INSTILLING SPORTS CULTURE IN AS CATALYST FOR POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Sport culture can serve as a catalyst for positive youth development. However, sport should not be confined to only elite, or high performance, or professional sports. It has a broader context of sport-for-all that includes recreation, play, fitness, games, exercise and any healthy physical and mental activity that contributes to overall wellness. In order to develop positive youth development, it has to be preceded with sports that encourage learning and education before youth development can take place. This is very important for the young people as prime movers in nation building. The effort to instill sports as a culture is also not the job of only the youth participants themselves, but includes the partnership and collaboration with adults and other stakeholders. The whole spectrum of the sport industry has specific roles in developing the youth. In this dimension of sport for positive youth development, winning medals and titles are no longer the primary goals in sport participation. The primary goals are having fun, enjoyment, gaining new knowledge and acquiring skills, leading to self-fulfillment, satisfaction, and meaning in life. Sport participation is a lifelong continuous development process and contributes to personal growth and human capital development where the values of sport help to mold the character of the youth. Sport as a culture composes of value systems, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour. In addition, ports engagements are not about being passive spectators, but to actively playing, games, exercising, and indulge in the pleasures and adventure of a given sport. In this article, a new model of instilling sport culture is proposed through the “3P.E.C.K.S – Provide, Participate, Programmes; Educate; Collaborate; Knowledge; and Skills”; and where the sport engagements facilitates to P.L.A.C.E.S – Passion, Love, Adventure, Challenge and Commitment, Excitement and Excellence, and Self-actualization and Self-esteem. Sports culture begins from home, then to school, open spaces, offices, and sporting arenas. Having sporting events alone is not enough. There has to be a holistic development from various other elements that includes recreation education if sports culture is to be instilled.

Keywords: Sports Culture, Positive Youth Development, Sport-for-All, Leisure and Recreation, Sports and Recreation Education

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