ESTONIA: To Buy or Not to Buy Is a Question for Many Estonians in Sport and Leisure Participation

Reminiscence of the recent dire straits and curiosity as a cultural value have motivated Estonians to keep moving, to open new doors and to try out new things. Estonia is faring well in ICT, science, education and sport. Some of the driving and supporting mechanisms are shared among the people, like the need to succeed, pragmatism, strength of will and determination, which all have had political support. But as far as sport and leisure activities in particular are concerned, Estonia is in a state of wavering. In retrospect, sport has been observed through the prism of competitions, preferably at international level, and to some extent, as a framework of bringing up healthy and respectful children. On the other hand, leisureliness was earlier considered to be sinful, and while this is not any more a commonplace opinion, among adult population sport and leisure have only recently started to be appreciated as sources of goods and services for the wellbeing and quality of life. Coaching of children and young people has mainly been organised through non-profit sport clubs that receive financial support from the municipalities and the state. Therefore, the main commercial clientele consists of adults. However, the majority of the physically active adult population in Estonia is only infrequently seen buying sport-related services or joining sport clubs. It means that the money allotted to leisure is mainly spent on obtaining sporting goods and joining mass sport events a couple of times a year. Yet, wavering is a sign of change, and physical activity is ever more accepted as a tool for social wellbeing. Therefore, there is an ongoing surge for the development of health and wellbeing related services, amenities for hedonism and development of education for coaches who have the knowledge of how to create and grow their own companies in an emerging market.