To the Editor:

Correct me if I am wrong but throughout our lives as kids and adults don’t we spend the majority of time sitting whether it be in class at school all day or at work in a cubicle or office.

Or maybe the fact that our children today are spending the majority of their free time in front of the TV, Internet, or smart phone.

Why in the good name of common sense would we want to complain about kids having to go to Physical Education classes when school districts around the nation are already cutting Physical Education and recess at an alarming rate and look where it has gotten us as a nation?

As a nation we are obese and overweight, have more health problems and back problems, which are mainly contributed from sitting in class all day.

Simply stated this is a fact and problem in our country and you are contributing to it whether a kid plays a sport or not and when a kid is, an in -season athlete they are geared to a sport specific training regime and depending on how many repetitions and how much standing around a kid is doing during practice, his practice and training regime could have little to no effect on his or her total development.

All athletes should strive for development of total athleticism through participation in a variety of sports.

Skills in a specific sport can be continually enhanced and developed through other sports to promote a high level of athleticism.

Students should be encouraged to engage in many sports. Some examples of recreational or competitive and leisure activities that are specific to the average athletes needs are: baseball, basketball, lacrosse, racquetball, soccer, street hockey, and tennis etc. because through these sports, the following attributes are touched upon: Agility; Balance, Coordination, Core Stability, Endurance, Flexibility, Power, Reaction/Reflexes, Speed, Strength.

Here are some alarming facts:

• 75% of people ages 17-24 are unable to join the military because they failed to graduate high school or because they are not physically fit to pass.

• If our military is not fit and as American’s we are not contributing to a strong healthy military and without a secure nation how are we ever going to have continued success in athletics.

• 80% of children are overweight and ages 10-15 are obese by the age of 25.

• From 1998-2008, the number of states with 40% or more of their young adults who were overweight or obese went from 1 to 39.

• On average, 18 t0 24 year olds in America are 34 pounds overweight.

• Our Healthcare system spends over $75 billion annually for medical obesity expenditures.

We have a serious problem and your idea of fixing it is to have practice count for physical education, where most of the team are standing around from the sidelines watching for long periods of time. Your idea’s are contributing to downfall and decline to people’s health in America.

If people took Physical Education more seriously and realized how critical it is today more than ever that your typical classroom teacher probably doesn’t realize how much harm they are doing to these students because they require them to sit down all day and contributing to years of back pain in the future.

Students today should not only have to take a Physical Education class each and every day they should also have to take a Strength and Conditioning Course just about each and every day to off set the lack of activity they get sitting all day at study hall and all of their other classes or in front of the TV, Computer, iPad or smart phone.

Wake up and see what’s going on around you!

Dom Giovinazzo

DeKalb Junction