Earlier this year Power of Sport issued The True Sport Report and Central sport has identified and summarized 5 key themes.
The first key theme is Improving Health and Well-Being.
- When asked to assess their own mental health, over 70% of sport participants indicated that they were in excellent or very good mental health, compared to less than 60% of non-participants. And yet…Fewer than 1 in 5 Canadian children and youth meet all 3 recommendations within the Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth.
- Nearly 90% of Canadians are somewhat or very confident that community-level sport instills character in Canadian youth by teaching them values and positive life lessons.
- The primary determinants of whether children and youth will have a positive or negative experience are the adults involved — parents, coaches, officials, and administrators —and the quality of coaching and mentoring.
- Providing accessible opportunities for participation in community sport, starting with preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, can have long-term benefits for physical development.
- While context-specific motor skills begin to develop around age 7, sport specialization at this young age can be detrimental to physical development.
- Bone health is a particularly important health indicator in youth, as the bulk of bone mass accumulation develops before the age of 25. Participation in physical activity in childhood is associated with better bone health.
- In 2019, nearly 1 in 4 youth aged 12–17 self-reported as overweight or obese. Providing youth with community sport opportunities would increase engagement in moderate-to-vigorous levels of physical activity on a regular basis, thereby contributing to reduced levels of body fat in children and teens.
You can find the full 2022 True Sport Report here
