The Relationship between Sports Participation and Health-Related Physical Fitness in Middle School and High School Students.

The purpose of this case study was to examine the relationship between sports participation and health-related physical fitness in middle school and high school students. Health-related physical fitness was measured using the Fitnessgram test battery to assess healthy fitness zone (HFZ) achievement in five areas: body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, muscular flexibility, and cardiovascular fitness. Students also indicated the number of organized sports in which they participated during the past 12 months. Chi-square analysis was run on sports participation and number of HFZs achieved layered by sex. There was a significant difference between the expected number and the observed number of HFZs achieved by sports participation for males (p = 0.035), but not females (p = 0.255). Males who played more sports achieved significantly more HFZs than males who played fewer sports, possibly due to the prolonged and intense nature of the sports they played most. It is recommended that physical educators encourage sports participation for all students to increase physical activity levels and improve health-related physical fitness in their students. (Contains 4 tables.)