Blog posted by: Matt Bazeley Civil
Service Sports Council Active Wellbeing represents the
organisation’s biggest push to get the Civil Service moving. Over
10,000 colleagues took part in 2023’s challenge, and 2024 is set to
be its biggest and most inclusive yet. CSSC’s CEO Matt Bazeley,
OBE, reflects on what sport means to him, and how he manages to
balance the demands of a challenging job with staying active.
How did it all start?
I’m fortunate that I can remember being both interested and
involved in sport for as long as I can remember being on this
planet. I grew up in a very rural little village in South
Oxfordshire, where we essentially lived outside, and this
certainly helped.
I fell into what were then considered “boys” sports of football,
rugby and cricket, following those through senior school,
university and into my time in the army. I was lucky enough to
enjoy playing all of those sports until well into my 40s. I still
play bad cricket and bad golf in my 50s!
I have a passion for sport as a spectator, as a participant, as a
volunteer, and as an organiser. I'll turn up to watch a game of
tiddlywinks if there's something competitive going on.
Looking after myself
To be effective in my role I know in myself that I must do some
sport or exercise to maintain my sense of personal wellbeing and
if I go more than three 4-5 days without having done any
exercise, I feel mentally and physically sluggish. There's a
local gym in my village that I go to and in the winter and in the
summer I'll try and run. If it’s a beautiful summer's morning in
North Oxfordshire, that's not the worst way to start the day.
It allows me to refocus my brain. I am busy and I find myself
juggling a lot of things. It's remarkable how you can dislocate
from work just by going to the gym, taking the dogs for a walk,
and in that time your brain works through things. You can put
things in an order and it's constructive time. It might be away
from work, but it has genuine work benefits.
I think it’s a bit like putting your car into the garage to get
serviced. Fundamentally, nothing's changed. The car is still the
car, but you've had that opportunity to freshen things up a
little bit. The oil and filters are a bit better and you've just
got things running a little smoother in your head. It is amazing
how often you reconcile a way ahead on a particularly crunchy
problem by stepping away from actually confronting it.
The benefits of taking part
Active Wellbeing exists to give the opportunity for as many civil
servant employees to enjoy the benefits of some increase in their
physical activity over the course of the challenge. We thoroughly
celebrated the fact that last year we got a record number of
civil servants participating, in excess of 10,000. If we were to
get up towards 15,000, that would be a remarkable achievement.
That said, any growth in the number of civil servants who are
able to access and enjoy the benefits of the campaign would be a
huge success for our perspective.
We’re not trying to turn anyone into an athlete overnight, quite
the opposite. It doesn't matter what you do, just do something,
and if that means you step away from your desk at lunchtime for
half an hour, take the stairs instead of the lift, walk or roll
one more tube, metro or bus stop further than usual that’s great
– it all counts.
I firmly believe that physical activity gives you that
opportunity to step away from work, get away from your
responsibilities, focus on yourself, your own health and
wellbeing. The time you are able to give to that activity will
pay enormous dividends when you re-engage with work and with your
family, you will simply be in a better place.
How you can be involved
The theme of this year’s campaign is breaking down barriers to
getting active, and we’ve got some hugely inspirational
individuals involved. One of whom is Matthew Trigg, who overcame
a life-changing injury to compete in the Invictus Games. Keep an
eye on our social media profiles to hear from Matt and others
from January.
Join the active wellbeing 2024
campaign today
