Can Sport save the future Generations?

The contemporary world around us is in a constant global mutation day by day: one of the big driving forces of change is for sure the digitalization. Technology is now part of our daily lives and nothing is the same as it was before the digital era. If for some aspects, technology made our everyday easier, for others it has destroyed the old vision of the slow and genuine life that past generations experienced before.

When asking people from different ages what was their favorite play as kids, it is obvious also in this field how much has the modernization had an impact in the distinct way children grew up. Years ago, parents used to be mad at their kids because they did not want to come back home after a day spent playing outside: it was normal for kids to play in gardens, parks and through the streets. Nowadays the scenario is most likely reversed and this does not seem the standard anymore: usually it now becomes up to the parents to encourage their children to hang out.

Because of these changes impacting society, kids are missing important experiences in their early years of life and this will have an impact on the people they will eventually become in the future.

Bringing back the old values

In 2012, Roberto, a big bike lover, decided to open with some of his friends a cycling school. The aim of this new project, the first one in the city of Ancona, was obviously to spread this sport among young people and teenagers, but to also teach them something beyond it.
Everybody knows sport is good for physical reasons and cycling is seen by many as just a way of transport. It is instead a complete exercise for the body that allows us to enjoy the fresh air and nature.
When having this opening in mind, Roberto knew that what he wanted and had to spread among his kids were some lost values in the new generations and sport seemed to be a good mean for this.

Sometimes, it is also a matter of simplicity. Today lots of aspects in the society are mutating: roles inside the families are different than what they used to be and cities are becoming more dangerous and child-unfriendly. It is then easier for busy parents to just give their children a tablet to play with rather than bringing them to a park to play. For this same reason, Roberto also noticed how many are the parents that do not even have time to teach their kids how to bike and prefer to bring them to a course to learn. 

On the organizational side, he also put attention on the difficulty he had to find the right space to develop his project, since the city did not offer them. This is not an exception, but it is instead the normality for a lot of cities in Italy.

Sport is not only for health

Many experts insist on the importance of sport during children’s growth for their health. In Italy, circa 42% of kids are overweight for their age, while the European average is approximately 30%. These data continue to increase year by year and it is also the result of the easy access to technology they have. Spending a lot of time in front of screens or in the classroom, children’s daily life becomes more sedentary and the free play and movement are excluded from their habits. The result is that 80% of children do not play outside regularly anymore and the concept of ‘free time’ is slowly disappearing.

Cycling as experience of life

Sport, in this particular case cycling, becomes then a means of growth of children not only from the athletic point of view, but it is also a way to develop the social personality.

At the courses offered at the cycling school, the goal is to transmit through sport autonomous experiences that kids are not familiar with anymore. Most of the kids part of this project, do not know normal experiences of obstacles, of risk, of success in the right way. Being prevented from all these strong and relevant experiences for growth, children tend to develop an accumulation of desire that needs to be released.

In the training, kids are divided by age groups and they are accompanied in their path from the first steps on a bike until learning new skills. 
Teaching them how to manage competitions is also very important because in this sport the possibility of losing is very high, since there are too many participants but only one winner. This is however the rule of life and it is fair that they understand how relevant and fulfilling it is to put effort in something they like regardless of the outcome.

But now what?

This project created by Roberto and his team could be a good solution for a problem that is slowly taking place in society but it is also getting serious, however it is obviously not enough. While technology provides educational opportunities and entertainment, it is essential to balance the time spent in front of screens with vital outdoor experiences.

It is fundamental to start over again with education of not only kids, but also their families. States and cities must cooperate to create child-friendly environments where children can express themselves in security and initiatives for kids like this one.

“Today’s children are going to be the adults of tomorrow, we should never forget this and a shift in perspective is needed”, affirms Roberto.