The benefits of sports participation have been studied during the last few years. Sports participation has also long been thought to provide a social environment that fosters basic values such as fair play, competiveness, and achievement (Pate, Trost, Levin & Dowda, 2000). Furthermore, Pate et al. (2000) conclude that in the most populous demographic subgroups of United States high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors. This trend was most striking for white females and white males, among whom sports participation was significantly associated with numerous positive healthy behaviors and almost no negative health behaviors. African American and Hispanic students had fewer associations with positive health behaviors, and even some association with negative behaviors were observed. Sports has been a important key to high schools students get involved on a social environment that can cause very positive healthy behaviors among the youth. Pate et al. (2000) continue to observe that school and community sports programs have the potential to help youth establish lifelong healthy physical activity patterns.
(2013, December ). Supporting healthy communities through sports and recreation programs. Retrieved from Australian Government : http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctgc-rs26.pdf
Many youth sports are part of community organized after-school programs. There are many different types of these programs such as T-Ball, Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football, soccer, martial arts, cheerleading, and so forth. “There are over 40 million youth participating in organized sports, and both girls and boys have a dazzling array of choices and can play a sport year round” (Le Menestrel and Perkins 13). Communities use youth sport as an outlet to encourage social activity, a healthy lifestyle, and skill development for that particular sport. For example, “Participation in organized sports can provide opportunities for youth to learn more about specific skills and exercises associated with a particular sport” (Perkins and Noam 76). These programs offer opportunities to boost skills and connect positively with others. Without these activities, parents will have to find another developmental setting that may not give similar or beneficial outcomes as those of organized youth sport. Studies found that, “Sports
Contact sports such as soccer, hockey, lacrosse, basketball, and football have become popular activities for children to have fun and relieve stress they often face from school. The participation of sports has been closely related with improved physical, social, and mental health. Examples may include enhanced self-esteem, lower probability of teen suicide, higher rates of high school graduation, and reduced use of drugs and tobacco. Although the participation in sports may lead to future health
i. In the article “ The Impact of Sports on Adolescent Development” published in Forum on Public Policy in 2013, D.C Jack conducted a study that found
As I make my way on this journey that is my life, I realize that I have always believed in the fundamental worth of all humanity and my responsibility as a fellow human being to respect this premise and also to support individuals, as much as I am able, to help unearth it should this basic truth become hidden to them. This is a guiding principle for me and I believe that many of the constructs of the field of Therapeutic Recreation (TR) are congruent with this philosophy. Making the decision to obtain a Therapeutic Recreation Specialization (TRS) degree offered a theoretical rationale in which to further explore the concept of leisure, define my professional philosophy and an opportunity to reflect critically on the field which I have
Socioeconomic status (SES) is the combination of social and economical measures of a person’s work experience or of a family social and economical position in relation to others. The socioeconomic class is divided into three categories: upper class, middle class, and lower class, which is used to describe the three areas a person or a family. From each category, the person’s income, education, and occupation can be assessed. Sports provide many benefits. It brings people together, keeps them healthy, and teaches people values that are used on and off the field such as mental/physical toughness, teamwork, dedication, discipline, and hard work. Sports participation is influenced by the way people live, where they live, what country they live in and what socioeconomic status they fall into. Sports can be a way to identify what social class a person or family may fall into. The purpose of this paper is to show the relationship between socioeconomic status and access to sports. The paper will first go over the background of socioeconomic status, discuss why participation in physical activity is more prevalent with money and what actions should be taking in order to help low-income individuals/families become more involved in physical activity.
Looking at the opposing side, one can see the benefits of high school sports. Due to academic eligibility rules to play on sports teams, dropout rates have decreased for at-risk students that play sports (Bowen and Hitt 11). This has caused student-athletes to be more likely to go to college, earn higher wages, and have positive relationships with school employees (Bowen and Hitt 10). Obviously, students who participate in sports have higher fitness levels compared to those who do not play sports. Also, a survey done in 2002 by the Department of Education showed that
With society’s ever increasing price tag of education, public schools have gone to great lengths to cut costs from the unessential activities during and after school hours. First it was music programs and art classes; however, with the desperate need for teachers, athletic programs have felt the grunt of this expedition. Now, more than ever, youths in our communities are battling serious problems. Not only are sports and organized athletic programs vital to physical development, but also mental growth and offer children structure and goals. Unfortunately, many schools have to cut back or even eliminate sports/athletic programs due to lack of funding.
Youth sports are popular activities for American children and their parents. They give the kids an outlet for restless energy, and parents somewhere to send restless kids: outside. These activities are so popular, in fact, that according to Jay Atkinson in an article for the Boston Globe, “a total of about 45 million [American] kids” play at least one organized sport each year, mostly at the behest of their parents (“How Parents Are Ruining Youth Sports”). Those of us who are thirty and older may have memories of long, summer days spent at local parks, fields, pools, and courts where we enjoyed the freedoms of child’s play without much parental involvement. Youngsters today are not nearly as free to play as past generations were because parents
Socioeconomic status can significantly influence leisure participation. This is because an individual from lower socioeconomic status faces significant financial barriers while accessing leisure (Scott, 2013). It is evident from recent literature that low neighborhood socioeconomic status is a powerful predictor of poor long-term physical activity uptake in Myocardial infarction survivors (Gerber et al., 2011). Hence, leisure practioners must focus on developing programs for individuals with myocardial infarction living in a neighborhood with low socioeconomic status. This is because they are a vulnerable population and multiple structural access barriers prevent them from engaging in physical activity. It is evident that positive
There are other potential options than just sports that students could enact in their spare time. For example, they could accomplish more of their homework, read a book or play casual sports (a sport that is a game merely for their enjoyment and noncompetitive), or go to the gym with their friends. The students at Monticello Trails will have extra time at home to complete their school work which will improve their overall academic performance. Also, they could do an alternate extracurricular activity. Ones at school include plays, student council, clubs, etc. These activities can help students’ mental health as well as their social skills. Kids will still have the interaction with other
Since the creation of man, sports have had a tremendous role in the way people live their lives. From the time we are born, until our elderly age, most of us are involved in some way with sports. Whether it is a scrimmage game of soccer at recess in elementary school, playing on the varsity athletic team or simply watching the Olympics or sporting events on television, sports have an influential role in our everyday lives. The outstanding popularity of the sports industry has profoundly affected youth sports organizations that an estimated twenty-six million children ages six through eighteen participate in at least one school or community based athletic program (Smith & Smoll, 1997). Well structured sport programs can provide youths with
The Recreation and Wellness Intranet Project is assigning from Manage Your Health, Inc. (MYH). This intranet project provides an application on the current Intranet to help employees improve their health.
At the beginning of this course leisure was a topic I did not give much thought to and I felt like I did not have the time to spare to put much thought into. To me, all leisure meant was having free time to do whatever it is that I wanted to do. But after analyzing my life I noticed that I had surrounded my life with solely work and school and my “free time” was anytime I spent watching television and anytime I slept. However, after taking this course I learned that leisure meant more much than that. Now leisure to me means, as Richard Kraus states, leisure is “time which is not devoted to work or work-connected responsibilities or to other forms of discretionary or unobligated time,” (Olson et al., 2003, 12). The “time” in which Kraus