New research results have revealed that of all the school pupils who participated in National School Sports Week 2012, 1.8 million (49 per cent) children have been inspired to join a new sports club or team.

The research, conducted by the Centre for Sport, Physical Education & Activity Research (SPEAR) at Canterbury Christ Church University and using a sample size of 2,944 pupils revealed that last year, more than 4.3 million young people across 11,000 schools in the UK participated in National School Week.

More than three million (79 per cent) of the 3.8 million from England and Wales are now playing more sport than before with 1.8 million (49 per cent) joining clubs or teams outside of school and 2.1 million (55per cent) joining a new club or team in school.

57 per cent of pupils had joined a club outside of school because they had tried a sport and liked it while 42 per cent joined a club because they wanted to win and 67 per cent wanted to play for fun.

Since 2009, more than 21,000 schools and almost nine million pupils across the UK have taken part in National School Sports Week. This year's event takes place June 24 to 28.