Importance of history is something which every person should know about, it is very important to know about the history of what we do in our daily lives. Everything which we do has a beginning; it is somebody’s creation which is being continued till date. History of the society from where a particular thing originated is also very important, having knowledge about something and how it is done in today’s world but not aware of how and from where it originated is like living in a fool’s paradise. A person always has been compelled to know more about their family trees and ponder how they become uniquely themselves while inheriting the traits of those who came before them. In the same way if one is about to begin with something new then that person should be aware of the history of that particular thing. Sports, leisure and physical education have a great impact on our society. It is very important to know about them. The importance of these three things on our society is immense. If a society wants to stay healthy then all of these should be followed. Sport and physical education in ones leisure time is something one can do for their own body. Physical activities or sports in the free time help in keeping one healthy and active for long if done on a regular basis. In the following essay, importance of history to understand the sociological issues of sports, leisure and physical education will be discussed and how it impacts our lives.
History of sports comes from a long way, sports are being played by humans since ancient times and they are timeless activities. The European explorers are of the opinion that sports have remained part of the social setup since early days of human kind has been evident from archaeological and documented evidence. In Britain, Golf and other horse riding sports were also played by the people of upper classes (Bailey 1978). Social issues are present in almost every aspect of life. Firstly, we will discuss about the social issues of women. In the past women were never allowed to play sports, if we look at the history then it was a lot times more of a male dominant society then of today’s world. It is the mindset of almost every culture that sports played by women are not considered to be a good thing, a very clear example for it is the 1999 women’s football world cup; where U.S won against China. After scoring the winning goal, the girl tore apart her shirt; which was condemned and declared as portrayal of feminism (Bishop 2003). Women have always been neglected in the field of sports. Very few of the cultures have been able to adopt females playing sports whereas there are many cultures which still live the way they used to in the past. There are many sociological issues which are faced by women if they try to play sports (Hargreaves 1994).
Let’s look over the problem faced by people of different cultures, religion and ethnicity when trying to make it into a team. In America, it has been observed that the people from different cultures try making it into the sports team solely because that’s an easier way to get recognition in the society (Jarvie 2006).
If we look at the history of leisure then it will become more prominent that how much important it is for one to have leisure time for themselves. Generations before took active part in sport and extracurricular activities because that was part of their leisure time, it can be also put as efficient consumption of time. But not the youth as so many alternatives that it’s easier for one to play an online game in comparison of football. Sports have been in this world from ages, people from different cultures play different kinds of sports (Horne, Tomlinson and Whannel 1999). Having variety is good but one must be able to pick the best one out of it. Another sociological issue on rise in sports is the racism itself. It was observed in America that the people of different cultures found it hard to make it into even the small level teams; and even those who made it into the team had trouble staying in it because of the askance by their fellow team mates towards them (Nogawa and Suttie 1984). History of black people can be given an example over here that in the past history of black people was completely denied and they had to live under the rules of white man lobby. Rights of black man were not equal according to a white man. Racism was very common in those days; it was also present in sports. A black man was not able to play sports because he was not liked by the other white people. If we look at the South African cricket history then we will understand the history of black people not being able to play cricket due to the white man lobby which was created by the British. Like the Native Americans face racism in sports as well as they are from the Indian lineage. Then the small arguments that take the face of serious fights in sports are usual (Staurowsky 2007).
Then the term called dirty sports is also a new jargon used in the sport world, where you can witness the level of brutality and immorality in the sport; it was clearly evident in the FIFA world cup, when in the finals between Italy and France; took a serious turn and you see pushing and kicking and dirty comments passed onto each other (Houlihan 2003).
Sports should be played enthusiastically, where everyone is respected for the game they play. The color, race, culture should be left behind. Sport should be played honestly and any player found guilty of spot fixing or any such bribery issue in sports should be punished severely and banned from playing to provide a good look for the generations to come, for what happens when you play unfair (Coakley 2001). Also lately the different sports organizations have taken notice of the issues regarding the sports world, and are thinking of ways to eliminate the term called dirty game from the sports industry.
