GCST Swimmers Are More Active

Kids active only about half of time in sports practices

By Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY

Kids on soccer, baseball and softball teams are playing hard during

practices an average of 45 minutes, which is less than half the time

they're there, a study shows.

"Millions of youth participate in sports, but kids are spending a lot

of time waiting their turn, getting instruction or doing skills

practice, which may not be very active, especially in baseball and

softball," says exercise researcher James Sallis, director of the

Active Living Research Program at San Diego State University.

He and colleagues recruited 200 children, ages 7-14, on 29 different

community sports teams for soccer, baseball and softball. There were

equal numbers of girls and boys.

About one-fourth of the players wore accelerometers during practices

to calculate how much of the time they were moderately to vigorously

active. Practice times ranged from 40 to 130 minutes for soccer; 35 to

217 minutes for baseball and softball.

The government's physical activity guidelines recommend that children

get at least 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical

activity.

Among the findings in Monday's issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and

Adolescent Medicine:

.On average, kids were moderately to vigorously active for 45 minutes,

which was 46% of their practice time.

.24% of all the team members met the one-hour activity goal; only 2%

of girl softball players met the recommendation.

.Girls were less active than boys in all sports, but only by an

average of 11 minutes per practice.

.The most active players overall were soccer players, boys and

children ages 10-14.

Other research shows that children are often more active during free

play than structured activities, because the more time coaches spend

giving instruction and doing some drills, the less activity kids get,

Sallis says.

Girls playing softball were particularly inactive, he says, so coaches

could set a goal of incorporating more physical activity during those

practices.

"Even if kids are spending an hour and a half at a sports practice,

most aren't getting all the activity they need for the day," Sallis

says. "So parents may need to find some other way to make sure their

kids are getting 60 minutes of activity a day."

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/fitness/exercise/2010-12-07-youthsports07_ST_N.htm