TITLE:
Long-Term Relationships between SFD Program Engagement, Physical Literacy, and Physical Activity Levels among Urban Youth Aged 6 - 12 Facing Barriers to Positive Development
AUTHORS:
Marika Warner, Jackie Robinson, Bess Lennox, Jennifer Lloyd
KEYWORDS:
Sport for Development, Physical Literacy, Physical Activity, Youth Sport, Motor Development
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.11 No.4,
November
17,
2021
ABSTRACT: This study explored sport and physical activity-related outcomes
associated with participation in
intentionally designed youth Sport For Development programming and tested the hypothesis that program
participation would be associated with significant increases in physical
activity and physical literacy over a two-year period among youth aged 6 - 12 who faced barriers to positive development. 93
youth were recruited from registered Sport For Development programs and participated in this repeated-measures quasi-experimental
study. Our findings suggest that intentionally designed and strategically
resourced youth SFD programming is associated with significant increases in
physical activity and physical literacy (F (2, 133) = 5.133, p iod, with comparable increases across demographic
groups and the most growth observed from baseline to 6 months. These are
novel findings in the Sport for Development literature, which has primarily
focused on social and affective youth outcomes. A rich and detailed description
of the intervention and discussion of programmatic and non-programmatic factors
and temporal and equity considerations impacting outcomes offer transferable
insights for sport practitioners and researchers.