The aim of this clause is to analyze the purpose of school-basedextracurricular initiatives in facilitating immediate and long-termpositive impact on physical action, healthy behavior, and obesity inyoungsters. A critique of the role of various sports-relatedinitiatives that have been developed to address the obesity epidemiccurrently facing children within the United States is provided, witha specific emphasis on intramural sports as a preferred mechanismto encourage long-term participation in athletics and physicalactivity pursuits. The article presents support for the notion that aphysical education curriculum that includes Intramurals before,during, and after school can help kids learn the skills to enjoy takingpart in a diversity of sports designed to facilitate lifelong activeliving.Granting to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent andDecrease Overweight and Obesity, the associated cost of beingoverweight or obese was more than $117 billion in the year 2000(U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001). In a latereview, Finkelstein, Ruhm, and Kosa (2005) outlined theseeconomic causes and consequences, concluding that governmentinterventions are required. The percent of overweight adults, teens,and children have increased so significantly that the CDC andnumerous other federal, province, and local authorities haveidentified the reduction of obesity as one of the nation’s top healthprioritie
