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The National Youth Sports Strategy (NYSS) is the first federal roadmap to unite the U.S. youth sports system around a shared vision: that one day all youth will have the opportunity, motivation, and access to play sports. Six months after the NYSS launched, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, disrupting the youth sports system. While the benefits of physical activity and sports participation are well established, rates were low in the United States before the pandemic, and existing disparities likely widened during the pandemic. The NYSS provides a framework for how entities across the youth sports system -- from the federal government all the way down to youth participants -- can act in pursuit of the NYSS vision. This commentary highlights implementation examples from each level of the NYSS Framework, underscoring the importance of everyone in implementing policies and programs that give all youth an equal opportunity to participate.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (Guidelines) advises older adults to be as active as possible. Yet, despite the many benefits of physical activity, less than 15% of people ages 65 years and older meet the Guidelines. To address this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed a Midcourse Report focused on the strategies and settings that can help increase physical activity levels among older adults. Internists are well positioned to encourage older adults to be more physically active. Health care providers can leverage this position to talk about the importance of regular physical activity; assess physical activity levels; share information and resources about how to safely get started; and provide counseling, guidance, and/or referrals to additional providers or programs for further support. This article provides an overview of the recently released Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Implementation Strategies for Older Adult and highlights the role of internists and other health care providers to encourage and support their patients to be more physically active. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion completed research to understand factors that could encourage Americans to follow the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, second edition, released in 2018. This study describes survey research assessing demographic characteristics that might be related to knowledge and awareness of the guidelines. Methods: An online survey of 2050 adult physical activity contemplators assessed knowledge of physical activity, awareness of the guidelines, and knowledge of dosage recommendations. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed, and demographic differences in knowledge and awareness were analyzed using Pearson chi-square tests and Fisher exact tests. Results: Respondents had medium to high knowledge of physical activity, although knowledge varied significantly by socioeconomic factors. Knowledge of dosage recommendations was very low, with 2% and 3% of respondents correctly identifying recommended moderate- and vigorous-intensity doses, respectively. Only 22% were aware of the guidelines; awareness was greater among those with a higher education or income and those without a disability. Conclusions: These findings guided the development of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion's Move Your Way campaign and reinforced the need to raise awareness of the guidelines and promote behavior change among physical activity contemplators—particularly those from lower socioeconomic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In 2016, the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee, a group of experts in exercise science and health, began an extensive review of the literature to inform the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Methods: The purpose of this paper is to describe the evidence-based methodology used to review, evaluate, and synthesize published, peer-reviewed physical activity research. The protocol-driven methodology was designed to maximize transparency, minimize bias, and ensure relevant, timely, and high-quality systematic reviews. Training protocols, quality control procedures, search strategies, assessment instruments, abstraction guides and forms, and reporting templates were developed. Results: A systematic approach was used to select the evidence for the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report that included umbrella reviews and systematic reviews. Within 16 months, 38 searches were conducted; and 20,838 titles, 4913 abstracts, and 2139 full texts were triaged. Of those, 1130 articles were abstracted to answer 38 research questions. Conclusions: To inform population-based physical activity guidelines, this systematic process facilitated a vast review of the literature on physical activity and health in a short period of time. This flexible, yet rigorous and transparent process included a clear and detailed methodology with a focus on training and quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation is an important piece of effective policymaking, but connecting local organizations with federal policy can be challenging. A virtual workshop structure can help engage implementation partners, especially when in-person events are not possible. The workshops described here leveraged virtual outreach and facilitation methods to foster community engagement, forge connections, and build relationships at the regional, state, and local levels.This article focuses on five virtual workshops. The planning phase consisted of selecting the geographic scope of each workshop, developing outreach and facilitation materials, and supporting event logistics. The execution and summary phase included tailoring materials, hosting the events, and producing follow-up materials. Networking, resource sharing, collaboration, and active facilitation were employed to promote engagement.Registration for the virtual workshops included 223 individuals representing organizations in 28 states. Participants shared 133 resources. In a post-event evaluation, 93% of respondents indicated they could identify at least one new resource to support their efforts to increase youth sports participation in their community, and 94% indicated they plan to follow up and explore potential partnerships/collaborations with others they met or heard from at the workshop. Networking and resource sharing were identified as the most useful aspects of the workshops.With careful planning and collaboration, virtual workshops represent a useful community engagement mechanism to bring policy into practice. Creating events focused on the participant experience supports health promotion professionals, engages communities, and takes a policy off the page and out to the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To document physical ac­tivity patterns and perceptions about ac­tive transport to school. Methods: Chil­dren's activity was measured. Children and parents were surveyed about active transport to school. Results: Children were most active after (465 ± 20 cpm) and least active before (379 ± 18 cpm) and during school (351 ± 13 cpm). Weight was not related to activity. Boys were more confident than girls, whereas parents felt more confident than children did about active transport. Conclusions: Ac­tive transport programs will likely have a greater impact on before-school activity than after school. Perceptions concern­ing active transport should be assessed, and parent/child discrepancies rectified prior to program implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (Guidelines) advises older adults to be as active as possible. Yet, despite the many benefits of physical activity, less than 15% of people ages 65 years and older meet the Guidelines. To address this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developed a Midcourse Report focused on the strategies and settings that can help increase physical activity levels among older adults. Internists are well positioned to encourage older adults to be more physically active. Health care providers can leverage this position to talk about the importance of regular physical activity; assess physical activity levels; share information and resources about how to safely get started; and provide counseling, guidance, and/or referrals to additional providers or programs for further support. This article provides an overview of the recently released Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Implementation Strategies for Older Adult and highlights the role of internists and other health care providers to encourage and support their patients to be more physically active., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s).)

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the energy expenditure of a tailored, interactive genre of e-gaming ("Winds of Orbis: An Active Adventure"; Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA) ( www.activeadventuregame.com ) with that of a tethered videogame ("Dance Dance Revolution" [DDR]; Konami Digital Entertainment, El Segundo, CA) and with traditional physical education (PE) activities in meeting recommended levels of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA)., Subjects and Methods: Schoolchildren (n=104) in grades 3-8 from inner-city Washington, DC completed three randomly ordered 20-minute bouts of DDR, "Orbis," and PE. Energy expenditure was measured using accelerometry., Results: Overall, energy expenditure was significantly greater from PE compared with "Orbis" and DDR (P<0.01). Among girls (n=58) and children with obesity (n=49), however, energy expenditure from "Orbis" and PE was similar, and both resulted in higher energy expenditure compared with DDR (P<0.01). After adjustment for sex, grade, and body mass index, we observed that among children in grades 3-5 energy expenditure from all three activities was sufficient to meet recommended intensity criteria for vigorous activity (>6 metabolic equivalents). Among children in grades 6-8, however, these vigorous-intensity criteria were met only by boys and only with PE activities., Conclusions: In the school setting, traditional PE activities continue to work well for some children in meeting MVPA recommendations. Among special subgroups, however, e-gaming may provide a useful supplement to PE in increasing activity levels during the school day and beyond.