Healthy Sport Index<\/a> ranks the 10 top high school girls\u2019 and boys\u2019 sports, based on research into their levels of physical activity, safety and psychosocial impacts. The index also suggests complementary sports that may help high-school athletes develop relevant skills while keeping them in good physical condition.<\/p>\nA product of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, the index is tunable, allowing parents and students more interested in specific impacts \u2013 safety, for example \u2013 to place greater weight on those impacts. So boys\u2019 tennis, the top boys\u2019 sport for safety in the list, may be more appealing to those concerned with safety than soccer, which is 7th on the safety list.<\/p>\n
North Carolina State University researchers worked with the Aspen Institute to provide analyses on the physical activity levels of each of the sports.<\/p>\n
Michael Kanters, professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State and member of the Healthy Sport Index advisory board, said he and NC State colleagues partnered with the N.C. High School Athletic Association to gain access to high schools from every region of North Carolina.<\/p>\n
The NC State team recruited and trained high school teachers to follow sports teams for an entire season \u2013 from the first week of practice to the end of the season \u2013 to monitor player physical activity. Observers used an iPad and a specially designed app to record observations of athletes\u2019 physical activity levels (sedentary, moderate, vigorous) and the context of the activity (e.g., game simulations, skill practice, teaching specific skills or procedures).<\/p>\n
\u201cA sport like cheerleading really surprised us, because we thought it would rank higher on the physical activity scale,\u201d Kanters said. \u201cBut observers noted a lot of sedentary activity while squads discussed different ways of performing cheers.\u201d Cheerleading ranks 10th out of 10 girls\u2019 sports in physical activity on the index.<\/p>\n
Observers transmitted student physical activity every week, providing NC State researchers with real-time data to monitor variations or anomalies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe point is to keep kids moving to combat the obesity epidemic,\u201d Kanters said. \u201cSports are still an important platform to facilitate more physical activity for children.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kanters said that the tool\u2019s ultimate goal is to provide valuable information on sports while avoiding value judgements.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want parents to have more information when deciding which sports may be appropriate for their children, and to help alleviate their concerns about injury, for example,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also want parents to have real conversations with their children about what high schoolers want to achieve by playing a sport. Finally, we want to minimize sport specialization \u2013 or playing just one sport all year. That\u2019s why the complementary sport suggestions are there \u2013 to build similar skill sets that encourage participation in multiple sports or in sports that you can play for a lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faculty members Mike\u00a0Edwards, Jason Boccaro and Jonathan Casper, along with Ph.D. student Troy Carlton, were part of the NC State research team.<\/p>\n
– kulikowski –<\/p>\n
This post was originally published<\/a> in NC State News.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false,"raw":"Parents and high-school athletes looking for information on the benefits and risks of various sports now have a new interactive tool to help them make informed decisions about which sports might help athletes achieve personal, physical and developmental goals.\r\n\r\nThe new Healthy Sport Index<\/a> ranks the 10 top high school girls\u2019 and boys\u2019 sports, based on research into their levels of physical activity, safety and psychosocial impacts. The index also suggests complementary sports that may help high-school athletes develop relevant skills while keeping them in good physical condition.\r\n\r\nA product of the Aspen Institute Sports & Society Program, the index is tunable, allowing parents and students more interested in specific impacts \u2013 safety, for example \u2013 to place greater weight on those impacts. So boys\u2019 tennis, the top boys\u2019 sport for safety in the list, may be more appealing to those concerned with safety than soccer, which is 7th on the safety list.\r\n\r\nNorth Carolina State University researchers worked with the Aspen Institute to provide analyses on the physical activity levels of each of the sports.\r\n\r\nMichael Kanters, professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State and member of the Healthy Sport Index advisory board, said he and NC State colleagues partnered with the N.C. High School Athletic Association to gain access to high schools from every region of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nThe NC State team recruited and trained high school teachers to follow sports teams for an entire season \u2013 from the first week of practice to the end of the season \u2013 to monitor player physical activity. Observers used an iPad and a specially designed app to record observations of athletes\u2019 physical activity levels (sedentary, moderate, vigorous) and the context of the activity (e.g., game simulations, skill practice, teaching specific skills or procedures).\r\n\r\n\u201cA sport like cheerleading really surprised us, because we thought it would rank higher on the physical activity scale,\u201d Kanters said. \u201cBut observers noted a lot of sedentary activity while squads discussed different ways of performing cheers.\u201d Cheerleading ranks 10th out of 10 girls\u2019 sports in physical activity on the index.\r\n\r\nObservers transmitted student physical activity every week, providing NC State researchers with real-time data to monitor variations or anomalies.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe point is to keep kids moving to combat the obesity epidemic,\u201d Kanters said. \u201cSports are still an important platform to facilitate more physical activity for children.\u201d\r\n\r\nKanters said that the tool\u2019s ultimate goal is to provide valuable information on sports while avoiding value judgements.\r\n\r\n\u201cWe want parents to have more information when deciding which sports may be appropriate for their children, and to help alleviate their concerns about injury, for example,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also want parents to have real conversations with their children about what high schoolers want to achieve by playing a sport. Finally, we want to minimize sport specialization \u2013 or playing just one sport all year. That\u2019s why the complementary sport suggestions are there \u2013 to build similar skill sets that encourage participation in multiple sports or in sports that you can play for a lifetime.\u201d\r\n\r\nFaculty members Mike\u00a0Edwards, Jason Boccaro and Jonathan Casper, along with Ph.D. student Troy Carlton, were part of the NC State research team.\r\n- kulikowski -<\/p>"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NC State contributes research on physical activity to Healthy Sport Index.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":20073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"ncstate_wire","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","ncst_content_audit_display":false,"ncst_backToTopFlag":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-19871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-_from-newswire-collection-81"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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