In the end it’ll be just rightly said that sports have always been there for amusement and for the rejuvenation of mind and body, so it must be taken only for those reasons and nothing else. A game is a game and it must be played fairly, no shortcuts to that.
History of leisure goes a long way back. The issue is that the people in the past used to be more physically active then today’s generations. Today’s generation just wishes to sit in front of the television and watch programs which are not even informative in their leisure time. In this time a person is free from all the worries of daily routine. A person should never forget that even when they are relaxing their brain still keeps on functioning. I think as long as any person is conscious that person should always try to utilize leisure time in some informative process or maybe get indulged in to some kind of sports. Being physically active is lacking from most of the people in today’s world. If you are physically active then you will always have a healthy life. People do not really understand that how much important it is to be physically active and not dull and lazy. People in the past used to walk a lot that is the reason why they use to stay healthy but in today’s world everything has become so luxurious. Nobody wishes to walk, everyone prefer cars over walking which is also a huge reason of people not being healthy anymore. There are many perks to being physically active one of it being that a person lives a longer and healthier life. Indulging one’s self in physical activities daily for about 30 to 45 minutes can help bring a great change in a person’s body physically as well as mentally.
Exercising helps in the circulation of blood which keeps on running your body in much better condition. Working out helps a person in controlling their anger, stress and emotional distress, it does not really help by calming a person down. What it does is that it uses that part of your energy in making you physically active which you use on becoming angry on somebody.
The problems faced by the people in today’s world are immense. Anyone can get so many diseases if one is not healthy. In the past people used to stay healthy more than people are now, Obesity is an ever increasing issue in the world which used to be very less if we look at the history that is because people used to stay active by walking long distances for the daily work. The curriculums of the schools were made in such a way that encouraged students to take actively part into sports and maintain a healthy lifestyle. But if one observes closely even at school, they will realize that students take it as an easier route to popularity in school rather than healthy lifestyle. But as long as the purpose is served, all is well. The biggest problem is of obesity is that it comes from just sitting and eating. Living a healthy life by staying active is not an impossible thing in today’s world but people themselves have made it impossible by focusing themselves on to something which might be entertaining but won’t be good for their health. For example, Television is found in every ones house these days, today’s generation can watch television continuously for hours without break which weakens their brain cells and reduces the brain power. One can go out to the park in the leisure time to jog for a while because that will be of great help to a person in becoming physically active.
Living a healthier life is what everyone wants but how one can be healthy or active if they do not make physical activities a part of their daily lives. The use of drugs in the past used to be very less because it was not considered to be a good thing and still it is not but today’s generation has become so addicted to it that excessive use of drugs has become a great part of most adults these days, both male and females of all ages take drugs in one way or another which is becoming the reason of most people suffering from different diseases. Whatever the time a person spends while being drunk that time can be utilized in becoming physically active this will be of great help for one person to become healthy and live a long life. Usually people from the early twenties are in use of excessive drugs which they think helps them in keeping happy whereas reality is something different, what drugs really do your body is unimaginable. It kills your brain cells and stops the brain to function normally. If we compare the previous generations with the today’s generation then we will get to see great amount of problems which today’s generation is facing due to lack of physical activities. Years ago people did not use to have these luxurious things which we have now. They used to stay healthy because they did not use to sit without having anything to do, either they used to keep doing things which were informative for their brains or use to be physically active in one way or another which helped them in living healthier and longer lives than the ones we live now.
The real history of physical education has always been in changing methodologies, Physical education is of undeniable importance. Lately we have witnessed diseases that generations before us have never even heard of, there is practically very less stamina in our youth today than it was 20 years back. Let’s wonder what must be the issues behind it, simply our lack of physical education. Friedrich Jahn realizing the importance of sports and physical education laid grounds for opening up first gymnastic school or physical education school for children in Germany. In 1811, first open air gymnasium in Germany was set up that led to the gymnastics association movement across the country and even Europe. It was back in the 20th century that John Dewey and his colleagues together developed ideas of education which were considered progressive that had challenged the traditional ways of educating pupils which lacked involvement in physical activities. This is considered as the milestone towards introduction of physical education in the curriculum.
