Introduction
Do you know that today, children aged 10-16 spend a daily average of 12.6 minutes outdoors and remain motionless for more than ten hours a day? The youth today are overwhelmingly adopting a sedentary lifestyle and exposing themselves to its dangers. For this reason, I am here to seek your feedback on the possibility of building an outdoor recreational hub for the youth. Indeed, undertaking a project like this takes a lot of effort – in terms of time, money, and labor intensity. However, I am convinced that building a recreational hub for our youth presents inarguable benefits that far outweigh all the difficulties of planning. It promotes health and wellness in our community and has a positive impact on the economy and tourism in Monopolysville. Surely, some might say that a recreational park might be dangerous – this point I will also address. The tentative plan for the hub entails areas for ball and wheel activities like basketball courts, soccer pitches, skateboard, bike path, scooters, rollerblades, and BMX bikes.
Supporting Point One
First and foremost, being able to attend a recreational hub offers health and wellness benefits to our community. We all know that the modern age has its own set of public health challenges. As our lives grow more comfortable, we overwhelmingly adopt a sedentary lifestyle. Our youth are no exception: they spend more time indoors than outdoors, watching TV, surfing the Internet, or playing video games. Before we criticize the kids, we should not dismiss one significant nuance: many of the options that we have are not accessible by the underprivileged. While a child from a well-off family enjoys enrolling in any classes of their liking, their peer from a poorer neighborhood is limited in their choice of pastimes. We trap the underprivileged youth in their situation instead of providing them with the means to lead a healthy lifestyle and find an excellent emotional outlet.
In the meantime, the worldwide obesity rate has tripled since 1975 (World Health Organization, 2020). Out of 1.9 billion people who are overweight or even encroach on obesity territory, 340 million are children and adolescents, and they need intervention. Would it be a stretch to say every parent in the audience wishes their children to live a long and healthy life and not make it to these fairly disturbing statistics? Luckily, it has been proven that regular exercise prevents a wide range of health conditions such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and even colon and breast cancer (NHS, 2018). On top of that, the more our youth are engaged in creative, energizing, and invigorating activities such as sports and exercise, the less they are tempted to pursue problematic paths in life.
Supporting Point 2
Another aspect that I would hate to forego is the contribution that the park will make to our city’s vibrancy and economy. We have yet to see a stable inflow of tourists in Mopolysville. One of the reasons for it is the lack of venues and amenities for families and children. This is unfortunate because families with kids are a huge consumer segment that we choose to ignore. According to Expedia Group Media Solutions, 83% of travelers plan trips with kids (Karantzavelou, 2019). A recreational hub will help traveling families plan their stay and meet the needs of every family member. The introduction of a recreational hub will be a monetary investment, bringing more families and children to Monopolysville, resulting in more spending on local businesses. Studies have shown that sports venues of all kinds support the local economy as visitors purchase sports equipment, footwear, and go out for food. This applies not only to the guests of the city: an average household spends around 1.5% of its budget on sports, which will translate into stable investment in the city’s economy.
Rebuttal
Surely, some might say that ball and wheel parks are dangerous. However, children injure themselves in a variety of situations. Would you rather your children skate and play in a designated area or endanger themselves, doing it elsewhere? Four out of five deaths skateboarding are caused by motor vehicle accidents – something that would never happen at a specialized venue. A recreational hub might be safer than doing sports outside designated areas as we will have protective equipment and supervisors with easy access to emergency services.
Conclusion
To recapitulate, the fate of our community is in our hands. We are responsible for the health and wellness of our children. It is in our best interest to provide them with more opportunities to adopt a healthy lifestyle. The introduction of a recreational hub will translate into more accessibility for the underprivileged, a non-problematic emotional outlet, and a safe place for the youth to be physically active. Besides, it will boost the economy of Monopolysville, stimulating tourism and household spending on sports. For this reason, I implore you to consider my proposal and see it not only as a monetary investment but as an investment into our shared future.
References
Karantzavelou, V. (2019).83% of travelers plan trips together as a family. Web.
NHS. (2018). Benefits of exercise. Web.
World Health Organization. (2020). Obesity and overweight. Web.