Physical Activity and Sport During the First Ten Years of Life Multidisciplinary Perspectives ICSSPE Perspectives Series

Evidence suggests that the first 10 or so years of life create the foundation for subsequent participation in recreational and health-related physical activity. This book brings together researchers and practitioners with expertise in issues related to physical activity, physical education, and sport during the primary/elementary phase of schooling, to explore these important issues.

Combining inter-disciplinary perspectives, the book addresses the inherent complexity of researching with young children. It looks at the evidence on development during the first 10 years and how that evidence relates to physical activity and to sport, in pre-school, school and out of school. Finally, the book offers a series of national case studies, from Asia, Europe and Africa, demonstrating the importance of age-appropriate sport and physical activity.

This is important reading for any student, researcher, educator or policy maker with an interest in physical activity and health, education in the early years or at primary/elementary level, paediatric exercise science, or youth sport.

Introduction

Part One: Researching Physical Activity in the First 10 Years

Chapter 1: Researching Children’s Physical Activity: The Importance of Theory for Research Methods

Jennifer P. Agans and Ross Budziszewski

Chapter 2: Population Measurement of Physical Activity Among Children Aged Under 10 Years

Louise L Hardy and Sjaan R Gomersall

Chapter 3: Movement as Relations: Preverbal, Conscious and Affected?

Gunn Engelsrud

Part Two: Physical Activity and Child Development

Chapter 4: Physical Exercise and Cognitive Development: Influence of Training Modalities and Characteristics

David Moreau

Chapter 5: Cognitive and Motor Performance: Shared Processes During the First 10 Years of Life

Claudia M. Roebers

Chapter 6: Exercise, Cognitive Function, and Obesity in Children

Tai-Fen Song, Chien-Heng Chu and Yu-Kai Chang

Part Three: Sport

Chapter 7: Organized Sport for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Meghan Harlow and Jessica Fraser-Thomas

Chapter 8: Mental Health and Childhood Participation in Organised Sport

Stewart A. Vella, Jordan Sutcliffe, Matthew J. Schweickle, Sarah K. Liddle and Christian Swann

Chapter 9: Navigating Relative Age and Birthplace Effects to Ensure Equal Participation in Youth Sport

David J. Hancock

Chapter 10: The Child’s Right to an Open Sporting Future

Richard Bailey

Part Four: Physical Activity

Chapter 11: Acute Cognitively Challenging Physical Activity to Promote Children’s Cognition

Mirko Schmidt, Fabienne Egger, Sofia Anzeneder and Valentin Benzing

Chapter 12: Investment for Family and Community Physical Activity Interventions

Victoria Archbold and Paul Collings

Part Five: Education

Chapter 13: The Active School Concept

Claude Scheuer and Richard Bailey

Chapter 14: Developing a Movement Culture in the First 10 Years

Ben Langdown

Chapter 15: Physically Active Play in the Early Years

Arja Sääkslahti

Part Six: Case Studies

Chapter 16: Physical Activity and Sport in the First 10 Years in South Africa

Anita E Pienaar

Chapter 17: The Development of Physical Activities and Sport in China’s Kindergartens in the 21st Century

Jinxia Dong and Yijing Zhong

Chapter 18: Sport and Physical Activity During the First 10 Years of Life in Ireland and the UK

Kristy Howells and Tara Coppinger

Jennifer P. Agans is Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management at the Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Richard Bailey is an independent writer and researcher based in Berlin, Germany.

Jean Côté is Professor and Director in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.

AndyDaly-Smith is Senior Lecturer in Physical Activity and Behaviour Science at Leeds Beckett University, UK.

Phillip Tomporowski is Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, and Director of the Cognition and Skill Acquisition Laboratory, at the University of Georgia, USA.