To Increase participation and healthy active lifestyles of other young people
Your first Young Ambassador challenge is all about increasing the amount of participation for other young people in sport and physical activity and promoting healthy active lifestyles. This supports the IOC value of personal excellence as being physically active is key to achieving optimum health.
Some background information
Did you know that being sedentary (inactive) is this countries biggest cause of premature death?
Our bodies were designed to be active. A necessary part of the life of your average cave man was spent hunting and gathering food and avoiding becoming food for others! This means that when we are inactive, our bodies store fat, and function at a slower rate – causing many and varied diseases; obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, type II diabeties and some forms of cancer. The problem is that so many people are inactive as compared to the number who smoke or drink excessively that the problem has reached epidemic proportions.
On the other hand, being physically active has huge benefits and not just to the body. In recent controlled studies in the United States a large group of patients diagnosed with depression were split into two groups. The first were given anti depressant medication and the second were given a programme of regular exercise. Results showed that those who were given the exercise programme improved their mental health by the same amount as those who were given medication. Other studies have shown that people who undertake regular physical activity are significantly less likely to suffer mental health problems than those who are sedentary.
Further reasons to be physically active are the social benefits. As Young Ambassadors you will no doubt have gained enormously from being involved in sport and physical activity. For those who are inactive the reverse is often true. The Youth Sport Trust is currently working with the MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it!) programme for overweight and obese children and many of the inactive children coming onto the programme report that they do not have many friends, are bullied at school, but that once they have completed the 10 week exercise and nutrition programme, have made new friends, improved their self confidence and have dealt with bullying issues.
What type of activity is best to improve health?
Here, we have clear guidelines about the minimum recommended levels for health gain which for children are 5 hours per week. At a practical level though, the answer is that whatever activity young people enjoy doing is the best because that is the one they will continue to do.
Some young people love competitive sport, working in a team situation, or performing in front of others and really pushing themselves physically. The chances are though that this describes the sporty types and not those that are currently the least active. These are the young people that will benefit most from taking up more sport and physical activity and potentially those you can do most to help work towards personal excellence and a healthier future. What activity to offer and how to provide it though are key considerations in determining likely participation.
Targeted activity programmes
The Youth Sport Trust is involved in delivering a number of programmes aimed at increasing participation in sport and physical activity by those who are currently the least active. These will not be taking place in every partnership but you may recognise some and by talking to your Partnership Development Manager will be able to find out what is on offer and what other activities are being undertaken to involve young people in sport.
Programme |
Target group |
What can YA’s do to increase participation |
|
TOP Activity |
7-11 year olds who are disengaged from traditional sports. |
Volunteer leadership time to support the delivery of this programme, run TA games at lunchtimes, lead a school assembly on non traditional sports including a dance session using the CD and DVD to help |
|
MEND Programme |
Overweight and obese 7–13 year olds and their parents |
Is MEND taking place in your School Sport Partnership? |
|
Schools on the Move |
Pupils in years 6 to 9 |
Could you raise the profile of this, set a challenge by role modelling, use the website to interact with others in your partnership? |
|
Key stage one participation awards |
Pupils in years 1 and 2 |
Could you take part in a celebration event? Could you set challenges, lead activity at lunchtimes or afterschool, promote in school assembly |
These are examples of some of the activity programmes the Youth Sport Trust is involved in delivery to increase participation by all young people in sport and physical activity. More information on these and other programmes can be found at: www.Youth Sport Trust: Innovation and Development
How to deliver activity
This doesn’t just relate to good coaching versus bad coaching but how children are grouped and supported. One of the key lessons learnt from involvement in the MEND childhood obesity programme is that it is not always the type of activity that determines whether children enjoy it or not but how it is delivered.
While MEND programmes start by predominantly using TOP Activity as the exercise element of the course, exercise leaders have found that by the middle of the programme the children are asking to play football, cricket and other more traditional sports. This is because they feel unthreatened and supported playing against other overweight and obese children in a group which has been created to be supportive rather than competitive.
The First Challenge
1. Talk to your PDM about what the partnership are currently doing to increase participation in sport and physical activity by the least active young people.
2. Find out about the Healthy Schools Programme and see if you can help your school and other schools in the School Sport Partnership to achieve one of the targets in its Healthy Schools Development Plan. http://www.healthyschools.gov.uk/favicon.ico
3. Find out if you are running any of the Youth Sport Trust or other targeted programmes for sedentary children. Can you undertake any of the suggestions in the table above
4. Could you run a focus (discussion) group or ask a question on line to find out from young people in your school or one of your partner schools what activities they would like to do