Explain the importance for safe participation for children in physical activity
Identify a range of ways sport can be modified for children |
Discuss methods that can be utilised to increase the engagement of children in sport
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Kids and sport – it’s a great mix. Playing sport helps children and teenagers build healthy minds, healthy bodies, friendships and life skills. By teaching your child how to be a good sport from early on, you help him get the most out of being part of the game.
Sport can give children the chance to
Sport also teaches children about how important it is to try hard, even if this doesn’t always mean winning.
Sport can give children the chance to
- learn about being part of a team,
- winning well,
- bouncing back from a loss
- coping with unpleasant experiences like injury.
Sport also teaches children about how important it is to try hard, even if this doesn’t always mean winning.
Modified sport Many popular sports in Australia modify the sport in some way to make it more accessible for children. This can give children a pathway into adult sport through a simpler, easier, safer version of the game.
Modifying the activity.
An important motivator is success, all kids need to succeed to have a positive experience and continue to participate. In these instances we may need to change the same activity.
An important motivator is success, all kids need to succeed to have a positive experience and continue to participate. In these instances we may need to change the same activity.
Moving away from competiton
Some organised sports shift the focus away from competition by getting rid of contact rules, ranks or finals. This helps to emphasise participation, rather than results, and reduces the risk of injury. They might use participation certificates rather than end-of-season trophies, and ask coaches and umpires to take a positive approach. |
The Developing Body
There is a lot of speculation on what activities kids should or should not do because they are developing and not coordinated enough and for safety reasons.
Do you think the following are okay for children say why you think yes or no?
There is a lot of speculation on what activities kids should or should not do because they are developing and not coordinated enough and for safety reasons.
Do you think the following are okay for children say why you think yes or no?
- Tackling in rugby
- Weight training for kids
- Contact fighting in martial arts
- Should competition be a part of young
Weight Training for Young Athletes
Strength and conditioning is a key element of technical training for adults and there has been much debate about whether weights or resistance training is appropriate for young people. |
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The current position on youth resistance training is that a properly designed and supervised training program is safe and can help to increase strength, prevent injury, and enhance motor skills and performance. Key recommendations about pre-adolescent strength training include:
- Strength training for pre-adolescent athletes should focus on skills and technique
- Children should work on strengthening all the big muscle groups, using free weight and body weight movements with relatively light loads
- Adolescents should initially perform one to three sets of 6-15 repetitions of a variety of exercises, beginning with a frequency of 2-3 days per week on non-consecutive days.
The government introduced the ACTIVE KIDS VOUCHERS to try and encourage more participation in physical activity for children as many were not achieving the National activity guidelines .
Only 1 in 10 (12%) children aged 5–12 and only 2% of young people aged 13–17 met both the physical activity and sedentary screen-based behavior guidelines. (AIWH) It has since been modified to the ACTIVE AND CREATIVE voucher |