B451 Opportunities and Pathways For Involvement in Physical Activity

• Walking 46 %

• Swimming 35 %

• Aerobics and dance exercise / yoga / Fitness 22 %

• Cycling 19 %

• Snooker and pool 17 %

• Men getting involved in physical activity 51 %

• Women getting involved in physical activity 36 %

• Men who belong to a club  44 %

• Women who belong to a club 31 %

• Men who compete in physical activity 40 %

• Women who compete in physical activity 14 %

As you can see men tend to be more interested in sport than women are. This could be the fact that women have work commitments, or have to look after the children, or have no confidence, maybe they are worried people will judge them, maybe it is a lack of role models, to inspire women of their own age.

• 16-19 year olds who are involved in physical activity (including walking) 77%

• Over 70 year old who are involved in physical activity (including walking) 30%

• 16-17 year olds who are involved in physical activity (excluding walking) 72%

• Over 70 year olds who are involved in physical activity (excluding walking) 14%

Walking is the most popular activity for all age groups. Participation rate in walking increase from

• 29 % for those aged 16-19

• 40 % for those aged 45-59

Sports such as cycling and running tend to be more popular with younger age groups. However participation in golf is maintain at a similar level until the age of 69 with the average of participants aged 42. Participation rates in swimming and fitness remain similar levels between the ages of 16 and 44 and then the fall. People also swim at ages 60-69 because of “over 50’s” lane swimming and discounts for elderly people because they are not in employment.

• health reasons - management of stress - you might exercise to relieve stress after work or school; illness, sport can make us fitter therefore more healthier; sport can improve our mood and our health and well-being because we are normally more positive when we have done exercise and feel more optimistic about life and better about ourselves; and for doing sport you become more healthier if you are more healthier you live longer therefore your life expectancy increases.
• image - You participate in physical activity to maintain a healthy body image, this can increase your self-esteem, which gives you more confidence and makes you a happier.
• enjoyment - You join a running club because you find jogging fun and you want to go to the next level and meet new people.  
• social/friendship - You join a local athletics club to meet and make new friends.
• hobby - You decide to go running training instead of attending revision sessions for school or work commitments.
• parental/role model influences - You go running training because your parents have always encouraged you to go and you enjoy it too.
• vocation/profession - You decide to become a PE teacher when you are older because you love sport and children.

• health reasons, including disability - you stop exercising because of a heart condition, you cannot exercise as you were born with a disability 
• injury - you cannot exercise because you have an achilles injury
• discrimination - Not allowing women to play in contact sport because they are said to be “too weak”.
• peer pressure - you stop going to basketball club because your friends want you to go out with them. Your parents want you to win a 10km as the prize is £200 and it can pay for treatment for your grandad’s illness.
• cultural - your culture may frown on you as a female participating in contact sports
• other pressures/interests - you do not have enough free time to get involved in physical activities because of school work, or other commitments.  
• the technological/sedentary lifestyle - you prefer playing on your games console and eating unhealthy to going to do exercise and eating healthy food
• lack of confidence/self esteem - you feel that you will be no good at the activity so you do not want to take part, you feel as though people are going to judge you if you are bad at the activity.
• lack of role model/parental support - your parents do not participate in physical exercise and they do not encourage you too.
• lack of opportunity - there are few facilities near to your home like a leisure centre, swimming pool, parks and fields.

Age

• People are very careful of children not doing too much sport because childrens muscles and bones are fragile and weak because they are constantly growing. A child aged 8 should do about 2-3 hours of physical activity a week, normally children aged 11-16 are recommended to do 5 hours of physical activity a week, this is because they are a little bit older and can manage more hours.

• On the other hand adults tend to find it really hard to fit in sport. This is because they have a lot more things to do in a day. Normally adults try to fit in 2 hours of physical activity a week.  

• As you become older your bones and muscles are weaker and more prone to injury elderly people (over 65 years) are recommended to at least do 2 and half hours of walking, cycling and running.

Gender

• Certain activities that were traditionally for men, women may find hard and might be afraid to compete in them. Also women may get injured easily because they are not as strong as men. For example women who play contact sports like rugby need to be careful because they could get injured or hurt quite easily.

