Young People Being Inspired Leads to Positive Outcomes. This is Needed Now.
Opening the door to positive influence has never been more important considering all that surrounds us.
There is no shortage of difficulties in today’s world. Challenges are all around us, many out of our control. As coaches and parents, we worry about the influence of these challenges on our young people. The constant barrage of restrictions has altered plans and exposure to current events take a toll on our mental health.
Exposing ourselves to positive and inspiring stories and information are critical during this time to offset the negativity.
There is no more important time than the present to explore inspiration and influence for the good.
MEET COURTNEY BURNETT
Courtney Burnett is an 18-year-old from Brooklyn who discovered her love of skateboarding during Covid. While her schooling was online and having extra time, Courtney re-ignited her interest in skateboarding. Trying something new is challenging for all of us, and for young people it can be especially intimidating. Trying something new means that there will be discomfort and uncertainty in making mistakes before confidence develops.
We can learn a lot from our youth.
From Courtney:
“Your job here is to get over yourself, so you can land this trick. You know what I mean? In skateboarding, everyone’s always saying, commit. So you tell yourself, screw what my brain is saying, I’m going to land this trick. There’s something that’s so freeing about that because you’re pushing past boundaries, which I really like. So as a Black woman who has always been walking that line, it’s like nice to have that escape.”
“No more excuses, no more. I want to convince people, especially girls that don’t want to fall—falling is a part of skateboarding. You can get over it; you’ll be fine because of the risk to reward. Landing that trick is so much more rewarding when you’ve fallen along the way. Falling is just a part of life.”
“When I skateboard I feel free”.
“When skateboarding I am pushing my boundaries”
More on Courtney Burnett here.
While we are on the topic of inspiration, how about 18 motivational sports books for girls? From the world of women skateboarding, to surfing to softball and overcoming challenges.
While we are on the topic of inspiration and guidance for women, friend of the The Physical Movement, Erica Suter launched her book recently. The Strong Female Athlete Book is now out and getting rave reviews.
NORWAY IS ON TO SOMETHING
Finding inspiration is often the key to progress and breakthroughs. If someone else has done it, then it can be done. In a day and age when we seemingly exert little control over incoming messages, controlling the narrative becomes critical. If our youth sport organization is struggling, we need to find inspiration in those that have overcome. In April 2021, The Physical Movement wrote about early sport specialization and featured Norway’s youth sport structure. They were recently in the news again with their success at the last Olympics. Norway won the most medals of any country at the recent Olympics, with only 5.5million people in the country.
Norway funds more than 11,000 youth sports centers, where 93 percent of the country’s kids participate in sports. This is a massive difference versus participation levels in USA and Canada which are almost 50% of the 93%.
Inspiration is all around us, read more about Norway’s youth sport philosophy here from this article.
INCREASING PARTICIPATION INSPIRATION
I don’t know about you, but I am inspired by growing opportunities for young people to play.
Not only are participation levels in youth sports declining, but a lack of opportunity and interest has been exacerbated by Covid-19—a USA national survey conducted by the Aspen Institute in September 2021 found that 44% of families reported their community-based program had closed, merged or returned with limited capacity. Even if the opportunity is now available, nearly three in 10 parents report their children didn’t want to return to the main sport they played pre-pandemic.
While the lack of play opportunities escalate and leaves many behind, some entities are recognizing that giving back to communities by reducing the cost barriers is good business.
Apparel brand Under Armour is the latest group to make a commitment.
“The fact that there are so many barriers is concerning,” CEO Patrick Frisk says. “Schools are canceling physical education because of cost, resources or time, and this has been made even worse by Covid. This isn’t a Covid initiative, it’s ultimately about living and activating against our purpose as a company which is to empower those who strive for more.
“We believe if we can find ways to break down barriers to engaging in sports for youth, we are helping empower them, and that’s what it’s all about.”
The cynics will say that Under Armour is ultimately after more business. Of course, however the case can be made that having them invest in communities and youth sport is a much better use of their marketing money than randomly splashing their brand through only traditional marketing. Hopefully this becomes a trend for big business to re-invest in our youth.
More on Under Armour’s youth sport funding initiative here, and below.