I think we may have a problem.
Those who attended Pride Night may have been surprised at the size of the crowds that turned out. As I walked through the crowds and interacted with many of them, several expressed those sentiments.
I left the Primary School building at 4:30 after working a little in the art room, encountering a sea of automobiles when I stepped outside. When I entered the stadium, it was hot and muggy but a lot of folks were already on hand for the festivities. There were cars parked in just about every conceivable place, so I can only imagine what the parking situation will be on a game night. This is not to say that parking was or is inadequate, just that a lot of people are in the supporters’ column as it relates to Pea Ridge athletics.
The video board was very impressive and the P.A.
system was as well. As the many and varied groups of Pea Ridge athletes troopedout onto the field, it’s quite apparent that Pea Ridge School has a record number of students involved in extra-curricular activities.
With student enrollment rising, student participation rising, and with support for the local programs rising as well, parking may become a reason to come early and avoid a long walk.
While it may be considered a problem, it’s a good problem to have. If the parking lot had of been half full, that would have been a much bigger problem.
Not all students desire to be athletes and, of course, there is nothing wrong with that. Those who do avail themselves of the opportunity to put on the black, white and red have much to gain.
The physical aspect of competing in sporting programs is no small thing inlight of the way health care is evolving in our country.
We will all be paying more and getting less when we have to utilize health services, so the value of living and being healthy has never been higher.
Although there are several factors pushing rising health care costs, I believe the biggest one is the obesity issue. For the past several years, Americans have been trending heavier and heavier, especially our nation’s youth.
With most students having an array of electronic devices at their disposal, that fact has been a strong influence on children spending more time indoors. With all the lurid headlines in the news outlining all the dangers to children from a seeming rising wave of child predators in our society, most parents can take solace that their kids are inside where they can see and protect them.
Besides the many children who are overweightor obese, many of those who aren’t are often physically weak. While teaching P.E. a few years ago, I had a 10-yea- old male student complete the mile walk/ run portion of the national physical fitness exam in just under 30 minutes.
While he was incredibly slow, it wasn’t because of lack of e◊ort. In fact, at the finish he was breathing hard, and was obviously maxed out.
I was concerned enough to speak to his mother about his physical fi tness.
Talking to her, I learned that the child’s major physical activity was walking to the garage to get into the car. He spent all his time at home in front of either a TV or a computer, and his school recesses were usually spent reading or sitting down to talk to his friends.
Her solution to his poor fi tness tests? She requested that he be given no more fi tness tests.
Several years ago, the state of Arkansas required PE teachers to do a bodyfat check to alert parents.
There was such a hue and cry from so many people when this went into e◊ect, that you would thought that it had something to do with child flogging. There was even one parents group that labeled such checking as a form of child abuse.
After Georgia required schools to keep accurate records of children’s weight, the state modifi ed the law recently by requiring students to stand on the scales backwards. Why you might ask? The theory was that if the children knew how much they actually weighed, they might feel bad and it might damage their self esteem.
At present, it is estimated that about one-third (30 percent) of American children are obese. Not just plump, stocky or overweight but out and out obese. However, it seems that 85 percent of American parents see their children as very healthy. Why the disconnect?
If you don’t like something, just choose not to believe it. it might be a comforting way to cope, but it is also insane to think that way. Obesity creates myriad health problems and will not only make a person’s life span shorter, it will also make it much more unpleasant. While obesity has nothing to do with a person’s value or importance, it is one of the major factors that is driving up the cost of health care.
Having our youth in sporting programs like the ones locally will not only impart to them important social skills and leadership capacity, it will make them healthier and hopefully put them on a path to a healthier adulthood.
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Editor’s note: John McGee is an award-winning columnist and sports writer. He is the art teacher at Pea Ridge elementary schools, coaches elementary track and writes a regular sports column for The Times. He can be contacted through The Times at [email protected].
Sports, Pages 10 on 09/04/2013