THE DERIVATION OF A RATIONALE FOR AND A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON IMPLEMENTING CURRICULUM GUIDELINES FOR THE INCLUSION OF LIFETIME SPORTS AS A PART OF THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM IN URBAN SCHOOLS

There are many reasons for the current trend in public schools toward a lifetime sports oriented physical education program. Basically, the failure of traditional team sport oriented physical education programs to involve larger numbers of students is one reason for the current focus on lifetime sports in American public schools. This failure of traditional physical education programs is largely responsible for the development of a nation of spectators who do not engage in physical activities for the purposes of physical fitness, self concept development, use of leisure time, and the social benefits of participation in sports.;A physical education questionnaire was administered to male and female physical education teachers in a selected urban school district. This effort was a part of the goal to derive at a physical education curriculum for Lifetime Sports. A second group of participants were administered a physical education questionnaire. The participants were male and female students, grades 10 through 12, randomly selected from three large urban secondary schools. A third source of deriving a physical education lifetime sports curriculum was corresponding with fifty State Departments of Education. The results (a lifetime sports curriculum) were derived by assigning a numerical value to each item from all lists of activities, and this process culminated in a rank order with the values being placed in ordinal positions.;After deriving a rationale for lifetime sports and identifying a lifetime sports curriculum, a feasibility study was conducted by the writer.;This rationale for lifetime sports was derived from a review of the related literature. The physiological benefits which might be derived for lifetime sports participation through planned, purposive physical activity are: (a) a person's cardiovascular endurance can be improved; (b) improved flexibility through physical activity; (c) the human muscular and skeletal systems are helped through rigorous physical activity; (d) the person's total body will be eventually honed to work effectively and efficiently; (e) the fit person will perform with less effort in work performance; (f) the fit person will have learned how to work together for greater efficiency; and (g) long term exercise will result in gradual weight loss if the individual maintains a constant diet.