inspire other people.