Social Sport Essay

The significance for this research project is that it will provide relevant and up to date data of the current levels of physical activity within Australian adults. This project will deliver an in-depth analysis of the frequency, quantity, duration, and variety of physical activity among Australians. It will also provide information about what factors are promoting a healthy lifestyle and what barriers are preventing adults from achieving the recommended weekly levels of physical activity. The research will address:

Physical activity is defined as an individual not obtaining the recommended 150 minutes per week. engaging in moderate physical activity is very important, if the recommended time that should be spend on excersie per week is not achieved it can increase the risks of chronic diseases such as Heath disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke. Physicals inactivity also increases biomedical determinants such as body weight leading to obesity, high blood pressure and blood cholesterol which have a negative effects on an individual's well being. According to AIHW, 2012, 60% of Australians over 15 did not undertake in sufficient physical activity. Getting the required 150 minutes a week or more is a great protective factor which will decrease the ricks of various chronic diseases and also provides other benefits such as reducing body weight and improving mental

Consequently, in regards to the Canadian context, the reader may be asking, how can sport help Aboriginal youth given the dismal past of Aboriginal sport policy? As such, at this juncture, the numerous challenges Aboriginal youth face must be discussed in order to properly contextualize how sport participation can be tremendously helpful for Aboriginal communities. Accordingly, despite only encompassing 3.8% of the total Canadian populace, health and social issues are disproportionately prominent within Aboriginal communities (Ning & Wilson, 2012). Consequently, these particular challenges will be examined through the following variables: physical health, mental health, and criminal justice.

Native Americans simply don't have the same opportunities and resources other athletes do according to the textbook the poverty rate on the reservation are between 30 and 50% compared to the United States as a whole at just 15% (Coakley, 2017, p. 234). This makes it hard to focus on something of pleasure when you're not sure where their next meal is going to come from it’s a priority thing for

Aside from unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and substance use are also parts of unhealthy lives in aboriginal Australians that predominantly leading to increased disease burden (Péloquin, Doering, Alley & Rebar, 2017). In 2012-2013, only 38% of Aboriginal adults in urban area had sufficient physical activity that met the health guideline recommendation (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2014). Factors that impact physical activity include colonisation and low socio-economic status caused by colonisation among aboriginal Australians (Macniven et al., 2016). As mentioned previously, aboriginal Australians lived in hunter-gatherer lifestyles that required them to have sufficient physical activity, nevertheless, with the process of colonisation and urbanisation, most aboriginal people are grown in urban area where the traditional activity of hunting and gathering are disrupted (Nelson, Abbott & Macdonald,

Over the past several years, United Nations agencies, international sport federations, national governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been using sport as a method for social transformation and collective development (Kidd & MacDonnell, 2007). Sport-for-development (SFD) initiatives exemplify this paradigm as they have become increasingly popular instruments concerned with increasing social integration, reducing economic inequities, and alleviating health disparities that individuals in disenfranchised communities experience through the power of sport (Hayhurst, 2009). In Canada, the Canadian Sport Policy 2012 formalized the perceived value of SFD initiatives as evidenced by the creation of a strategy specifically intended for Indigenous participation and prioritization in Canadian sport: the Aboriginal Participation Policy (APP) (Paraschak, 2012; Te Hiwi, 2014). The APP is symbolic as it is the primary mechanism that rhetorically guides Sport Canada’s efforts to work with the Federal and Provincial levels of government to confront systemic inequities, which effectively limit Aboriginal participation in sport (Thibault & Harvey, 2013). Moreover, the APP was predicated upon the acknowledgement that Aboriginal youth in Canada face substantial challenges and that these problems are inextricably linked to a history of colonial policies and Eurocentric institutions, which have marginalized Aboriginal peoples from social inclusion (Forsyth, 2008; Paraschak, 2012). To emphasize, the APP included recognition of the importance of Aboriginal cultures in the effective expansion of sport, the significance of health advancement for Aboriginal peoples, and increasing Aboriginal sport participation through community driven

Cultural identity and physical activity have changed a lot over time. This is due to some factors such as advances in technology and changes in media. All of these factors have contributed to the changes in physical activity.

The natural environment provided the Aborigines with a significant place to perform physical activities including; singing, dancing, hunting and playing traditional Aboriginal games. The strong connections and relationships, within and throughout the group, provided many benefits that enhanced the health and well being of this cultural group. The Aboriginals were associated with the environment everyday through different physical activities that they participated in, which enhanced their physical, mental and social strength. Their physical health was improved, as playing sporting games can advance their stamina and inner core strength and it can build up muscle and awareness.

