News
For
SWIM
PARENTS
Published by The American
Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
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Lifetime Fitness
Growing recognition that many American children are neither developing
sufficient fitness, nor learning appropriate lifetime health habits has caused
leading physical educators to re-evaluate their long-time methods and shed the
traditional coach/drill sergeant image for an educational approach that gives
young students the tools for lifetime fitness.
Ron Feingold, Ph.D. of Adelphi University in N.Y., and one of the leaders in
this movement explains,”To me, what's relevant is what they learn about fitness,
and how do they feel about physical activity. The goal should be to get them to
enjoy fitness and physical activities and to understand their benefits."
Accordingly, progressive P.E. teachers are exchanging their former emphasis on
teaching competitive sports skills and administering competitive fitness tests
for an approach that encourages students to adopt "appropriate lifelong exercise
behavior," and a healthy appreciation for physical activity. The
proverbial "ounce of prevention" will help children improve their long term
health prospects by developing healthy lifestyle habits from an early age.
The new priority is that kids should know how their bodies work after they've
had 12 years of physical education. As one teacher said: "It's more
important that they understand how to develop strength and cardiovascular
fitness, how to train safely, and to have a basic understanding of what happens
when you move, than to know how to shoot a basketball."
The changing focus of thinking about youth fitness is also leading to a
re-examination of fitness testing methods. Such competitive tests as the
Presidential Physical Fitness Test tended to discourage those children who
needed help the most. Kids who performed poorly were embarrassed both by
taking the fitness test and by their results, while better athletes were
rewarded for their performances.
That test has now been adjusted to make it an educational process and to focus
on personal improvement rather than performance level with rewards and
recognition to those making progress from previous tests. "We want kids to
buy into the idea that it's the activity that's important and the performance
score is secondary," says Dr. Marilu Meredith, director of youth fitness
programs for the Institute of Aerobics Research. "If we can impart an
activity habit - and keep it fun - they'll stay active and they will be fit."
What actions can both parents and age group coaches take to import these ideas
into age group swimming?
1) Consciously communicate to kids the importance of aerobic fitness and
"healthy hearts" by raising their level of awareness of swimming's aerobic
benefits.
2) Be more conscious of the importance of your own role modeling in maintaining
good health through personal fitness programs.
3) Balance emphasis on achievement and performance for age groupers with
emphasis on the simple values of participation for the long term and communicate
swimming as simply the first step in a lifelong fitness habit.
4) Tie in the value of good nutritional habits, not simply for better
performance, but for health's sake.
If we adopt a health-related outlook for age group swimming we'll be giving the
kids in our programs a form of lifelong health insurance that can't be purchased
at any cost.