ational Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What is worse is that even in schools, kidsare not receiving the proper physical attention that they require. In a 1994 study of twenty-nineelementary schools and thirteen middle schools in Harris County, Texas, only 8.5 percent of allelementary students are taking part in vigourous activites during physical education classes.Middle school students are not doing much better: a paltry 16.1 percent take part, much lowerthan the standards developed by the National Office of Disease Prevention and HealthPromotion, which set the bar at 50% back in 1991(APA 1996). In cases like these, the only waychildren get any real physical actvity in via organized or intramural sports. Children who playphysically taxing sports like basketball and hockey must be in good shape. Aside from layups andpenalty shots, the atheletes also take part in strectching drills, as well as a various amount ofrunning actvities. Those who play football need to have great physical strength. Children whoplay sports like these become involved in very disciplined, very regimented fitness activities thatin most cases, stays with them forever. While baseball, basketball, and football are the most popular sports for youths to getinvolved in, other sports are growing in great lenghts, as well. Thanks in part to the unbelivableplay of Tiger Woods, many have discovered the wonders of golf, while the success of theWomens World Cup soccer team has soccer growing at a meteoric rate. But would you believethat children on the blacktop streets of Harlem are playing...squash? Yes, you read that right-squash. George Polsky, a 31 year-old New York native who used to teach middle and highschool, started a program called StreetSquash, which he adapted from a similar programcurrently being utilized in Boston. Like other sports, squash does not just provide nourishmentfor the players physical health, but their mental health, as well. Polsky mak...