Education

• At school children are now educated about an active healthy lifestyle in PE, by posters, and in PSHE lessons. For example. being educated about the health benefits of exercise.

Family

• Normally a child will take after their parent. If their parents don't like sport it is most likely that the child will not too. Also parents who aren’t interested may not encourage their child.

• Or some families may be poor and do  not have to finical support to pay for travel, equipment, membership etc.

Disability

• If you have a disability you may be discriminated against the access to certain facilities, you may not be able to take part in certain activities. e.g. this may limit the amount of activity that can be undertaken

Ethnicity

• Some ethnic groups may disapprove of certain types of physical activity for certain age groups. e.g. you may feel discriminated against in a sports club because you are in a minority

Religion

• You might have to wear certain clothes that you cannot wear for sport.  You may not be allowed to compete in certain activities or at certain times

Environment

• If you live in an environment that has poor facilities and inappropriate terrain, then you may be less unlikely to be involved in outdoor activities.

Climate

• If someone is really interested in skiing but lives in England there is barely no snow, this means that it is harder and more expensive to arrange areas for dry-slope skiing as an alternative. 

National curriculum

The national curriculum is a government list of courses in Key stages that must be delivered in a state schools from Primary schools up to the age of 16 in secondary schools. The National curriculum is to get as many children as possible to actively participate in physical activities and sport. PE also involves learning about health, fitness and diet as well as sport and physical activity.

The national curriculum makes schools from all over the country pick four areas of activities in Key stage 3 these are

• Dance

• Games

• Gymnastics

• Swimming and water safety

• Athletics

• Outdoor and Adventurous activities.

• From the early stages of life children learn simple fundamental motor skills such as how to run or how to jump. However as children get older they learn how to do a more skilled technique using fundamental motor skills. These skills and techniques that you develop can help you in a variety of sports, for example being able to sprint can help you in sports like netball because you need to get to places fast to defend the ball or catch it. Skills such as hitting and throwing take a lot longer to master.

• The school curriculums aim is for students to be able to improve the range of difficulty and quality of their skill and techniques. For example practicing throwing and catching a rounders ball with a partner will make it become more easier for you when you have to catch out an opponent in a game. Also to make the skill more complex try catching in different ways such as one handed, or above your head. Also you could try throwing in different ways such as under arm, over arm and above your head.

• The school curriculum also aims for students to develop consistency with which they use and perform skills with precision, control and fluency. Because the students have practiced and rehearsed all the skills in PE lessons the School expects them to be able to produce the skills in a game when necessary without thinking as they are so use to performing and they know when to use them in a game.

• Students should be able to select and use tactics, strategies and compositional ideas in complex and demanding activities. For example students should understand the skills and games really well in physical activities so that they can apply the skill when needed in the game by themselves.

• Students should be able to design original and effective plans that improve their own and others performance.

• Students should be able to respond effectively and imaginatively to changing circumstances as they arise during a performance such as taking the role of an official, e.g. being the referee during a PE football lesson gives you a chance to experience sport and physical activity in a different role and develop your decision making skills, which can be used in other activities.

• Students should be able to organise manage the environment they are working on to ensure health, safety and well-being of themselves and others. For example students in year 10 should understand how to set up a rounders pitch correctly and safely without being told because they have played it for three years.

• Students should be able to analyse how mental and physical capacity affects performance. For example improving your speed over a longer distance, training to improve your speed endurance. Having the mental strength to run quicker over a longer distance to allow you to perform better in a range of physical activity.

• students should also be able to maintain and develop their physical strength, stamina, speed and flexibility to cope with demands of different activities and active lifestyles. As you get older you begin to lose flexibility it is really important that you remain stretching at least for 5 minutes a day this is because your range of movement around a joint becomes less flexible as you age  meaning that a person word eventually struggle reaching a biscuit out of the cupboard or picking up a child’s shoe. If a person plays a lot of sport they need to have strength and stamina to continue going, for example in cross-country people need, to have a lot of muscular endurance in their legs and cardiovascular endurance to allow them to maintain the same pace for the whole distance. In everyday life people need to have strength for when they want to carry the heavy shopping up stairs or into the house. People also need stamina to keep on going, at work or school. People need speed in physical activity if they were to play netball they need to think quickly and sprint to defend the opponent or catch the ball. In everyday life people need speed incase if they were late for a bus or late for a meeting etc.

