Sociological, psychological and pedagogical aspects of sport

" first part

The results produced by administering the questionnaire to the children show that the vast majority of the sample examined is interested in sport or, in any case, more generally, in physical activity (only one individual declared that he does not practice sports).

The reason for this interest is to be found in various factors, first of all the property of physical activity to cause joy or, in some cases, satisfaction. Both practicing and following a certain sport as spectators implies a state of satisfaction, although in a different way. As regards the practice of sport, it is able to influence the human organism in such a way as to lead it to produce endorphins, hormones responsible for the establishment in the soul of a state of joy: in 1976, MacPhillamy and Lewinsohn compiled a List of events capable of causing male pleasure, containing 320 descriptive items of events of that type. From a survey in which this list was presented to the subjects, it emerged that 49% of the events described included many people were in a good mood for the whole day, especially in the case of the young Americans, although their effects did not extend to the next day. tudi emerges the existence of 8 main sources of joy and among these the practice of physical activity stands out. It is a fact that can be easily found in the reality of everyday life that man (or the child, in this case) tends to want to repeat the experiences that have given him pleasure, both intended as joy and as satisfaction. This is enough to explain why the practice of sport, in the children to whom I have submitted the questionnaire, is constant. In truth, however, there is another factor why children are inclined to practice sports: physical activity has health benefits. It reduces the risk of many diseases that one might get as one gets older, including hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, as well as mental illness. Physical exercise also promotes, if it becomes habitual (through the beginning of the practice at a pre-pubertal age), the lowering of heart rate and blood pressure, the strengthening of lung capacity, the reduction of obesity (Cox, 1987 ). It is clear that the fact that physical activity brings about these benefits is not in itself sufficient to justify the fact that there is a situation of interest on the part of children towards sport, since the aforementioned health benefits that it entails, they are not detectable in the short term, as is the case for the production of endorphins. In order for this type of advantage to cause children to approach sport, it is necessary that there is information (rather than experience) about them. Well, this type of information, nowadays, there is: the vast diffusion of health education and books on methods to keep fit has begun to bear fruit (Argyle, 2000). remember that the sample of individuals that I took into consideration, submitting the questionnaire to them, is not representative of the total Italian population of children, since the children interviewed, in addition to being too few, do not have those characteristics of heterogeneity of necessary factors to make it so (they all belong to the same social environment, are the same age, etc.). The argument I presented in these pages, therefore, cannot be considered reliable until it has been demonstrated that what I believe to be the cause of the spread of physical and sporting activity in our country (or in countries with a similar culture ) has a wider effect than that which can possibly be found in a single elementary school class.I therefore thought it important to provide some additional data, aimed at broadening the meaning of the information I gathered in my "survey" on primary school children: there are many in Great Britain who engage in some form of physical activity, especially walking, swimming , dance; the smaller the number of those who practice sports, such as football, tennis, or squash. For some years jogging has had a great following, especially in the United States; recently, marathons in Britain have begun to attract a lot of people. There has been a notable increase in the total number of people engaging in various forms of physical activity (Social Trends, 1990).
As regards, however, the "interest of children in following one or more sports as spectators, it certainly cannot be said that it is lacking, at least as regards the male sex. It is noteworthy, in fact, as a single individual out of everything. the champion declared that he has no preference for sporting champions. Also noteworthy is the fact that all but two of the children have shown their preference for a football champion. Only one child said he preferred a motorcyclist (Valentino Rossi) and another a gymnast (Yuri Keki).

Continues "

Marco battle

Majoring in sports science

Traditional Karate 2nd Dan Black Belt (mainly Shotokan Ryu style).