Youth in Sports

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It’s hard to believe that there was ever a time in which football, baseball, and basketball never existed. Instead we had people dog fighting, rat baiting, and even had bulls go up against bears as a leisurely activity. Since the 19th century our culture has gradually changed and we’ve introduced new forms of activity. As time has gone on we have began to realize the importance of these activities and their effects on our youth. Former President Gerald Ford is even quoted, “There’s no question my experience and exposure to athletics had a major impact on my future. In fact I think sports particularly football gave an opportunity to be out front, to be a leader which helped me later on when I got into politics.” There’s more that can meet the eye from just playing a simple game, it can teach our youth about ways to get involved to be a healthy person and builds discipline to succeed later on in life. The first leader in youth fitness was a black man named Peyton Stewart from 1847-1861. He was known as the only gym owner that would train kids, but only white kids. In a time when slavery had just been abolished this was very rare to see. The white race was so worried about the health of their youth that they were able to look past race and even gave him Stewart rave reviews. With the rise in America over their well being of the youth we didn’t see physical education introduced until the late 1880’s with the German Turners. Instead of just playing games the Turners introduced a program that used a combination of machinery and instruments, gymnastics, to the school system (Riess 152). Today physical education is still being taught in the U.S. with variances. With increasing urbanization and overcrowding in the cities came disease. With this increase in population came The Young Men’s Christian Association, known as the YMCA, headed by Luther Gulick. Gulick was opposed

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