The Italians want to resume playing sports. The pandemic, more than ever, has awakened the awareness that doing sport is good and makes you feel good. From a survey
recently conducted by Orangogo, on a representative sample of the national population, it emerges that, at the restart, 2 out of 3 ‘lazy’ intend to enroll in a sporting activity. And, in all likelihood, they will sign up using online channels, as evidenced by McKinsey data at the end of 2020 on the drastic acceleration of digital in the Covid era: a step forward by several years by consumers and businesses, three times more inclined than before the crisis, to state that over 80% of customer interactions are digital in nature.
According to the results of the survey conducted by the sports search engine – which includes over 22,500 sports associations and sport-clubs in more than 1,500 Italian municipalities and a community of over 4 million users – during the Covid period, 66% of Italians did physical activity: of these, 34% practiced outdoor activities when possible, 19% alternated outdoor and home activities, another 18% practiced at home with video lessons, 17% at home alone, 7 % at home either alone or with video lessons. Important data that, underlined by Orangogo, “tell how the need for movement and psycho-physical well-being linked to sporting activity emerges. “.
Although the pandemic has led to a significant increase in the supply of ‘online’ sports, according to the survey, 78% of Italians interviewed declared that they want to dedicate themselves to a sport in presence (48% will resume their favorite sport, 30% will start a new activity). Furthermore, 7% will support sport in person with online lessons, 3% will use online, while 12% do not intend to play sports or have not expressed themselves. Only 26% of the people who remained active during Covid took advantage of the online lessons, and almost all of the respondents said they prefer face-to-face sport. Despite the restrictions, the majority still continued to exercise because they were able to adapt.
Ability to adapt which has been confirmed by purchasing trends: Eurostat found that, as early as March 2020, month in which the lockdown was triggered, Italians spent about 3.8 million euros on sports equipment for the home, a value that increased by more than 2/3 in June, reaching 6.6 million euros, and settling in July with almost 6 million euros of purchases (+ 50.8% compared to the values of March 2020) . As for those who have reduced or stopped physical activity – again according to the Orangogo research – the reasons are due to the fact that 34% of respondents ‘do not like to train at home’, while 27% believe they “do not have the right space ”, 22% did not find anything exciting to do, another 22% had to dedicate the time they previously dedicated to sport to their family, and 21% to work. But the truth is that 47% of respondents ‘just don’t like training with video lessons’.
“Sport is physical and psychological health, prevention, education, but also fun and sociability“confirms Dr. Ambra Nagliati, sports psychologist at Orangogo.” Reducing it to online activity, although a very useful tool in a year like the one just ended, is the denial of an important part of life “he adds.
The Founder of Orangogo, Giulia Pettinau, underlines that “the data of our research confirmed the desire to resume dormant passions or to look for new ones”. “It is now absolutely necessary – he explains – give sports associations and clubs throughout Italy simple and immediate digital tools to respond to this incoming wave of new sportsmen who are looking first and foremost online for activities around them to practice live. “The Orangogo platform – he adds – was born for this: already with our free services, sports facilities can ensure a solid online presence, receive contacts, registrations, reservations and payments, with premium features related to management software “. “We were born with the aim of leaving more and more time to those who teach sports to do what they know how to do well: to make people discover their sporting passion” finally underlines Pettinau.