Factors affecting participation!
Environment, Disability, Gender, Age, Somatotype!
disability
Disability sports organisations such as EFDS and BPA help create opportunities within sports for the disabled. They can do this by modifying the rules to suit the disabled more. e.g. passing forward in wheelchair basketball.
Environment
- Weather- If the weather is too hot dehydration is easily come by and if its too cold it may hurt to participate and you would lose interest
- Training- Training can only take part when the environment is suitable, e.g. a tennis player cannot train if the court is covered in snow and ice.
- Competing- Many activity's stop if the weather is poor
- Altitude- Being high above sea level makes training harder which makes the benefits better
- Humidity- Humidity makes performing very difficult and dehydration is hard to avoid
- Terrain- Terrain affects how well you can perform your chosen sport. e.g. Skiers need large hills and runners need flat ground.
Somatotypes
Ectomorph
Ectomorph is someone who is tall and skinny.
Mesomorph
Mesomorph is someone who is quite muscular.
Endomorph
Endomorph is someone who is fat,also known as 'Pear shaped'.
Gender
- Men have longer, heavier bones,
- Women carry more fat than men
- men have higher testosterone levels so bigger, stronger muscles
- Women tend to me smaller than men.
Fewer females pro rata take part in sport than males.
At the ancient Olympic Games, women were not allowed to watch the activities let alone participate in them.
By the end of the nineteenth century, English women, from the middle classes, were taking part in sport. Victorian attitudes meant that women often played in cumbersome dresses making movement difficult.
In the early twentieth century, the national governing bodies of some sports were formed and there were organised competitions for women, usually separate from men.
Women competed in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1904 but only in archery.
Even in the 1996, Atlanta games there were 163 men's events and only 97 women's events.
The First World War was the turning point for women's sport, where the myth that women were weak, had little energy and were unable to cope with men's work was broken.
If they could cope with the work of the munitions factory then they could cope with men's sport.
Heavy industry called women to work again during the Second World War but after the war more women continued to work.
They had more money to spend and more freedom to participate in sport and leisure activities.
Age
The sport and leisure pursuits that people take part are closely related to their age and local tradition.
As people get older the time spent taking part in sport becomes less and the nature of the sport changes.
Activities with high-energy requirements and output such as rugby are generally associated with younger players while activities that rely on skill rather than physical fitness such as lawn bowls are associated with older people.
As the body ages it becomes less flexible, strength is lost as are speed and stamina.
Sprains and other minor injuries become more frequent and recovery time becomes longer.
There are activities where age does not affect participation such as swimming, walking and playing golf.
There is therefore no reason why sport and related activities should not be participated in at any age.
Age only limits the type of activity.
The sport and leisure pursuits that people take part are closely related to their age and local tradition.
As people get older the time spent taking part in sport becomes less and the nature of the sport changes.
Activities with high-energy requirements and output such as rugby are generally associated with younger players while activities that rely on skill rather than physical fitness such as lawn bowls are associated with older people.
As the body ages it becomes less flexible, strength is lost as are speed and stamina.
Sprains and other minor injuries become more frequent and recovery time becomes longer.
There are activities where age does not affect participation such as swimming, walking and playing golf.
There is therefore no reason why sport and related activities should not be participated in at any age.
Age only limits the type of activity.