Sport within the aboriginal community is definitely a key area that not only the government should be looking at but we as sports managers should focus on as well. There are many growing concerns for our first nation’s people, health being the greatest of all the concerns. Those from a aboriginal background have become more susceptible to health risk such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease, many of the aboriginal children living on the reserve are overweight and obese. What is alarming is that, 49% of aboriginal youth smoke, which is more than double the rate of young people in British Columbia. Something needs to be done about this alarming trend amongst the aboriginal community, one way to help lower the risk of diabetes is to help implement programs that promote physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. With the recent increase in funding organisations will be able to offer more programs that involve physical activity, sport and education. It is important to help raise awareness for the aboriginal community; there are so many gifted athletes that have not been given a chance due to the lack of programs, funding and access. With The North American Indigenous Games coming to Toronto in 2017, I hope this will help give a potential opportunity to help increase the awareness for sport and athletes in the aboriginal community.

Kim, Williams & Gill (2003) found that a significant difference existed between eastern (i.e Fijian) and western (i.e Australian) cultures in physical activity participation, indicating the importance of specific ethnic studies rather than applying the western version of motivational theories to eastern cultures. Markus and Kitayama (1991) further identified that there existed a cultural difference that may influence motivation. They found that the western culture adopted an independent view of the self, whereas, the eastern culture a dependent view, demonstrating that the development of new theories and research is necessary to better adapt to diverse cultures (Tsang et Al,

Abstract: This research seeks to investigate the relationship between Aboriginal youth sport participation by utilizing Hirschi’s understanding of social control theory. In addition, the fundamental links between gender and health will also be examined within the context of Aboriginal youth participation in sport. Drawing from the Aboriginal Peoples Survey, the results of this study illustrate a strong association between sport participation and the internalization of other societal bonds postulated by Hirschi, while also revealing pertinent information related to gender dynamics and Aboriginal health. Ultimately, additional research should continue to assess the merits of sport within Aboriginal communities as it relates to gender and health.

This research article investigated socio-economic disparities in physical health outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Western Australia. The researchers collected health and socioeconomic status (SES) data from Western Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey (WAACHS) which was a population study of the health, development and education carried out with 5289 indigenous children 0-17 years of age and their families between 2000 and 2002. The survey collected data from 96% of participating children and collected health outcomes data by interviews with the primary and secondary carers who were usually the mother and father respectively. The researchers analyzed six health indicators including asthma, sensory function

Through the physical tasks of hunting and gathering of food to the rhythms of traditional dances in which involve discipline and skills to move in unison with the beats of the drums. Active lifestyles were essential to maintaining optimal health on the islands, colonization of these prideful cultures is still affecting the lives of NHPI’s today. Judith Fitzpatrick-Nietschman (1983) reports the physical activity level of NHPI before influences of western civilization, were high in all cultures in the pacific and accounted for healthy lifestyles of its people (Fitzpatrick-Nietschman, 1983). Lack of exercise across all ethnicities contribute to prevalence of obesity to increase, but is furthermore disabling among cultures who mainly exhibit physical activity through the gathering of food through traditional practices.

The poor health of indigenous Australians can be measured using three key health indicators which are Life-expectancy, Morbidity and low infant birth weight. Based on the Australian Institution of Health and Welfare (2014) report the discrepancy between mainstream and indigenous Australians life-expectancy for Indigenous Australian males born between 2010 and 2012, was expected to be 10.6years lesser than that of the non-Indigenous men and 9.5years lesser in women . Moreover, Aborigines experience great rates of long- term disease such as cardiovascular disease, mental illness, diabetes and Respiratory disease. Finally, based on the Perinatal Data Collection (AIHW, 2008) the average birth weight of babies of Aboriginal mothers in 2006 was 3.319 Kilograms which was 0.209 kilograms lower than the non-Aboriginal babies.

Physical Education and School Sport (PESS) has seen many changes to its policy since 1960 up until the present day. PE has changed from a subject that promoted ideologies surrounding military drill, to more recently engaging children in lifelong participation whilst also excelling in a broad range of activities (DfE, 2013). Up until 2000 ‘sport’ dominated government policy documents, with John Major implementing his ‘Raising the game’ ideology. With his main aims being to identify young people with talent quickly and systematically so that the correct provisions can be made to allow sporting talent to flourish (DfE, 2013). However, since the Millennium youth sport has been viewed as a vehicle to achieve wider social objectives such as health, crime, drugs and educational attainment.