In this paper we will present evidence-based data on the contribution of sports’ participation to ensure health and well-being, followed by a review on the rationale behind sport policies in various countries. In the conclusion, we will look on the future perspectives and raise relevant questions for consideration.

Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist, who served as the first black President of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999, in a fully representative democratic election, advocated participation in sport as follows:

Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else can. It speaks to people in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where there was once only despair. It breaks down racial barriers and it laughs in the face of all kinds of discrimination.

This quote of Mandela exemplifies the social and psychological influence sport and physical activity have on a nation, on a community and on individuals. Sport is perhaps one of the most powerful social tools in the post-modern era and also serves as a platform for individuals and teams to execute their physical and mental potential in their favored field of sport. Sport, in this regard, can serve as an aim or as a means. In this paper we shall relate to sport as a vehicle which promotes people’s health and well-being, in all age groups.

Based on the experience of the sport socialization process, a child engaged in sport is expected to decide if he/she will continue to participate formally, as a competitive athlete, informally, as a non-competitive athlete, or will drop out. This decision will most probably have an impact on the child’s quality of life during adulthood. According to researchers,^[1,2] improving health, improving fitness, enjoying the activity and meeting friends were among the most important factors which motivated youths and adults to engage in sport and physical activity. Another study’s findings^[3] indicate that the three main reasons that motivate adults to participate in sport and physical activity are improving their health (94.7%),improving their fitness (93.7%) and enjoying the activity (92%).

The child’s or adult’s decision notwithstanding, all researchers agree that one factor is particularly crucial: an individual will drop out from a sport activity, if the experience will not meet the person’s expectations and needs – to have fun, to enjoy, to have a fair coach etc.^[4] Literature findings indicate that there are different reasons for girls and boys determining whether they will engage in or dropout from sport and physical activity. It is reported that among the important and most frequently sited factors that motivate children and youth to participate in sport – competitive and non-competitive – are enjoying the activity, having fun, participating and socializing as members of a group through which they will establish friendships, before and during their exercise, practice and competition.^[2,4] Furthermore, children and youth were found to prefer to play in outdoor and team activities rather than take part in individual sports.

Considering the number of children and youth participating in sport and physical activity in kindergarten, elementary, secondary and high schools, we cannot but come to the conclusion that they constitute the largest youth movement. Through this process the participants are integrated into their culture, society and community benefiting from the byproducts that sport and physical activity can offer. An in-depth understanding can be found in TrueSport USA’s ^{[4, p.92]} annual report, which suggests that:

Sport does have a major impact on the development of youngsters and has a significant influence on the process in which the participants learn, exercise and adopt values, which will always serve them throughout their life journey. Among those values are teamwork, hard work, respect, self-discipline, patience, fairness, honesty, and openness to people of various ethnic, religious or racial groups, competitiveness, striving for perfection, facing adversity [...] These skills and values transfer to various fields of life, including academic years, family life, social life and many other areas one will experience along his life cycle.

Engaging in sport and physical activity contributes meaningfully to participants of all ages. Emily B. Kahan et al.^[5] demonstrated that increasing sport and physical activity positively affects endurance, strength, body composition, insulin sensitivity, and lipid level. The American College of Sport Medicine and the American Heart Society^[6] reached similar conclusions and proposed the following recommendation in 1995, as a means to improve people’s quality of life and fight against overweight and obesity:

To promote and maintain health, all healthy adults aged 18–65 need either moderating intensity of physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes 5 days each week. In addition, every adult should perform activities that maintain or increase muscular strength and endurance a minimum of 2 days each week.

The American College of Sport Medicine also emphasizes the contribution of physical activity in reducing the risks of mortality and morbidity.^[7]Analyzing the numerous studies concerning the contribution of sport and physical activity on the individual, it seems that the research which was conducted around the world is unambiguous in its conclusion. According to one of the leading articles by Rochelle M. Fine et al.:

There were many different psychological and social health benefits reported, with the most commonly being wellbeing and reduced distress and stress”. Moreover, additional positive mental health effects of sports participation included “vitality, social functioning and role emotion [...] feeling good, confident, ability to cope with hard times and a sense of belonging.^[8]

When examining the social benefits of physical activities further, it becomes evident that sport is a tool for enhancing cooperation, coexistence and respect among people of all religions, races, genders, etc. This is actually what the United Nations for Sport and Development ^[9] stands for, by attempting to use the social power of sport in order to improve education, health and social life in developing countries, or wherever there is a community crisis, such as in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. An additional project that demonstrates how sport is socially utilized is the S4L (Sport4Life) project in Israel.^[10] Each year, Israeli children and youth, Arabs and Jews, together with children and youth from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority participate together in various sport activities in different communities across the country. Each community selects the sport activities which suit their needs and represents their traditional games. The youngsters living in the community invite children from different communities, Arabs and Jews, to their homes and live together for a week, while engaging in various sport activities. Coaches, instructors and educators are assisting the children to organize sport activities and provide them with opportunities during and after the games to socialize, and develop new friendships. The program, which has been taking place for the last 12 years (with the support of the DSHS in Cologne, Germany, and Brighton University in the UK), resulted in better understanding, cooperation and respect between young Arabs and Jews, as was evident from the fact that the participants’ parents arranged social meetings with one another regardless of their religion or place of living.

