Abstract
BackgroundYouth sport (YS) reaches a large number of children world-wide and contributes substantially to children’s daily physical activity (PA), yet less than half of YS time has been shown to be spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Physical activity during practice is likely to vary depending on practice structure that changes across YS time, therefore the purpose of this study was 1) to describe the type and frequency of segments of time, defined by contextual characteristics of practice structure, during YS practices and 2) determine the influence of these segments on PA.MethodsResearch assistants video-recorded the full duration of 28 practices from 14 boys’ flag football teams (2 practices/team) while children concurrently (N = 111, aged 5–11 years, mean 7.9 ± 1.2 years) wore ActiGraph GT1M accelerometers to measure PA. Observers divided videos of each practice into continuous context time segments (N = 204; mean-segments-per-practice = 7.3, SD = 2.5) using start/stop points defined by change in context characteristics, and assigned a value for task (e.g., management, gameplay, etc.), member arrangement (e.g., small group, whole group, etc.), and setting demand (i.e., fosters participation, fosters exclusion). Segments were then paired with accelerometer data. Data were analyzed using a multilevel model with segment as unit of analysis.ResultsWhole practices averaged 34 ± 2.4% of time spent in MVPA. Free-play (51.5 ± 5.5%), gameplay (53.6 ± 3.7%), and warm-up (53.9 ± 3.6%) segments had greater percentage of time (%time) in MVPA compared to fitness (36.8 ± 4.4%) segments (p ≤ .01). Greater %time was spent in MVPA during free-play segments compared to scrimmage (30.2 ± 4.6%), strategy (30.6 ± 3.2%), and sport-skill (31.6 ± 3.1%) segments (p ≤ .01), and in segments that fostered participation (36.1 ± 2.7%) than segments that fostered exclusion (29.1 ± 3.0%; p ≤ .01). Significantly greater %time was spent in low-energy stationary behavior in fitness (15.7 ± 3.4%) than gameplay (4.0 ± 2.9%) segments (p ≤ .01), and in sport-skill (17.6 ± 2.2%) than free-play (8.2 ± 4.2%), gameplay, and warm-up (10.6 ± 2.6%) segments (p < .05).ConclusionsThe %time spent in low-energy stationary behavior and in MVPA differed by characteristics of task and setting demand of the segment. Restructuring the routine of YS practice to include segments conducive to MVPA could increase %time spent in MVPA during practice. As YS reaches a large number of children worldwide, increasing PA during YS has the potential to create a public health impact.
Highlights
Youth sport (YS) reaches a large number of children world-wide and contributes substantially to children’s daily physical activity (PA), yet less than half of youth sport (YS) time has been shown to be spent in moderate-tovigorous physical activity (MVPA)
Many children worldwide participate in youth sport [13], targeting YS as a setting to increase PA has the potential to reach a large number of children
We hypothesized that (1) practices would have heterogeneous time segments defined by contextual characteristics, (2) member arrangement and setting demand of the time segment would influence MVPA, and (3) time segments that demanded participation would result in greater MVPA compared to segments that fostered exclusion
Summary
Youth sport (YS) reaches a large number of children world-wide and contributes substantially to children’s daily physical activity (PA), yet less than half of YS time has been shown to be spent in moderate-tovigorous physical activity (MVPA). Current public health physical activity guidelines recommend that children accrue 60 min of moderate-tovigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day to achieve overall health benefits, including decreased cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk factors, increased bone density, muscular and cardiovascular fitness [1]. Despite these health benefits, surveillance estimates have indicated that only 42% of children and 8% of adolescents in the United States are meeting physical activity guidelines [2]. Many children worldwide participate in youth sport [13], targeting YS as a setting to increase PA has the potential to reach a large number of children
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