Applied statics in Physical education and Sports
Today physical education must accept the challenge that children’s life
styles are becoming less physically active. Balanced physical
development, variety of motor experience, health promotion and sporting
ability are, therefore, central concerns of the subject. Modern physical
education is based upon bringing within reach of school boys and girls
the full range of physical exercise, from simple activities to the
complex world of sport. Health is important: physical education is not
just an important contribution to the promotion of health generally, but
the subject lends itself very well to contributing to the development
of health promoting organisations in individual schools. Adequate
resources, which are extensively given in Austria, are necessary.
Further, schools must look beyond the world of education for
partnerships with other organisations to realise the goal of daily
exercise - particularly for children and young people between the ages
of 6 and 14. In keeping with our efforts to cover the lifespan in this
special section of the newsletter, we have invited contributions that
focus on sport and physical activity in children, adolescents, and
adults. The goal of this issue is to highlight the range of approaches
to studying sport and exercise used across disciplines and cultural
settings, including reports from Egypt, Europe, Canada, and the US. As
noted in both commentaries by experts in sports and physical activity,
the diversity of research in this area presents challenges when trying
to advance theory about engagement in these contexts, but this set of
papers offers some promising leads. What unites the papers is the
careful attention to the importance of the sport or exercise context,
but they each highlight distinct aspects, including sport as an
empowerment opportunity and a physical activity as a motivational goal
domain in adulthood, with particular implications for lifelong health.