It is also expected that the German government will initiate special sport programs providing accessibility to sport activities for thousands of refugees from Syria and Iraq who settled recently in Germany. Through participation in sport, they will be introduced to the German culture and hopefully become integrated in German society, while they will be provided with the opportunity to improve or maintain their physical fitness and reduce their level of anxiety, stress and distress.

A study on youth participation in sport in Israel shows that students who represented their school team and were committed to train with the team on an ongoing basis, reached higher grades in school and completed more years in education than their non-active counterparts. ^[2] It was found that sport teaches the participants emotional control and that those who are more active in sport are significantly less likely to be overweight, depressed, to smoke, use illegal drugs and consume alcohol. In the United States it was even reported that there is less teen pregnancy as a result of sport. ^{[4, p.72]}

Research findings undoubtedly support the perception that participating in sport and physical activity indeed provide many psychological, physiological, social and mental benefits. As the American College of Sport Medicine states “Exercise is medicine”; similarly, in a cartoon image, a physician asks his patient: “What would you prefer: exercising one hour a day, or being dead 24 hours a day?” In our sedentary society, when learning about the number of hours most children sit in the classroom and adults during their working hours in front of the computer, how much time children and teenagers invest in playing video games or being on social networks, it is evident that teachers, coaches, parents and “significant others” should take the responsibility and enhance the lives of children, youth and adults, by motivating them to participate in sport, for their own physical, mental, psychological and social health and well-being. For sport and physical activity inevitably have a significantly positive impact on individuals’ health state and quality of life.^[8] Do governments realize everything sports and physical activity can offer and contribute to the participants’ health and well-being? Is the formal education system in various countries taking advantage of this social phenomenon? Do social institutions realize this?

Reviewing recent official policies on sport and physical activity, we witness that in the last decades more governments understand the importance and contribution of sport to the health and well-being of their citizens, alongside other social benefits, such as national and community pride. The Australian Sport Commission^[11] presented the Australian Sports Outreach Program which was the Australian Government’s flagship sport for the development program from 2006–2015: “Quality sport programs can achieve real social change”. The Australian Sport Commission’s objective was to enrich the lives of Australian citizens through the use of sport. In a national survey conducted in 2013–2014 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS),^[12] it was found that among the Australian population over 15 years of age, an estimated 60% (11.1 million people) reported that they had participated in sport and physical recreation at least once during the 12 months prior to the survey. In 2011–12 this percentage was higher; specifically 65%. The overall participation rate in organized sport, as a player or in a non-playing role (such as a coach or official), was 28% for adults. Also, there were variations by age-group and gender; the group of 15–24 year of age had the highest participation, while the “65 years and over” group had the lowest – 44% and 17% respectively.

The Swiss Sport Strategy is based on the Federal Law on the Promotion of Physical Education and Sport (1972).^[13] Its aim is: “to promote physical education and sport in the interest of the development of youth, public health and physical performance”.

In England, Sport England issued a declaration on the importance of physical activity, which accordingly needs to be high on the agenda of key institutions, including school governing bodies, primary care trusts, and community safety partnerships. The roll of Sport England^[14] is to get more people playing sport regularly and to develop sporting talents.

In Israel,^[15] in order to face the escalating non-communicable diseases rates, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Culture and Sport, and the Ministry of Education have initiated a project named: “The National Program for Active and Healthy Lifestyle”.

The European Commission^[1] adopted a Communication, entitled “Developing the European Dimension in Sport”, where it was emphasized that the EU Work Plan (2011-2014) acknowledges the social values of sport and sets the promotion of participation in sport and physical activity among its priorities. The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympics Committee and Confederation of Sport (NIF) actually highlight the importance of sport participation when announcing that children engage in sport because they enjoy it. Together with their friends they share experiences and learn lessons that will last them a lifetime.

In spite of all the outstanding benefits sports and physical activity contribute to their participants, the number of people engaging in sport is limited, is not increasing and varies from country to country. The data concerning how many respondents exercise or play sport by country are the following: Sweden 70%, Denmark 68%, Finland 66%, Netherlands 58%, Israel 56%, Luxembourg 54%, Italy 40%, Romania 40%, Portugal 36%, Malta 25% and Bulgaria 22%.^[1] In the USA the data presented in 2016 by the Physical Activity Council annual study^[17] is similar to that reported in Europe:

Participation in sports seemed to be fluctuating over the last few years, with an increase in team, winter, water, and fitness sports participation. Individual sports declined slightly in 2015 while racquet and outdoor sports remained flat. This meant there were 212.6 million “actives” (66.5%) taking part in a wide range of sports and fitness activities in 2015, a slight increase from 209.3 actives in 2014.

These findings indicate that in most Western countries the number of children and adults participating in sport and physical activity is stagnating or decreasing, whilst an increase in the number of active people can only be witnessed in some countries. Even in Great Britain, following the 2012 London Olympic Games, taking the Olympic legacy into consideration, the expectation of the British policy makers to see a major increase in the number of athletes and physically active adults did not materialize.