Physically active lifestyle has shown a positive impact on young generations, the development of strong bones and an efficient heart is due to physical activity. Fat and heart diseases have also shown its roots in childhood. The activity levels from childhood tracks into adulthood therefore it is very important for the young ones to participate in the physical activities. A game plan in ‘02 was made by the British government to set an objective which requires 70percent of the population to be active five times for a week for at least thirty minutes by 2020. In children it was said to remain for one hour recommended by the ‘Young and Active’ policy document of 1998. Sport England has notified seven important things to bring this change; education is also a part of it. To utilize education in the best way possible a target has been set by the government to increase the ratio of children in England who spend two hours per week on high quality of physical education and school sport. School sport should be a part of every teenager since it helps you become healthy, everyday if a teenager works out then it would be great for them physically and mentally as well.
Physical education was originated for a reason which is that people were becoming unhealthy day by day. The need of physical education has become very necessary since the coming generations have started to become more interested in cyber gaming then in real physical activities. People in the past used to live a healthy life because they had physical activities in their daily work. In today’s world children are being introduced to cyber gaming which is the biggest reason of children, not being physically active anymore. Sitting on a couch in front of the television and playing games for hours will definitely make you lazy and reduce your brain power to a great extent. Mind needs rest which it doesn’t get at the time of playing video games on the television.
In studying the collected data of six years for this research project there has been increase in physical activity. One has to be aware of the mean scored covering a vast variation in activity between individuals. The main challenge of this entire research is that whether teachers of the primary schools are able to deliver the effective learning experiences which are required for this level of physical activity. It is going to be a challenge to change the old routine practices and knowledge of most primary school teachers delivering physical education. It is very important to make this generation understand that saying healthy is beneficial for their future. People live a long and healthy life if they are physically active like the people in the past. Teachers should necessarily understand that there is a need to promote activity particularly in girls when taking this curriculum in to account. A special attention is required to be given by the teachers to make sure the physical education lesson content and instructional methods are properly able to address the physical activity, skills and emotional needs of girls. This is an opportunity for girls of becoming more active physically by participating in different kinds of activities (Michael, Warburton and Coy 2007, p. 25).
Stated above were how history played its role in making our generation well aware of the hazards of an unhealthy life, and how one can put their time into best use for a healthy and happy life. The history related to understanding the sociological issues related to sports, leisure and physical issues is vast. It tells a person from where all of these things began and what kinds of issues were faced while people tried to do these things. If talked about sports then racism was the biggest sociological issue which is still present in some parts of the world. People of all ages waste their time by not doing anything in the leisure time which was not really present in the past but it has become very common in today’s generation. Physical activities which should be a major part of everyone’s life is disappearing slowly whereas people in the past used to walk a lot on daily basis for their daily routine work, which helped them a lot in staying physically active. Whether it be sports, leisure or any sort of physical activity that was included in the schedule, it is never bad because when the muscles start moving, then our brain starts functioning faster by secreting essential hormones. Thus upon drawing conclusion it will be rightly said that history has shown where the past generations went wrong, or what is our generation losing that is mend able, a dumb person wont react to it but a smart one will; and at the end of the day a healthy body is a healthy mind.
List of References
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Michael, W., Warburton, P. and Coy, M., 2007. European physical education review. European physical education review.
Nogawa, H. and Suttie, S., 1984. A japanese-american basketball league and the assimilation of its members into the mainstream of united states society. International review for the sociology of sport , pp.259-60.
Staurowsky, EJ., 2007 “You Know, We Are All Indian”: Exploring White Power and Privilege in reactions to the NCAA native american mascot policy. Journal of sport and social issues, pp.61-64.
Bailey, P., 1978. Leisure and Class in Victorian England:Recreation and the Contest for Control 1830-1885. London: RKP.
Coakley, J., 2001. Sport in society: issues and controversies. London: McGraw-Hill.
Hargreaves, J. 1984. Sporting females: critical issues in the history and sociological of women’s sports. London: Routledge.
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Houlihan, B. 2003. Sport and Society: A student introduction. London: Sage.
Jarvie, G., 2006. Sport,Culture and society. London: Routledge.