It is said that the physical activity of the primary and secondary students is decreasing recently.
It is because of decreasing time to play involving physical activity.
In addition, the decrease is related to a change of the play style both in the open air and in the room,
busy life style and insufficient play ground.
The need of the play for the child is discussed here.
Investigation of daily walking steps with a pedometer was performed on the 5th grade primary school students and the 2nd and 3rd grade junior high school students in Nagano-city.
The results are shown in the table.
Another report says the avarage steps per day is 27000 in the preschool and the primary school children.
Suppose you will be a good athlete with successful results in the competition in the future.
When do you think is the good time to start training?
From the time of infancy, the human being challenges various movement starting with grabbing something, creeping on the floor,
and then walking, running, jumping, and throwing, thus obtains the ability to do those activities.
At first learning in the house, then at school P.E. class, and participating in social sports activities,
we develop the motion ability individually or in the group.
It may be by playing or by the sports activity itself.
One of the important physical ability, adjustability which is also calledI exquisiteness,
or skillfulness, develops remarkably from the infancy to the elementary school period.
It becomes difficult to develop once that crucial period is missed.
Experience of many kinds of play and exercise, not only specific sports, in the childhood will help develop children's adjustability a lot.
On the other hand, the necessity of the early training from infancy is often discussed.
A lot of successful examples are seen in the winter sports like skiing and skating.
Because of the cold climate of the region, children can easily ski or skate as a part of their play
and by repeating the exercise they can develop basics skill.
What kind of play will lead you to good athletic career?
While playing with your favorite play tools and equipments,
you may dangle, climb, jump up, and jump down.
You may also dash forward, stop suddenly, or zigzag diagonally, trying to catch your friends.
Those movements develops your basic motor ability.
Ball skills, such as catching, throwing, hitting, and kicking, never develop without ball experience. Catching big balls or small balls, using a tennis or badmington racket, playing softball, baseball, and soccer. Experiencing variety of motion is important. Children's play is also important to bring up human and social relations. That aspect of play is enphasized these days.
Gliding on the ice or on the snow with sliding equipments is not everyday experience.
Boot skating, plastic skiing, ice skating, and snow boarding, etc. There are many kinds of winter sports. I hope Winter Olympic Games will promote interest in sports among your friends and family members.
