Airborne Trampoline Newmarket

Why Sports? – Airborne Trampoline Newmarket Part 3

Being a coach of Airborne Trampoline Newmarket, I’ve researched the importance of sports and its impact on athletes of all ages. Globally, sport has been seen as a unifying force that transcends human social constructs, and as a pragmatic solution to many of the sociopolitical issues we currently face. Last year, the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace concluded with the recommendation, among others, to establish an International Day of Sport with the aim to mainstream sport in policy-making at all levels as a contribution to education, human development, healthy lifestyles and a peaceful world. In addition, a concrete call for action was made for governments to ensure the following: adequate financial resources for quality education; increase in investment for infrastructure development; provision of safe and accessible public spaces for physical activity and sport; increased contextualized and adapted sport-based initiatives for peace-building and violence prevention; inclusion of social development legacies as part of planning and implementation of all sports events; and the development and strengthening of monitoring and evaluation tools on the social and economic impact of sport; and finally more interdisciplinary research to provide scientific evidence and best practices of sport-based interventions. ³

“Sport can be a powerful handmaiden for peace and reconciliation. It can bring us closer through shared celebration of achievements of universal appeal and attraction.”

-Vuk Jeremić, President of the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly

The data in this paper provides a good basis for looking at sport as an engine for self-improvement (and development). From it, we can derive the physical, mental and social implications of playing together. It is neither easy, nor is it imperative to decide on a one particular activity in which to become involved; however, it is of great importance to take on the responsibility to give sports a good try, with the intention of knowing better what we enjoy doing. It is recommended that children be exposed to as many activities as possible while allowing them to observe their responsibility to commitment. In other words, children should try all activities they have access to, but should always be allowed to complete a given period of [time] involvement before stopping – the ramifications of “quitting” or “giving up” at the wrong time or for the wrong reason can imply detrimental consequences to the child’s mental and social development. Understanding these consequences and communicating them to the athlete is the direct responsibility of the coach, and by proxy, of the caregiver.

There is much more that can be presented as a direct result of playing sports. I encourage the reader to further their understanding of sport science, and by consequence of psychology and many other social sciences. I would like to conclude by reiterating two of the main points I have attempted to explain here. First, involvement in sports has the potential to be of great physical and mental benefit to the practitioner; it offers a great framework for self-enhancement. Second, that sport as a result of enhancing the individual will vastly affect the state of society. It would be easy, and many would be tempted to philosophize about these conclusions, yet, the essence of the message is better received in its simplicity: Why sports? Because it is good for us, and those around us.

1:http://www.sportanddev.org/en/learnmore/sport_and_health/the_health_benefits_of_sport_and_physical_activity/

2:http://www.truesport.org/library/documents/about/true_sport_report/True-Sport-Report.pdf

3:http://www.un.org/wcm/webdav/site/sport/shared/sport/Documents/Annual%20Report%202013/UNOSDP%20Annual%20Report%202013.pdf

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This article was created by Peyton Dracco, a Gymnastics Ontario and N.C.C.P. Certified Coach at Airborne Trampoline Newmarket.

Follow Peyton Dracco on Twitter at @pdracco

For more information on Airborne’s Trampoline Newmarket and Gymnastics Trampoline Programs, contact any Airborne location by jumping over to www.airbornetrampoline.ca