Recreational Sports and Fitness Day

Recreational Sports and Fitness Day

February 22 is Recreational Sports and Fitness Day, and we observe it with recreational sports activities. Did you know that the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan pioneered recreational sports in the United States? Because green represents good health and wellness, we choose to use green for Recreational Sports and Fitness Day.

Recreational Sports

National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) created Recreational Sports and Fitness Day to celebrate the positive benefits of recreational sports, fitness, and wellness. The day also commemorates the association’s founding. Recreational sports are physical activities for enjoyment. In addition, they foster social interaction and enhance physical and mental fitness. For this reason, intramural sports, organized within universities or geographic regions, prominently feature recreational sports.

The Benefits of Participating in Sports

NIRSA was founded on February 22, 1950. Its members voted to create this day in 1999 as a way of celebrating the positive benefits of recreational sports, fitness, and wellness. NIRSA now includes 4,000 professional, student and associate members throughout the United States, Canada and other countries. Those members serve more than five million students who regularly participate in campus recreational sports programs.

People typically forget New Year’s resolutions to exercise regularly by early February. For this reason, the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) urges recreational facility directors to encourage patrons to reacquaint themselves with fitness and sports by celebrating National Recreational Sports and Fitness Day. NIRSA sponsors the day to call national attention to the positive benefits that people of all ages enjoy when they participate in recreational sports, fitness activities and wellness programs.

Founded by Ohio State University and University of Michigan

During the mid-nineteenth century, colleges were the originators of recreational sports. During intercollegiate competition, clubs from different universities engaged in sports competition. Not until the early twentieth century did recreational sports become organized. In 1913, two Midwestern universities, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan, established intramural sports departments with a focus on student-to-student competition.

Later, the University of Michigan established the nation’s first recreational sports facility. In 1919, Elmer Mitchell, a graduate student, became the university’s first Director of Intramural Sports. He held the position for more than two decades and is regarded as the founder of intramural sports. Ultimately, Mitchell authored and co-authored Intramural Athletics and Intramural Sports between 1928 and 1929.

In 1946, Mitchell taught William Wasson, a Physical Education graduate student with an interest in intramural sports. Wasson received funding from the Carnegie Foundation to study intramural sports programs at historically black colleges and universities throughout the United States. After publishing the results of his study in February 1950, Wasson called for a Dillard University Intramural Summit. Twenty representatives from universities and colleges across the nation attended the summit. These individuals, along with Wasson, founded the National Intramural Association, the forerunner of the current NIRSA.

5 Interesting Facts about Outdoor Sports

• Forty of the fifty states in the United States contain ski resorts.
• Libor Hroza, a Czech climber, holds the world record for speed climbing with a time of 5.73 seconds for a 15-meter course.
• Rollerblading alone can burn an average of 800 calories per hour.
• South African Bernard Goosen climbed Kilimanjaro twice in a wheelchair.
• Every year, approximately 58 million Americans run, making running the most popular outdoor sport.

(Image: freepik)