In 2012,^[1] the main findings were that 41% of European adults and children exercise or play sport at least once a week. However, an important proportion of the European Union citizens, 59%, never or seldom do so. The figures have not changed substantially since 2009. This actually brings us to the conclusion that even though many governments try to motivate their citizens to engage in sport for health, social, mental and physical purposes, they are not very successful in fulfilling that goal. In addition, it seems that the world is yet to find a way to hit the glass ceiling and minimize the 30–35% that never practice sport or engage in physical activity.

Even though having fun and enjoying the physical activity or sport has a tremendous influence on the individual’s decision whether to keep on or to drop out, looking at the percentage of the people who are active, a conceptual change has to be sought and new initiatives might help to get significantly more people to engage and maintain physical activity or sport involvement. To support this, we would like to raise for discussion a new concept that does not currently fit in the typical way of thinking, and is based on what needs to be done and not necessarily on what the individual wants. Typically, once an infant starts brushing his teeth for the first time, we – the parents – insist that he or she practices this ritual twice on a daily basis, until he or she will start to do it independently, by understanding its importance to the health of the teeth. Similarly, we need to insist that young children and youth will start exercising one hour a day, whether they like it or not, hoping that they will enjoy it. We need to deliver them the message that they have to adopt this activity, so that in years to come they will continue to practice on a daily basis. For there is evidence that should they not do so, they are endangering their quality of life and their longevity.

The evidence-“based” data inevitably supports the notion that sports and physical activity are contributing to individual health and well-being.

However, many questions need to be further explored, among them:

• If sport and physical activity are so good to our health and well-being, how come so many people do not participate in sport, and why do so many drop out of such activities?

• What should one take into account when engaging in sport? (Perhaps we need to adjust the activity to our personality?)

• How much impact do different variables such as the facilities, the quality of the instruction, the expense of the activity, the number of friends taking part in the same activity, have on one’s decision to enroll into sport?

• How much does the decrease in the esteem of Physical Education affect the decision of children and youth to participate in sport and physical activity?

• What needs to be done in order to reach gender equality in sport?

In conclusion, there is evidence-based data which is outlined in this paper and supports the contribution of sport and physical activity to the health and well-being of children, adolescents and adults.

Further research is necessary in order to better understand the casual attribution to sport participation and the benefits associated with the activity to the health and well-being of the individual.

‍

Bibliography

1. Special Eurobarometer 412, 2014. Sport and Physical Activity. European Survey on Sport and Physical Activity (2011).

2. Harel Yosi et. al. Sport and Physical Activity Patterns among students ages 11–18 in Israel, 2015. Ministry of Culture and Sport, The Sport Authority, unpublished.

3. Shochat Tami. Sport and Physical Activity Patterns among the adult (21+) population in Israel. Ministry of Culture and Sport, The Sport Authority in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, The National Center for Diseases Control, Israel 2012.

4. Jan Boxill et al., True Sport Report, U.S. Anti Doping Agency 2012.

5. Emily B. Kahn, PhD, MPH, Leigh T. Ramsey, PhD, Ross C. Brownson, PhD, Gregory W. Heath, DHSc, MPH, Elizabeth H. Howze, ScD, Kenneth E. Powell, MD, MPH, Elaine J. Stone, PhD, MPH, Mummy W. Rajab, MS, Phaedra Corso, PhD, and the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Physical Activity, A Systematic Review. 2010, 37, 41–44.

6. American College of Sport Medicine and The American Heart Association, volume 116, issue 9, 2007 (The original recommendation was issued in 1995).

7. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Volume 43, Issue 7, pp. 1334–1359. July, 2011.

8. Rochelle M. Eime et al. “A Systematic Review of the Psychological and Social Benefits of Participation in Sport for Adults: Informing Development of a Conceptual Model of Health through Sport”, in International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 2013.

9. United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace, 2015.

10. Gazi Nudgidaht, “The Sport for Life Project in Israel”. Presented on the occasion of the bilateral symposium between Germany and Israel on the occasion of the 50 Anniversary to the diplomatic relationship between Israel and Germany, Berlin, October 2015.

11. The Australian Sport Commission – Australian Sports Outreach Program, 2006– 2015.

12. Australian Sport commission – Participation in Sport and Physical Recreation performed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. January, 2016.

13. The Swiss Observatory for Sport and Physical Activity, Swiss Sport Study, 2008.

14. Sport England, “What UK Sport and Sport England do”, UK Government.

15. Israel Government’s decision on a project named: “The National Program for Active and Healthy Lifestyle.” Number 3921, December, 2011.

16. The Physical Activity Council’s annual study tracking sports, fitness, and recreation participation in the US, 2016 Participation Report.

‍

SCHAEFER Uri, "Olympic values-based learning as an effective tool for enviromental protection: Sports’ contribution in ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all",in:K. Georgiadis (ed.), Olympic values-based learning as an effective tool forenvironmental protection, 56th International Session for Young Participants (AncientOlympia,11-25/6/2016), International Olympic Academy, Athens,2017, pp.78-86.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