• Students should also prepare mentally for successful involvement in physical activity, performance and engagement in healthy active, lifestyle.

• Students should be able to critically evaluate, analyse and judge the quality and effectiveness of performances such as when trying to perfect a technique in a physical activity, for example. evaluating yourself and identifying ways to improve your fosbury flop in high jump. Being able to identify and improve aspects of performance can make you more confident in the activity and want to continue taking part and improving

• Students should be able to make informed decisions about how to improve the quality and effectiveness of their own and others performances

• Students should be able to develop and create an action plan to improve the quality and effectiveness of performance

• Students should be able to design original and effective plans that improve the quality of their own and others involvement in healthy, active lifestyle.

• Students should be able to identify the types of physical activity available to them and the roles they would like to take on. At schools students understand that their are free opportunities to go to extra-curricular clubs at lunch times, and after schools, you can take part in being a performer, official, or a leader. For example in netball a person sits out and is the referee for a while, to make sure that the game is played correctly. (This is the student's own decision to go to these extra-curricular clubs.)   

• Students should be able to link physical activity with diet, work and rest for personal health and well-being. After learning about a balanced diet in PE Students want to have a balanced diet as it allows students to participate more effectively in physical activities because they feel healthier and more active

• Students should be able to make informed decisions about getting involved in a lifetime of healthy and physical activities that suit their needs.

regularly getting involved in Physical Education

Attending and fully participating in PE lessons that involve physical activity with very little excuses of not being able to participate. Bringing along correct clothing and equipment. Additionally you may attend extra-curricular clubs or play for sports teams in your school. Attending dance fitness or sports clubs outside or inside school, making choices to lead a healthy lifestyle and improve fitness.

Eg, attending every PE lesson possible and trying your hardest by working to your full capacity.

taking part in school and community sport and dance opportunities

This involves taking up the opportunities that are available either in school or in your local community. Your school may run extra-curricular clubs after school or at lunchtimes, eg playing for the school hockey team and your local community could run activities to get involved in on evenings or weekends eg going to a local athletics club.

deciding to become a performer, leader, coach or official and working towards accreditation

In physical activity you can gain coaching badges and awards for good participation these awards and badges can really motivate people to be involved in physical activities

e.g. taking a coaching badge in basketball, getting an award for hard work in training and knocking 8 seconds off your 1500m PB.  

being involved in increasingly complex and challenging tasks and activities and reaching the highest possible standards of involvement in physical activity

When you are involved in physical activity you may wish to push further because you want to become a more successful athlete. Taking on a physical challenge can be motivating, signing up for a 10km race or a marathon involves commitment to training.  You could aim to represent your county or country, achieving a challenge can be satisfying and raises your confidence, unrealistic goals can have a negative impact if they are not achieved so they should all be realistic.

e.g. training hard to get into the county netball team, training hard to get into English Schools athletics.

Reaching the highest possible standards of involvement in physical activity

This pathway can be spread amongst a performer, coach and official. You can reach the highest standard in all these roles, however it is about you ability and the time you have available to train to become this successful. This is your profession normally so you can manage fitting in with your daily schedule.

Eg. representing your country at the olympics as a marathon runner.

pursuing routes into sport and physical activity through volunteering

Volunteering is when you help someone without asking for anything in return. Many sports clubs rely on volunteer. You could coach athletes without being paid any money, or being a team manager and organising the athletic squad. Some volunteering roles could be helping with refreshments at athletic meets for the people watching, You could also be helping young children how to ride their bikes over a park. You can also volunteer to help out in national and international competitions for example at World Championships they rely heavily on volunteers.

e.g. volunteering to coach the local Scouts football team. Volunteering to give out the athletes numbers at a cross-country event.