International Youth Sports Summit
Mr Fred Engh
President NAYS, USA |
|
An international contingent of youth sports professionals
are calling on school systems and the food and beverage industry to join
the battle against obesity, that is plaguing children worldwide.
The challenge was issued during the International Youth Sports Summit,
a historic gathering of delegates from more than 20 countries that convened
in Atlanta, Georgia, in mid-September, 2003 to confront the obesity
epidemic and lack of physical activity that exists among many of the
world’s youth.
The International Youth Sports Summit delegation overwhelmingly supports
a worldwide initiative to encourage the food and beverage industry to
earmark funding for programs that will educate children and families
on the importance of developing sound nutritional habits, as well as
active lifestyles.
The delegation also recommended that school systems adopt mandatory
policies whereby children must participate in some form of athletic
activity either in or out of school each year.
‘Obesity is a major health problem in the United States and in
many parts of the world,’ said Fred Engh, founder and president
of the National Alliance For Youth Sports, a nonprofit organization
that hosted the Summit. ‘What is being done now is clearly not
working. This is a health crisis that we all must be willing to fight
because the lives of too many children are at stake.’
Roughly 3 out of 5 kids ages 9 to 13 report that they don’t participate
in sports or other coached physical activities outside school, according
to a first-of-its-kind nationwide survey of children and their parents
recently released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
in Atlanta. Furthermore, about one in four kids in that age group had
gotten no exercise at all outside school in the previous week.
‘Children are required to take academic subjects like math and
history, so it is only logical that we require them to participate in
some form of physical activity, too,’ Engh said. ‘After
all, a healthy body and healthy mind go hand in hand. In addition, the
food and beverage industry has a great opportunity to help ensure the
health and well being of countless children and their families.’
Delegates representing China, Russia, Cambodia, Australia, Greece,
Hungary, Kenya, Nepal, Zambia, New Zealand, Ghana, and Egypt, among
others, participated in the Summit.
‘Obesity today necessitates an international action for the elaboration
of a common strategy to fight this disease before it is too late,’
said Said Lamrini, the National Technical Director for the Ministry
of Youth and Sports in Rabat, Morocco.
The Summit was held in light of some rather disturbing figures that
have been released regarding this public health concern that continues
to spiral out of control.
Obesity rates have risen drastically in the U.S., as 13 percent of
children and adolescents are now overweight or obese, which represents
more than a doubling in the last 30 years. One in five Hispanic and
African-American children are overweight and there has been a ten-fold
increase in the number of children with adult-onset diabetes in the
last five years. At-risk and overweight children increasingly suffer
from depression, anxiety, social angst, diabetes and other health problems,
and are more likely to grow up to be obese adults.
‘Sedentary lifestyles, even with moderate calorie intake, often
leads to obesity, especially in rich, so called civilized societies,’
said Dr. Zsolt Radak, the Senior Sports Executive for the Faculty of
Physical Education and Sport Science at Semmelweis University in Budapest,
Hungary. ‘We have to build a stronger and more effective physical
activity program for children and convince families of its importance
as well.’
The quality of physical education programs in schools worldwide was
also closely examined at the Summit. While it is evident that children
are eating more and exercising less these days, another culprit is the
declining number of high schools in the U.S. that are offering physical
education classes.
‘It’s time we faced reality and found strategies that will
give children viable options to the lack of support for physical education
programs in our schools,’ said Dr. Mike Gray, vice president of
the National Alliance For Youth Sports. ‘The Summit’s delegation
recommendation to mandate that all children participate in appropriate
physical activity in or out of school is an important first step in
helping to put a stop to the sedentary lifestyles many children are
leading.’
The effects of a non-active lifestyle can be seen among the U.S. adult
population in which obesity rates have risen drastically in the last
decade, from 12 percent to 20 percent. Nearly 30 percent of African-American
adults and 23 percent of Hispanic adults are obese. Furthermore, minority
groups and those with less education and lower incomes are much more
likely to be overweight and obese.
Similar obesity rates among children can also be found in Costa Rica,
Russia, Brazil, China, South Africa, and many parts of Europe, as well
as many other regions of the world.
‘School children have tasks and have homework on
every school subject except physical education,’ said Dr. Nikolai
Borovkov, deputy director general of the Moscow City Sports Association.
Mr Fred Engh
President
National Alliance for Youth Sports
2050 Vista Parkway
West Palm Beach
FL 33411
USA
Tel: + 1 561 6841141
Fax: + 1 561 684 2546
Email:

http://www.icsspe.org/portal/bulletin-january2004.htm
International Youth Sports Summit
Mr Fred Engh,
President, NAYS, USA
|