For far too long, recreational programs have put too much emphasis on a traditional model that is not effective for player development and sadly does not allow players to have fun while learning the fundamentals of a sport. A great solution to this problem that encourages five- to seven-year-olds is an approach called Biddy Ball. This article…

Background: Participation in adventure as a recreational therapy intervention is well-recognized for its benefits for people with disabilities. Advances in technology and adaptive equipment have increased accessibility to adventure-based activities for those with physical disabilities. Climbing has long been established to facilitate the…

Background: This review examined the impact of participation in an intentional physical activity or sport program on community participation and inclusion for people with intellectual disability. Method: Five electronic databases (PsychINFO, PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, AMED) were systematically searched for papers relating to intellectual disability,…

This purpose of this qualitative study was to explore shared characteristics and local challenges of trauma-informed youth sport program design and implementation through the voices of ten program facilitators (e.g., director, trainer; 8 women, 2 men; average age of 36.2 years, SD = 6.03) across four U.S. regions. Within a postpositivist approach…

Background: Over the two last decades, the interest in personal and psychosocial youth development has been growing due to its engagement in sport activities. Furthermore, participation in sport has been referenced as a favourable mechanism and context for positive youth development (PYD). However, some studies and researchers continue to question…

The study purpose was to examine whether adolescents who participated in organized physical activity (PA) programs differed from nonparticipants in motivation, social support, and self-efficacy related to PA; PA (min/hr); and sedentary screen time behavior. Thirty-nine 5th-7th grade adolescents participated in organized PA programs; 41 did not.…

Recent recreation and sports marketing research demonstrates that involvement can be used as a new segmentation strategy and offers potential opportunities for better understanding of leisure participants. In the current study, the three-step the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) segmentation procedure was performed for participant segmentation…

Background: In this study, we examined the development of children's moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and physical education (PE) enjoyment through the Physical Activity as Civil Skill Program 2012-2014. Methods: Participants were 661 (265 intervention, 396 control) elementary school children in central and northeast Finland. The…

Background: Physical education (PE) can provide opportunities to engage in daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), but MVPA levels in many classes are low. This study examines MVPA during middle school PE lessons before and after receiving the SPARK (Sports, Play, and Active Recreation for Kids) program. Methods: Sixteen schools were…

Purpose: In a cross-sectional study design, we evaluated the resting heart rate (HR[subscript baseline]) and exercise and postexercise stress test-related chronotropic responses in male practitioners of recreational ballroom dancing (BD; n = 25, M[subscript age] = 26.6 ± 6.1 years) compared to a control group of insufficiently active nondancers…

Introduction: Children who are deafblind have unique educational needs, especially when it comes to developing a foundation for recreation. This foundation includes a well-rounded physical education program. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of adults who are deafblind as they recall their involvement in physical…

Of all American pastimes, bowling is one of the easiest to pursue. Just show up at the neighborhood bowling center, rent the required shoes, use the balls provided, and pay a reasonable fee to bowl as many games as one likes. The game itself--rolling a ball down a long wooden lane to strike club-shaped pins--appeals to all ages and is within the…

Unlike traditional high school athletic teams, Unified Sports teams are designed to immerse students with intellectual disabilities in a facet of school culture that has largely eluded them. Nationwide, more than 2,000 schools in 42 states have the teams, where the ideal is for about half the athletes on each team to be students with intellectual…

The aims of this study were to 1) describe the children's physical activity (PA) patterns during the after-school period and 2) to compare the type and intensity of activity during the after-school period of children with or without participation in organized PA programmes. The participants were 456 children from four primary schools in Hong Kong.…

Selecting competitive sports opportunities for a child is a challenging process. Parents have to make the right choices so that their young athletes will have many years of healthy, happy, active experiences. If parents make the wrong choices, their son or daughter will have, at the very least, a few unhappy hours, and worst-case scenario, could…