Combating Childhood Obesity with a “Health Club Model” in Secondary Physical Education

We have all seen the extensive press coverage of the rise in childhood obesity rates and the detrimental health impact we can expect in the future on both individual youngsters and our nation’s health care system. As teachers promoting healthy lifestyle decision-making, we are on the frontline when leaders such as the Surgeon General refers to the “call to action” needed to address obesity rates and sedentary living.

I suppose in some weird twist of fate (or perhaps my own biased view of the world), when we hear that obesity and sedentary lifestyles constitute an “epidemic” health problem --- we also hear an invaluable positive opportunity for school-based physical activity programs!

Among other reasons, I believe that is one reason why the “health club model” in secondary physical education has become the newest twist in program restructuring. And candidly, it is probably a pretty good idea. Let’s be honest, it is increasingly hard to sell the public on the value in playing competitive team sports (such as football, basketball, & soccer) in secondary programs when we know a majority of those youngsters we are teaching are probably not going to participate in these team sports as part of their healthy lifestyle plan once they leave school. That is not to suggest that team sports should be abandoned, but rather reexamined to focus on active participation rather than athletic prowess. Over twenty years ago when I was an undergraduate college student, a major focus of physical education teacher education programs were to prepare us to become both coaches and teachers of future athletes. The logic was pretty sound at the time, because we didn’t have the proliferation of specialized youth sport training of current times. Moving forward to today, a harsh reality is that varsity athletes are rarely “found” in PE classes…rather, youngsters who aspire to athletic success typically have been involved in specialized youth sport programs for many years before they even enter high school. If you had a chance to read the special four-part series in Sports Illustrated “Inside the Changing World of Our Young Athletes” (Nov. 18 -Dec. 9^th, 2003), you know exactly what I’m talking about. So what does that mean for PE class?

In many settings, the move toward the “health club model” is started in response to the need to improve the health of students and also because so many teachers find the dominance of team sports by the highest skilled youngsters detrimental to the health outcomes of the lowest skilled youngsters who typically need the physical activity the most. Simply watch a typically full-sized (i.e., 11v. 11 football, 5v5 basketball, etc.) game in PE class and notice how rarely the lower skilled (and often least fit) youngsters actually participate meaningfully. Instead, programs are placing youngsters on exercise bikes, weight training machines, aerobic programs, kickboxing classes, and climbing walls. In fact, did you ever notice that whenever someone mentions “New PE” you tend to see climbing walls and in-line skating?

I believe for me the “big picture” is that the sports and physical activities we teach are more and more simply the “means to the end.”The “end” in this case meaning physically active and healthy adolescents and young adults who are excited about a lifetime of movement. The old notion that the sports and physical activities were the “end” themselves, that is, the development of athletic expertise in order to compete on school teams appears no longer relevant. So whether we like it or not…”physical education” (the academic content teaching healthy lifestyles with participation for all youngsters) and “sports” (the nonacademic entertainment venue with participation only for the gifted few) continue to drift apart.

Jon Poole
Secondary Section Editor

The American Fitness Alliance (a collaborative effort between AAHPERD, the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research, and Human Kinetics) publisher of the Physical Best materials including the Physical Education for Lifelong Fitness: The Physical Best Teacher’s Guide and the Physical Best Activity Guide: Secondary Level, provides secondary teachers some pretty strong resources to get the year started on a healthy note.

What are the Physical Best principles for effective health-related physical education?

All Physical Best materials, resources, and workshops:

1. emphasize enjoyable participation in developmentally appropriate physical activities,
2. offer a diverse range of noncompetitive and competitive activities appropriate for different ages and abilities, allowing students to successfully participate,
3. emphasize the personal nature of participation in lifelong physical activity,
4. provide appropriate and authentic assessment that is part of the learning process and is designed so students take on increasing responsibility for their own assessment,
5. follow proven educational sequences and progressions that lead to students taking on increasing responsibility for their own health-related fitness, and
6. meet the NASPE National Physical Education Standards for health-related fitness.

Check it out through the American Fitness Alliance.

While I know many secondary school youngsters ride a bus, are driven by family or friends, or drive themselves… the continued interest in federal and state legislation to build pedestrian and bicycle access to schools is a worthy cause to lend your support. Those of you especially living in suburbs will recognize that it seems increasingly new neighborhoods and schools are built to NOT encourage walking and biking. Rather, we almost are forced to drive everywhere. Granted, several forward thinking developers across the county are building “planned active communities” with wide sidewalks, dedicated bicycle paths, small neighborhood-looking stores for easy access, dedicated green space for parks, and road schemes that discourage speeding and vehicle use, those developments seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Simply type “safe routes to school” in any search engine and you will see a myriad of resources available a click away.