INTRODUCTION OF YOUTHS SPORTS PROGRAM Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note INTRODUCTION Small neighborhood schools act as anchors in a community where sporting activities can take place. It got enhanced after 1950s, when most states announced of increasing sitting facilities in the schools so that sporting activities can be organized inside … Continue reading “YOUTHS SPORTS PROGRAM | My Assignment Tutor”
INTRODUCTION OF YOUTHS SPORTS PROGRAM Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note INTRODUCTION Small neighborhood schools act as anchors in a community where sporting activities can take place. It got enhanced after 1950s, when most states announced of increasing sitting facilities in the schools so that sporting activities can be organized inside the schools. To qualify for state funding, these schools must have a minimum space within the school compound. This is the reason that several schools have sporting facilities in the outskirts of towns and cities. These facilities are used to encourage various youth sports programs. These programs are important as they contribute to the fitness of the students and promote unity among the members of the community. Issues such as racism and low self-confidence can be countered with the help of sport programs. A sports team has members from various race and background which helps the others to know about other communities (Bunds et al., 2018). DISCUSSION Sports-based youth development should be the aim of the implementation of every youth sports program in the school. These programs help in the holistic development of the students and empower them. Adult leaders can play an important role in these programs. Sports participation can give the youth several opportunities to go to various places with the help of summer camps and school physical education programs. Most of the youths in the United States of America participate in sports while the rest get the chance of pursuing school physical education courses. Some of them also participate in afterschool physical activity programs. Adult leaders can help the youths by addressing developmental assets, such as, helping in the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Several schools have adopted restorative practices to resolve conflicts between students. Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility is another tool that can be used to develop life skills within the students through sporting activities. It also helps the coaches to link this program to other programs of the school (Hemphill et al., 2018). Youth sports programs can protect the students from health-related disorders. There is a close relationship between sports and various disorders. More participation in sporting activities lead the students to live a more physically active life. The age group of 9 to 18 years is important because during these ages the students have the most chance to either get fit or lead an unfit life. Teenagers who are attached to sporting activities develop a tendency to exercise every day. People who participate in sporting activities at an early age are more likely to stay fit more than the ones who participated in sporting activities in the older age. Sports make the youths energetic and there are studies to prove that youths participating in sports can expend more energy than normal students. Children can get benefited more from sporting activities taking place outside the schools than inside it. Therefore, youth sports programs should be introduced in the schools so that schools can effectively promote sports (Lee, Pope & Gao, 2018). A good youth sports program helps the students by providing them with various social, educational, and life benefits. These benefits include establishing close relationship with peers, teachers and coaches. Youth sports programs can also element self-regulation and self-determination within the students. It also helps in connecting good family, neighborhood and school practices. In the sports program, the students must be given reflection times in which they will reflect on their performance of the day. They would be told to think whether they could achieve the day’s goals. Designers of the programs must include helpful models which will benefit the students. Communities which are consist of low-income families can be effectively targeted with help of youth sports programs. Students coming from these backgrounds can create a source of income with the help of sports which are introduced to them by the youth sports programs. Program leaders and designers must regularly meet to plan and update the program. Children can get to learn about life skills which will be helpful to them in their future (Jacobs et al., 2017). There are youths who are socially vulnerable and can be helped by life skill developments which can be enhanced within them by youth sport programs. Socially vulnerable youths are those youths who live in a low socioeconomic status area or receive residential care and counselling. They stay stressed daily. Some of their problems include poverty and low housing quality. The stressors they come across daily may lead them to feelings of incompetence and social disconnectedness. These young boys and girls do not have any ambition and they hardly participate in any meaningful activity. Youth sports programs are one of the positive youth developments which aim to show that youths who are socially vulnerable have the potential to develop life skills. Implementation of good life skills by the youths can lead to well-being in the future, improved academic performance and job satisfaction. Life skills can be defined as those skills which help an individual to succeed in different environments like school, home and neighborhood (Hermens et al., 2017). Apart from physical exercises, good nutritional