For some of us, sport is intrinsically enjoyable - to play as well as to watch. The Government's approach is more instrumental: does this activity keep young people off the streets, and discourage obesity? Does association with sporting celebrities sprinkle a little magic dust on mundane policies?
Sportspeople themselves, along with miscellaneous youth organisations, are keen to emphasise all its supposed character-building benefits - teamwork, perseverance, being a good loser and so on. We need to encourage more young people to play sport of all kinds. But we should be cautious about over-claiming its moral benefits and holding up its stars as role models.
Two recent sporting tales caught my eye. A fallen mountaineer was left to die on Everest because another team considered that trying to help him would thwart their attempt on the summit. (He survived.) The Northern Irish golfer, Darren Clarke, reported to a tournament referee that overnight rain had given his ball a better lie and that he did not think it right to take advantage. (He lost.) Compare and contrast Clarke's behaviour with that of some footballers.
Socrates - the Greek philosopher, not the Brazilian footballer - wrote: "It is not because we are virtuous that we do the right thing. Rather, we become virtuous because we do the right thing often enough."
One task of sport, and of youth work, is to give young people more of an opportunity to do the right thing in their lives - often in circumstances that are not encouraging.
A bit less talk of having sporting role models would probably help them fashion a way of being that is right for them. It may even be virtuous.
But surely the great argument for sport is that it is enjoyable?
Tom Wylie is chief executive at The National Youth Agency. You can contact him at tomw@nya.org.uk.
