How did it get this bad?
Cast your mind back to when you were 12 years old or younger. How much time did you spend outside, doing sweet f*ck all but at the same time you’d have to be dragged into the house by your mother because you were having so much fun?
Youth is a fantastic time in life where you have no worries, no problems and the only thing on your mind should be ‘what sort of adventure/mischief am I going to get myself into today?’
However, with the introduction of video games and social media, that old ideology of children playing football until the owner picks the ball up and goes home, is gone.
Even in the depths of summertime, children seem to be spending their time indoors instead of out and about with their friends and this statistic shows that this way of life has taken its toll.
An article in the Independent found that “children as old as 12 are unable to run, jump, catch, or hit any type of sports ball due to inactivity.”
Not surprising. Or good pic.twitter.com/UvGiNreZi4
— Joe Molloy (@MolloyJoe) August 18, 2017
The article also states that “one-third of Irish children cannot catch a ball with two hands… and their motor skills are now so poor that they are comparable to people in their 30s or older.”
Karl Henry of Operation Transformation told JOE: “It’s frightening and the unfortunate reality of what an epidemic the nation is facing now while these children are in school. Wait when they finish school and the problems will be even worse.
“Yet another reason to introduce national fitness testing each year in schools and set minimal targets for pupils to hit, giving schools the facilities to help the pupils hit those targets.
“It’s also a reason for families to get families fit because parents and schools have equal roles to play here.”
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