Boy Scouts of America Encourages Activity During National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
Nation's Largest Youth Service Organization Combats Obesity With Education
Today's youth are considered the most inactive generation in history,
leading to increasing rates of childhood obesity . As part of its ongoing
Good Turn for America initiative the Boy Scouts of America, one of the
nation's leading youth organizations, is recognizing National Physical Fitness
and Sports Month by educating youth on fitness through initiatives like the
BSA Physical Fitness Award. The award is a national program of emphasis
designed to heighten fitness awareness and to help change the lifestyles of
American youth regarding exercise and healthy diet.
For nearly a century, the BSA has been known for fostering an environment
of physical fitness for American youth. All Boy Scouts take an oath that "On
my honor I will ... keep myself physically strong." The BSA Physical Fitness
Award was developed to encourage the development of attitudes, knowledge, and
skills that promote fitness and safe conduct; lay a skill, knowledge, and
attitude foundation of the seven major components of fitness; and improve
health, fitness, and quality of life through daily physical activity.
"From reduced school recesses and physical education classes to computers,
television and video games, today's youth face several obstacles when it
comes to incorporating physical activity into their daily lives," said Nathan Rosenberg, vice president of the Western Region of the BSA. "For 96 years the BSA has encouraged youth to make physical fitness a vital component of an overall healthy lifestyle, and National Physical Fitness and Sports Month gives us an excellent opportunity to reinforce that commitment."
Through the Good Turn for America initiative, the BSA encourages youth to
recognize National Physical Fitness and Sports Month by going to
old.scouting.org and taking the BSA Physical Fitness Award fitness test
based on the seven components of fitness: posture, accuracy, strength,
agility, speed, balance, and endurance.
Serving nearly 4.5 million young people between 7 and 20 years of age with
more than 300 councils throughout the United States and its territories, the
Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character
development and values-based leadership training. For more information on
the BSA, please visit old.scouting.org.
###