Contact sports should continue.

 Contact sports are again stopped by the government. In my opinion this is an unwise decision. Why? There are a lot of reasons why they should not prevent people from engaging in sports.

• First, the spreading of covid-19. According to a study (3) covid-19 mainly spreads through direct contact from person-to-person. This, or through droplets spread by coughing or sneezing.  When I am performing my sport (Hockey), I do off course sometimes stand within the 1.5 meter that the government advises you to keep between you and other people. But that is never longer than a minute and even that is rare. Because you are constantly in movement, you never stand close to one person for a long time. This makes the spreading of the disease very rare at sports.
• Secondly, sporting is an outlet for people. People get a lot of stress from their daily lives. This all crops up and it is never healthy to let that stay there. Exercising is for a lot of people an excellent way to get rid of all this stress.
• At last and most important, sport is healthy for everyone. Which is shown by various studies (1, 2)
  • (1)The major cause of death and disability are non-communicable diseases. These are: obesity, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and of course more. According to the WHO, 35 million people die per year to these chronic diseases. This is double the number of people dying to all infectious diseases. Sporting is an effective ‘medicine’ against these diseases and not only that. It is also very beneficial for your physical development. Development such as immune system. Isn’t the immune system the first army that defends your body against diseases such as the covid-19 disease? We should make sure it works at its best then.
  • However, that is not all. Sporting is also very good for psychological and social health. This study (2) concluded that especially team sports (which are contact sports) are very good for a person’s psychological health. This of course is because humans need contact with other humans and sporting is an excellent way to get in contact with them.

In conclusion, the spreading of covid-19 during sports is very unlikely (especially outside sports). But more importantly, sporting is very important for us, we need it to stay healthy, physical and mental. The human needs to be able to go out into the world and exercise, this is too important to take away from us. If you agree with me, please help me get this to our government and sign it. Thanks in advance.

1. Bailey, Richard, & Cope, Ed, & Parnell, Daniel (2015). De voordelen van sport en lichaamsbeweging realiseren: het menselijk kapitaalmodel. UITDAGINGEN. New Trends in Physical Education, Sports and Recreation,   (28), 147-154 [Consultation date 12 October 2020]. ISSN: 1579-1726. Beschikbaar op:  https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=3457/345741428027
2. (This is a study that summarizes 30 other studies about mental and/or social health since 1990)  Eime, R.M., Young, J.A., Harvey, J.T. et al. A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 10, 98 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-98
3. Edmunds, W., Kafatos, G., Wallinga, J. et al. Mixing patterns and the spread of close-contact infectious diseases. Emerg Themes Epidemiol 3, 10 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-7622-3-10 

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