foods are also important for the students. Through the youth sports program, the students can be informed about the various nutritional foods which they must consume in order to become healthy. With the increase in age, physical exercises of a person decrease. He or she cannot consume the right amount of nutritional foods. It can affect the health and weight of the body in the long-term if a good diet and physical activities are not maintained. If positive changes are not done in eating habits and physical activities, then students may grow up into overweight individuals. While the students are young, the school can develop youth sports programs which can help them by teaching them life skills and preventing obesity. Students can get to know about grocery shopping and cooking through sports programs in schools. They also get to know how to fuel or hydrate their bodies or if they need any food supplement. Young athletes, in most of the times, do not make healthy choices and therefore, these programs can prove to be helpful (Manore et al., 2017). Schools must make changes in their policies so that more times are provided to the students for physical activities. Short-term school programs to encourage students for physical activities did not result in desirable results. Physical activity policies and sports programs are connected to each other in the schools. Therefore, program designers and policymakers should come up with appropriate policies which will align effectively to the required physical activities of the students. They should do away with short-term programs which have moderate impact on the physical activities of the students. There are social and environmental factors that affect the physical activities of the students. Schools play an important role in providing the youths with opportunities to enhance their physical activities. Poor physical education policies in the schools affect the health of the students. In some cases, weather conditions too play a huge role in the practice of physical activities among the students. Students participating in intramural sports have the possibility of becoming most active (Katapally et al., 2018). Youth sports programs in schools is an excellent way to promote youth physical activities and fitness in the schools. It is important for the enhancement of physical literacy within the student by educating them about regular physical activities and physical fitness. After a certain point of time and age, a decline can be seen in physical activities and fitness among the students. Prevalent sedentary behaviors such as screen viewing to affect the health of the students. Sedentary behaviors are those behaviors which make a person stay in a sitting or a reclining posture for a long period of time. These behaviors affect weight and health statuses of the body. It is important to tell the students to move more and sit less. Although, physical activities and physical fitness both are important but physical activity leads to physical fitness. Physical activities help in responding to school programming within a short period of time. That is why, physical activities during youth are important. Students receive education on knowledge and skills by participating in youth sports programs (Chen, Liu & Schaben, 2017). CONCLUSION Hence, it can be seen that how important it is to implement youth sports program in the schools. These programs implement fitness and life skill lessons within the students. It is the responsibility of the designers of such programs to put emphasis on physical activities and fitness so that they students become more confident and fir in their future. Reference Bunds, K. S., Kanters, M. A., Venditti, R. A., Rajagopalan, N., Casper, J. M., & Carlton, T. A. (2018). Organized youth sports and commuting behavior: The environmental impact of decentralized community sport facilities. Transport Res Part D Transport Environ, 65, 387-395 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.08.017 Chen, S., Liu, Y., & Schaben, J. (2017). To move more and sit less: Does physical activity/fitness knowledge matter in youth? Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 36(2), 142-151 https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2016-0137 Hemphill, M., Janke, E., Gordon, B., & Farrar, H. (2018). Restorative youth sports: An applied model for resolving conflicts and building positive relationships 10.5195/jyd.2018.603 Hermens, N., Super, S., Verkooijen, K.T. and Koelen, M.A., 2017. A systematic review of life skill development through sports programs serving socially vulnerable youth. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 88(4), pp.408-424 https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2017.1355527 Jacobs, J. M., Lawson, M., Ivy, V. N., & Richards, K. A. R. (2017). Enhancing the transfer of life skills from sport-based youth development programs to school, family, and community settings. Journal of Amateur Sport, 3(3), 20-43 https://doi.org/10.17161/jas.v3i3.6514 Katapally, T. R., Laxer, R. E., Qian, W., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2018). Do school physical activity policies and programs have a role in decreasing multiple screen time behaviours among youth? Preventive medicine, 110, 106-113 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.11.026 Lee, J. E., Pope, Z., & Gao, Z. (2018). The role of youth sports in promoting children’s physical activity and preventing pediatric obesity: a systematic review. Behavioral Medicine, 44(1), 62-76 https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2016.1193462 Manore, M. M., Patton-Lopez, M. M., Meng, Y., & Wong, S. S. (2017). Sport nutrition knowledge, behaviors and beliefs of high school soccer players. Nutrients, 9(4), 350 https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9040350
