Sport And Physical Activity After Graduation From High School

Through the investigation on young people’s participation in physical activity, it can be seen that there are various recurring narratives that lament the decline in participation beyond the schooling years. Interpreted as a significant issue, this apparent decline must be addressed through the use of equitable strategies to further engage young people to take part in physical activity. Moreover, to target high school graduates with a view to changing their behaviours and attitudes. The term equity is a concept embedded in social justice and is both a human and civil right. Equity is concerned with giving value to and celebrating personal, social and cultural differences in society. It deals specifically with the dignity, privilege and power to which every individual is entitled. It is through the exploration of concepts such as access, inclusiveness and opportunities that equity can be enhanced, through targeted interventions that sporting groups and individuals can overcome society’s constructs and diminish equity. Access refers to opportunity to participate. Various factors can both limit or enhance the equity of access that individuals experience, which are known as barriers and enablers. Barriers and enablers can be categorised as personal, social, cultural or environmental factors. Many people are faced with significant barriers and are not given equal opportunities to participate in or benefit from sport and physical activities. This becomes particularly difficult for some people as they leave high school, as they are no longer given access to physical activity and sport, sporting facilities and equipment at no cost, therefore appearing as a significant barrier limiting access and equity.

It is evident from the data presented in appendix 1, that there has been an overall decline in the number of young people who continue to take part in sport and physical activity after graduation from high school. It also suggests, however, that students are participating in sport and physical activity less frequently as they leave high school yet are increasingly involved 1-2 times a week. This information demonstrates that as they graduate from high school and many enter the university environment, students are attempting to negotiate new expectations and study often takes priority. High school provided a structure of schooling that dominated the way that students organized their lives. This system offered them the opportunity and access to sport and physical activity at no cost and provided the transport and facilities necessary to carry this out. For many young people, their high schools’ places immense value on physical activity as contributing to the wider goals of the school, and set up expectations, structures and resources to support this. The effects of such investments and expectations are strikingly evident in the ways many young people speak of physical activity and the place of it in their lives. For many students, however, managing priorities was intensified after leaving school, where their lives illustrate the complex and complicated spaces that young people are negotiating as they endeavour to make a life for themselves. It can be assumed that the institutionalised context of school, organised not only their time but their physical activity. When these organising structures were removed, the young people were in a position where participation like other aspects of life become a matter of individual responsibility. Their continuing involvement was contingent on a number of factors; possibilities and access remained a crucial component, however the extent to which the concept of being physically active had become interpellated into the idea of ‘ identity ‘ of the young person and the extent to which it had been included in the daily priority system was also a significant impact. Therefore, the data indicates that the percentage of students involved in sport and physical activity 0-2 times a week increased upon graduating from high school, while the number of students participating in 3+ a week significantly decreased.

In order to further understand these trends, the graph presented below that represents the percentage of adult participation in sport and physical activity by age, was analysed.

A significant decline in the participation of sport related activity, while a corresponding increase in non-sport related activity between the 15-17 and 18-24 age groups is evident from this data. As school graduation occurs between these two age groups, it can be assumed that this decline in sport related activity upon graduation is due to reasons such as; disengagement, study and work commitments, an increase in competitiveness of the chosen sport, social aspects involving friends who are no longer playing, and cultural barriers where sport is no longer organised by the school or accessible through HPE classes.

With the goals of retaining an exercise frequency of at least 3 times per week, and continuing a sport-based physical activity, my aim is to continue playing netball for club, as the commitment is reasonable with merely one training and one game a week. In addition, my equity strategy incorporates an ambition to gain a sporting membership at the University of Queensland, where athletics will be my focus. With this in mind, I hope to find a coach for athletics and continue training and competing in my specified events. Moreover, I would maintain my non-sport based physical activities such as walking the dog, and workouts from home. Many universities are equipped with various sporting facilities and offer memberships at a cost, to allow their students to participate in their desired sport or physical activity. As quoted on the University of Queensland website for example, it states that, “Take advantage of UQ Sport’s wide range of memberships to help you stay active and maintain a healthy study-work-life balance. Our aim is to offer you the ultimate flexibility when choosing your membership and allow you to pick the level of commitment that suits you” (https://uqsport.com.au/memberships/st-lucia). This demonstrates that the University of Queensland strives to accommodate physical activity and sporting needs of their students, through a membership program. The resources and facilities available with this membership are further evident in the table below.

According to the primary data collected in appendix ___, I personally find that when participating in both organised and social sport, I am further motivated and confident. These positive enablers are due to the combination of my knowledge and familiarity of the sport as well as the opportunity to participate with my friends, allowing me to feel more comfortable when playing. In my opinion, by devising an equity strategy that incorporates a sport-based physical activity such as club netball, an organised fitness activity like athletics and maintaining self-organised fitness activities including walking the dog and committing to workouts from home.

By acknowledging the overall trends that represent the level of participation in sport and physical activity for students after high school graduation, understanding the barriers and enablers that I individually face and identifying how they may alter upon graduation, I am able to devise a personal equity strategy to facilitate these barriers and promote my ongoing engagement in sport and physical activity. Accessibility through lack of facilities, resources and opportunity such as physical activity in HPE classes and CASSSA sport have been identified as the biggest environmental enablers for me at Loreto. This is likely to be minimised upon graduation as sport is less advertised in university compared to high school, therefore making it more difficult to become involved in a sport. Additionally, by eliminating the opportunity to use well-equipped facilities, take part in a sporting competition and be provided with qualified coaching, all at no cost, students are often forced to stop taking part in their chosen sport or physical activity. It can be seen in the table presented in appendix __, a large percentage of up to 70% of adults agreed or strongly agreed that the lack of resources, facilities and equipment were significant barriers that negatively affected their access and ability to participate in sport and physical activity. Consequently, the equity strategy I would propose must consider an effective method to both access the facilities and resources necessary to take part in a particular sport to its full potential, and maintain a cost that is sufficient and manageable for a university student. In addition to this, it can be found that balancing schoolwork and study, sporting commitments and other extra-curricular activities are currently rather difficult to maintain for me. For many young people, being able to engage in a form of physical activity brings a great deal of pleasure, satisfaction and feelings of well-being to their lives. It can be seen that the choices made regarding physical activity in the years immediately after school, are made in a complex environment, where young people are attempting to negotiate new expectations and work/study often takes priority. This is expected to become more inhibiting when entering university due to work and additional study commitments, and therefore is likely to limit my participation in sport and physical activity. By utilizing my motivation for participation as a positive enabler, my equity strategy will encompass an exercise frequency that can be maintained through a fixed schedule, that can be flexible around work hours. As seen in appendix ___, the top 10 activities for adult men and women demonstrate a trend between genders where the majority of physical activities listed are non-sport based activities. It can be assumed that this is due to the accessibility to many of these activities, where it is both affordable and easily manageable with time to participate in. Activities such as recreational walking and cycling are self-organised activities that can be done alongside other sporting commitments such club activities.

It is clear from the data gathered, that a significant hurdle in optimising engagement in sport and physical activity upon graduation from high school was the lack of emphasis on enjoyment, social benefits and cultural aspects, as well as the struggle to balance new work and study commitments. It is clear from the graphs analysed that in many cases, an emphasis on performance and victory was turning students away from participating in sport and physical activity, resulting in a decline in number after leaving high school.

Data investigating the difference in frequency of participation in sport and physical activity from during a student’s schooling years to upon graduation from high school.