Choose one of the following essay topics and write an essay referring to relevant research in the area (websites are not to be used for references – use journal articles and books if you can. I will accept minimal use of websites).

1. Sport/Physical Activity as a tool for non-sports purposes

(e.g. Social impact of sport, Health, social integration, socialisation through sport, social inclusion, community re-generation, crime reduction, community development, socialisation, special populations).

1. Sport and Gender
2. The positive impact of sport on a particular target group (e.g. disadvantage, minority, older adults, disability, mental health, members of travelling community etc).

It is generally accepted that physical activity confers benefits to psychosocial health, functional ability and general quality of life [1] and has been proven to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease [2] and some cancers [3]. Here, physical activity refers to ‘any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure’ [4].

Conditions associated with physical inactivity include obesity, hypertension, diabetes, back pain, poor joint mobility and psychosocial problems [5–7]. Physical inactivity is a major public health challenge in the developed world and is recognized as a global epidemic [8]. Within the United States, the rate of childhood obesity is expected to reach 40% in the next two decades [9] and Type 2 diabetes is expected to affect 300 million people worldwide within the same time