Spelman College « Alberto Cei

The choice of Beverly Tatum, president of Spelman College, quit the sport business to invest in the well-being of the students through the dissemination of various forms of physical activity is undoubtedly a revolutionary choice that does not give priority to the development of the absolute sport performance but physical and psychological fitness. This choice responds to the rule that the sport/physical activity is for everyone, not just those who choose it as the main activity of their lives. I think the time has come to say again that sport is the only way to lead a physically active lifestyle and to combat the problems and diseases as a result of the movement absence. And then it is the best thing that the School promotes less athletes but more healthy and active students.

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The Wellness Revolution American starts from Spelman College in Atlanta, where the president Beverly Tatum has decided to drop the “business sports,” the great national championships in football, basketball, baseball, track and field to return to the true physical activity, investing activity that cost very little and make a lot for their impact on health and well-being. In one of the oldest US female university in Atlanta have made their appearance courses in pilates, zumba, yoga and martial arts. But the college led by Tatum is not the only one: to choose the less expensive and polluting sports there is also a group of other universities, the New York City College of Technology to the University of Maryland: an experiment that could soon turn into a real new revolution. In her college the 80 athletes cost $ 900,000 per year, which if they were distributed among all the students would allow all to have daily access to courses of physical activity. It’s the defeat of gigantism of the university sport and points out that the fight against doping, bullying of the coaches and the costs of this type of sport is unfortunately only effectively abandoning the exasperate competitive sport. And as noted by Federico Grappling on www.Repubblica.it “no known cases of yogis still ruined by steroids.”

President Beverly Tatum says the school decided it was time to change its focus.

We have to ask ourselves: What is the cost of the program and who is benefiting? How many people are benefiting? Is the benefit worth the cost?Tatum went on to say that the goal is to positively impact the health issues that African American women have faced:

We know that 4 out of 5 women of African descent [are] overweight or obese. We know that black women are twice as likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. We know that black women over the age of 20—something like 40 percent or higher—already have hypertension, high blood pressure.

It’s a move that makes a lot of sense. Sure, intercollegiate sports can be an important part of the college experience, but in this day and age when 70% of adults in our country are overweight or obese and over 25 million people have diabetes, it’s time for some creative solutions.

To do that, Spelman now offers a campus-wide health and fitness program. Through this, all students can take part in weight loss programs, exercise at the college gym, Zumba, dance classes, and more. Already, more than 300 students are taking advantage of this every day.

In what they call a “wellness revolution,” Spelman’s site explains their goal (as taken from an article by Tatum):

The need is urgent, and it is our population — young black women — that is among the most at risk for negative health outcomes. Committed to educating the whole person, mind, body and spirit, we have an opportunity to change this epidemic. Ending intercollegiate participation may seem counterintuitive, given our focus on physical activity, but instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars transporting a small number of athletes to intercollegiate events, we will be investing those dollars in intramural programs and wellness activities that can be sustained for a lifetime.

Of course, not everyone thinks this is a good idea. Some of the athletes are upset, and even threatening to transfer to other schools. But, Spelman is the first school to drop NCAA sports in years, and it’s a move that is re-prioritizing the way we look at things.

Tell us what you think. Is this a good idea?

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