Participating in team sports is a wonderful way for kids to have fun, build skills and confidence and stay in shape all at once. While today’s pace of afterschool life can be maddening at times, these benefits of team sports make the extra effort worthwhile. The problem is that the kids who need to exercise the most, overweight and obese children, are not taking part in these programs because they feel too self-conscious around kids of normal weight and often find the current pace of team sports a daunting challenge.
For weight loss, obesity experts often suggest special
programs just for obese kids to help them bond with a peer group and tackle
their unique issues, including exercise. A new study, called SPORT (The Stanford Sports to Prevent Obesity Randomized
Trial), designed a team sports program around this concept with very promising
results. The goals were simple: get overweight kids active in sports, having fun and
feeling comfortable, while losing weight at the same time. In SPORT, the kids who participated did just
that. They not only had fun but their BMIs (body mass indices) decreased.
SPORT was run in a
low-income community for kids grades 4-8 with BMIs above the 85 percentile. 21 kids
were chosen and divided into two study groups: a health education arm and a
health education with a soccer arm. Kids in the soccer arm were found to have a
statistically significant drop in their BMIs.
Although the study size
is very small, SPORT is a very important study because it demonstrates that a
very simple model, team sports, can be used to help obese kids control their
weight. As the study discussion points out, current weight loss programs are
costly and not readily available in all communities. And, more than that, kids
who are overweight, do not feel comfortable participating in currently
available team sports because of the peer issues with normal weight kids and
the exercise issues they experience due to their weight. The study authors assumed correctly that
these kids would want to participate in youth sports and that seems to be the
key to success for the kids and for the communities to offer a successful and
affordable program.
SPORT echoes what we know
about overweight and obese kids and now offers a team sports model to build
upon for other sports and communities.
While the sample size of kids was small, SPORT reminds us that team
sports have to be tailored to the population and that sports programs must meet the
needs of all kids. SPORT also reminds us that traditional team sports are not
for all kids and that some special groups of kids, like obese kids, need
special sports programs because their sports needs are different from most kids.
SPORT reminds us of the
importance of peer groups for all kids and that overweight kids, like normal
weight kids, feel more comfortable around their own peer group. All kids thrive
and do best when around kids like themselves and overweight kids are no
exception. Where sports are concerned, SPORT reminds us that overweight kids
need programs tailored to their needs. We can’t expect them to participate with
kids of normal weight until their exercise endurance is increased. A program
designed for overweight and obese kids must take this into account and have
coaches understand the special exercise needs of this group, including the
unique behavioral and emotional needs.
This study is a good
reminder for parents that overweight kids don’t view themselves normally. As
parents, we sometimes push our kids into situations with their peers that are
perhaps a bit too socially challenging. With obesity and sports, this is one
area that parents have to walk before running. They have to be careful of the
reasons for signing up their child for a sport and be sure the child is played.
And, coaches need to start understanding the courage it takes for a child to
join a team while over weight or obese.
It is very important that this child get playing time, as it is for every
child.
This study also
highlights the importance of special programs for special populations. Kids
sometimes need that even if they can’t articulate it. There is a reason for
those stereotypes of the fat kid sitting on the bench in movies…no child wants
to be that kid and that is the image most overweight kids have in their minds
when they ponder joining a sports team. Keep in mind, we have a “must win”
society. Until youth sports changes a bit more to get kids playing just for the
fun of it, we have to be the ones to look out for our kids' best interests.
Overweight kids have enough to deal with
day to day. Let’s not make it worse by pushing them continually into situations
they do not want to be in. But, let’s do try and find more situations they
desperately crave – like more sports programs with kids just like themselves.
Finally, SPORT was
initially piloted in a low-income community but we need to remember that the
emotional and athletic needs of obese kids are the same across all socio-economic
strata. The lessons learned in SPORT are applicable to Everytown USA and that
is what we have to keep in mind for all our obese children. Team sports must
meet the needs of all kids in all communities and even communities with
greater economic resources than inner-city, low income communities, have to be mindful of providing for all kids. There are many inactive kids in middle class
communities, too. And, in those communities, the high pressure nature of team
sports may be a large part of the reason why those overweight kids do not want to
participate. A SPORT program would have great benefit for these kids.
So, while small is size and scope, SPORT is huge in the lessons learned for us about the team sports needs for overweight and obese children. As parents and coaches, making sure these kids are played is the first goal but making sure they are having fun is a close second. If those two components are in the program, the child will succeed and all their emotional and health goals will be met.
Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, MD is a pediatrician living in the Boston area and the founder and Editor-In-Chief of www.Pediatricsnow.com.
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