The Key to an Active Healthy Life
The Key to an Active Healthy Life and to Sporting Excellence Being physically active is more important to health than just about any other part of life over which we have control. Recent research suggests that it is better for your health to be overweight and active than to be of normal weight and be inactive. For this reason alone it is critical that children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that give them the very best chance of staying active throughout their lives.
When a child has confidence in his or her ability to take part in recreational and sporting activities without fear of showing themselves up, the probability that they will join in is high; and if they enjoy the activity they will likely continue with it. A child’s movement confidence develops gradually as they grow and learn, and the child is constantly comparing their own level of ability with the ability of the children with whom they play. Physically literate children who move with skillful purpose KNOW that they move well, and this confidence encourages them to try new and different activities without fear.
Physical literacy also provides a foundation from which sporting excellence can grow.
To develop the highest levels of sporting excellence in late specialization sports requires about 10 years of deliberate practice, and requires that the person first develop their athletic abilities and, only when these have been refined, specialize in sport specific techniques and skills.
All too often, early overspecialization in a single sport leads to a failure to become physically literate, to poorer ultimate performance than would otherwise be the case, and to injury, burnout and early retirement from sport.
Physical literacy is, therefore, the key both to developing habits of life-long physical activity for enjoyment and health, and to the development of athletes who have the strong foundation that will permit them to reach the highest levels of international sporting excellence – to become world-class athletes.