flyburst Blog

Physical Literacy and More - Day 2@ 2011 Sport for Life Canada

The Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) 2011 Workshops wrapped up on Thursday in Ottawa.   The day was dedicated to exploring how CS4L is working in schools, sports federations, and local governments.  Here are some of the key themes from the day:

•  “Physical Literacy.” Analogous to the capability to read, the CS4L folks believe that physical literacy will raise the odds that children will have the “motivation, confidence, and understanding to be physically active throughout their lives.”  For example, kids who are taught proper running and jumping techniques will be better equipped to participate in any sport and more likely avoid injuries (e.g., learning the right way to fall) that will keep them active. 

 

• Serving Kids with Special Needs.   Emphasis on learning fundamental movements and preparing for a life of physical activity also extends to kids with special needs. Delegates from the Special Olympics and other organizations representing the disabled participated fully in the conference and are extending the ideas into their programs.
  

• Greater Emphasis on Skill Development.  Numerous sports federations in Canada were experimenting with programs to refocus youth sports beyond competition to skill development.  For example, Baseball Canada initiated the “Rally Caps” program that awards kids different colored caps based on mastering certain baseball skills (similar to karate belts).

• The Unique Needs of Girls in Sports and Fitness. There were many sessions on how coaches, school programs, and sports organizations were addressing the social and psychological differences between boys and girls at different stages of development.   For example, at younger ages girls frequently grasp fundamental movement skills faster than boys.  Read more about these insights and how they can help guide parents, coaches, and teachers here.

 

Hats off to the Canadian Sports for Life movement.  The organizers and participants are advancing the theory and - more importantly - the practice about what works for kids with regards to sports and fitness.  For parents and sports providers in the US, we can learn much from the Canadian experience including the importance of gaining physical literacy, guidance for when to specialize in sports, and practices that work that can help contribute to a life commitment to fitness. 

For more information please visit the Canadian Sports for Life website.

 

Why basic movements and physical literacy is important...

(Sport for Life Canada Diagram)

 

 

Kids Standing Around Too Much at Practice?

Even Youth Sports Don't Provide Enough Exercise, Study Finds

(Republished from article on Dec 7, 2010 | 1:51 PM ET | By MyHealthNewsDaily Staff)

Only about one-fourth of children participating in organized sports such as baseball, softball or soccer are getting the government-recommended amount of physical activity during team practices, according to a new study.

Children and teens should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day, national guidelines say. But the study found that only 24 percent of youth in organized sports meet that recommendation.

"Based on current findings, it appears that youth sports practices are making a less-than-optimal contribution to the public health goals of increasing physical activity and preventing childhood obesity," researchers from San Diego State University and the University of California, San Diego, wrote in the study.

The researchers documented the physical activity of 200 kids ages 7 to 14 who played on 29 soccer, baseball or softball teams. They measured the youths' activity by having them wear accelerometers — small devices designed to detect motion — around their waists. Parents provided demographic, age, racial/ethnic, height and weight information about their children.

Overall, only 24 percent of the kids met the guidelines. Fewer than 10 percent of participants ages 11 to 14 and fewer than 2 percent of girl softball players reached the guideline, the study said.

Practices varied in length — ranging from 40 minutes to 130 minutes for soccer and 35 minutes to 217 minutes for baseball or softball. But kids were active for less than half the length of practices.

On average, youths were moderately to vigorously active for 45.1 minutes per practice, which is 46.1 percent of the practice time. Soccer players were active for an average of 13.7 more minutes and 10.6 percent more of practice time than baseball or softball players, the study said.

There were also differences in age and gender — boys were active 10.7 more minutes and 7.8 percent more of practice time than girls, the study said.

Kids ages 7 to 10 spent 7 more minutes and 5.8 percent more of practice time engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity than those ages 11 to 14, according to the study.

The researchers hope the findings will spur change in the design of youth sports to increase physical activity.

"The health effects of youth sports could be improved by adopting policies and practices that ensure youth obtain sufficient physical activity during practices," they wrote.

These improvements might include emphasizing participation over competition, creating teams for all skill levels and for all age groups, providing access for low-income youth, using pedometers and accelerometers to measure physical activity and providing coaches with strategies to increase physical activity, they said.

The study was published online Dec. 6 in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Pass it on: Just because your child is on a sports team, doesn't mean he or she is getting enough exercise. Make sure he or she gets 60 minutes of moderate to rigorous physical activity a day.

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Some comments on the Article from Nicole Sperekas, Ph.D and Author of A Sport for Every Kid

I believe I may have mentioned this in my book. Take baseball. When your team is batting, you're sitting in the dugout waiting for your turn to bat. Not very cardio. When your team is on the field, except for the pitcher and the catcher, there is a lot of standing around, waiting for the ball to be hit to you so you can field it. Even if the ball is coming to you, let's say you''re a shortstop: you may have to take a few steps to field the ball, then you throw the ball to first base. That's hardly 60 minutes of vigorous exercise. Even practices don't necessarily measure up.

Parents need to be educated and told that just being on a sports team doesn't assure that your child is going to get enough exercise. Depends a lot on what sport. Soccer --lots of running around, but I don't know if they get in 60 minutes.

 

Some individual sports such as tai kwon do and swimming perhaps come closer to meeting the required time. But not beginning tai kwon do and maybe not even beginning levels of swimming. Your black belts, maybe; high school swimming on up through college --probably.

 

Bascially, kids probably need to supplement whatever time they spend in youth sports with some more fitness type conditioning: cardio/strength/and balance.