Member's News
No.40
January 2004
 
    

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