Advocacy update: facilitating youth sports: park and recreation organizations need to advance their leadership role in youth sports.Public park and recreation agencies are the largest provider and facilitator of community-based youth sport opportunities in America. Not only do park and recreation agencies provide instructional programs and coordinate youth sport leagues, they manage an estimated 500,000 facilities that are permitted to independent youth sport organizations to conduct their own programs and leagues. The physical magnitude and influence of public policies developed and implemented by park and recreation systems has precipitated an expanded focus on youth sports as a core concern and issue for the field. Since 1998, NRPA NRPA National Recreation and Park Association NRPA Natural Resources Protective Association (Staten Island, NY) NRPA Niagara Regional Police Association (Canada) NRPA National Rifle and Pistol Association has engaged national partners and local park and recreation agencies to improve the quality of youth sports nationwide. Fundamentally, youth sports have been in transformation since the early 1980s when Proposition 13, a tax rollback A DBMS feature that reverses the current transaction out of the database, returning the data to its former state. A rollback is performed when processing a transaction fails at some point, and it is necessary to start over. See two-phase commit. initiative, significantly altered the funding landscape for public parks and recreation. Prior to Proposition 13, most youth sports were managed in-house by park and recreation staff. Today, an estimated 112,000 youth sport organizations operate the majority of program administration. The youth sport facility is still largely maintained by the public sector at parks and school facilities. NRPA national sport partnerships initially focused on expanding or improving programs that would result in participation growth. The National Football League was the first national sport organization to fund informational resources that targeted parents with a resource titled "Fun First." Improving programming practices in tennis, basketball, baseball and football resulted from partnerships with national organizations, to impact sport programs delivered directly through park and recreation agencies. In 2003, NRPA was fortunate enough to be selected for the Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. 50th Anniversary Sportstown proposal, charged with designating one community in each state as the Sports Illustrated 50th Anniversary Sportstown. This national competition attracted applicants from 250 communities in all 50 states. Once the state winners were selected, NRPA analyzed the applications to identify strengths and weaknesses across numerous categories. NRPA then worked with the National Football League Youth Football Fund to elevate el·e·vate tr.v. ele·vat·ed, ele·vat·ing, ele·vates 1. To move (something) to a higher place or position from a lower one; lift. 2. To increase the amplitude, intensity, or volume of. 3. the leadership role of parks and recreation to improve youth sports. Thirty-eight communities became magnet centers and convened communities around improving the quality of youth sports during 2004. NRPA next launched the Sports Illustrated GOOD SPORTS[TM] program as a result of the findings in January 2005. More than 1,400 communities joined the initiative to improve youth sports through the following elements: * Teach life skills through sports * Empower success among youth through sports * Promote physical activity and healthy lifestyles through sports * Strengthen communities through youth sports During the first year, 12 communities gained national visibility for their efforts to improve the quality of youth sports. Throughout this second year (2006-2007), NRPA has partnered with the Citizenship through Sports Alliance (CTSA CTSA Canadian Table Soccer Association CTSA Cardio-Thoracic Surgical Associates (Pittsburgh, PA) CTSA Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment CTSA Corporation Tax Self-Assessment (UK) ) to conduct a Grassroots Report Card of Youth Sports in America as requested by the Congressional Caucus A Congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. At the broadest level, Democratic members of the House of Representatives and Senate organize themselves into the House Democratic Caucus and Senate on Youth Sports. NRPA participated in the development of the CTSA National Youth Sports Report Sports Report is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio. It started in the first week of 1948, and has always been aired from 5.00 to 6.00 p.m. on Saturday evenings during the football season, although commentaries on matches starting around 5.15 p.m. Card and is assisting local community efforts to benchmark their grassroots report card against the national findings. All of these efforts have positioned NRPA to elevate the public profile of parks and recreation and, together, catapult catapult (kăt`əpŭlt'), mechanism used to throw missiles in ancient and medieval warfare. At first, catapults were specifically designed to shoot spears or other missiles at a low trajectory (see bow and arrow). our leadership role to ensure that all grassroots sport opportunities provide youth with quality experiences to try, learn, play and compete. We are now embarking on a national initiative that presents a unique opportunity for parks and recreation to illustrate our essential role in youth sports. Under the leadership of Rep. Mike McIntyre Douglas Carmichael "Mike" McIntyre II (born August 6, 1956) is an American politician from the state of North Carolina. A Democrat, McIntyre represents North Carolina's 7th congressional district (see map) in the United States House of Representatives. (D-N.C.) and Rep. Kenny Hulshof Kenneth C. "Kenny" Hulshof (born May 22, 1958) is a politician from the U.S. state of Missouri, currently representing Missouri's At-large congressional district (map) in the United States House of Representatives. (R-Mo.), the Congressional Youth Sports Caucus caucus: see convention. will work in a bipartisan fashion to promote the values of sportsmanship, civility, respect, health, safety, fun and physical activity among players and leaders, including coaches, parents and officials. NRPA joined the caucus for its kickoff event in April 2006 and committed to engaging our members in an effort to conduct a national grassroots report card. We encourage you to conduct a Community Youth Sports Report Card using one of two methods: * Convene CONVENE, civil law. This is a technical term, signifying to bring an action. a local expert panel to develop your report card. Utilizing the national youth sports report card, you can facilitate a summit of key stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. and advisers to develop your community perspective and benchmark it against a national report card. * Conduct a Stakeholder stakeholder n. a person having in his/her possession (holding) money or property in which he/she has no interest, right or title, awaiting the outcome of a dispute between two or more claimants to the money or property. Survey using online technology or a paper version to engage your targeted youth sports stakeholders. Using the information obtained from the Community Youth Sports Report Card, NRPA will identify the strengths, gaps and needed resources to improve the quality of youth sports in communities nationwide. We will communicate these needs to Congress and seek federal and state level support to provide the tools and resources needed so that park and recreation agencies are well equipped to ensure that youth sports are of the highest caliber and quality for all youth to benefit. In addition, one of the initial legislative efforts of the caucus has been to introduce a resolution to establish a National Youth Sports week (H.R. 826). Enacted into law in June, the celebration will take place during the second week of July to coincide with Recreation and Parks month. The leadership role of parks and recreation in advancing child-centered youth sports is increasingly evident. Convening con·vene v. con·vened, con·ven·ing, con·venes v.intr. To come together usually for an official or public purpose; assemble formally. v.tr. 1. community stakeholders and engaging partners to improve programs, policies and practices around all of youth sports is imperative. Park and recreation agencies sit at the crossroads of responsibility and opportunity to elevate practice standards and develop quality opportunities for the benefit of all children. NRPA will continue to develop public policy recommendations to support the leadership role of parks and recreation to improve the quality of youth sports nationwide and we depend on your assistance to do so. ACTION ALERT Take these action steps to advance youth sports: * Contact your members of Congress and encourage them to join the Congressional Youth Sports Caucus. * Celebrate National Youth Sports Week in July next year. * Conduct your own Community Youth Sports Report Card by either convening a local expert panel or conducting a shareholder survey. Kathy Spangler, CPRP CPRP cardiopulmonary cerebroresuscitation. , and Monica Hobbs Vinluan, J.D. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion