The Amateur Sports Act

The United States and Soviet Union had a strict competition going in the medal race of international sport. The country that lost in the medal count was a sign of that country’s weakness, and the winner earned respect internationally as a strong country. As President Ford said “I don’t know a better advertisement for a nation’s good health than a healthy athletic representation.” I completely agree with President Ford. America was falling behind in international athletics and something had to be done about this. Having healthy, drug free, strong athletes that dominated at the Olympic games would be an awesome representation of America. Hunt mentions in his article that the Amateur Sports act of 1978 was passed in response to policy proposals provided by President Gerald Ford’s Commission on Olympic Sports, and provides the framework for amateur sports in the U.S. and serves as one of the bases for the nation’s current international athletic success. Poor performance of the American team at the 1972 Olympics was the ‘focusing event’ this act was based off of. While this act focused on the U.S. having elite athletics, it failed to look at the other important issues in the U.S. such as decreasing physical activity and increasing obesity rates.  As the rivalry between the Soviet Union and U.S. developed it became increasingly apparent that the American team was not prepared to compete with the Soviets, so this act was put into effect to act as a system that prioritized the production of elite athletes to win international prestige for the U.S. rather than a promoter of a system that contributed to the basic fitness and equality of athletic opportunities of the general public.  However, during the Kennedy and Eisenhower administrations, a sports system founded on mass participation was envisioned as a means to promote national health and, by doing so, maintain the nation’s preparedness for war. Eisenhower became alarmed at our country’s extremely low average fitness level, especially when compared to that of European countries. The president’s came up with the creation of the President’s Council on Youth Fitness. To advise Americans on these low fitness levels, and what can be done to reach a happy, healthy America. President Kennedy, agreeing with Eisenhower, claimed that “the fitness of our citizens is a vital prerequisite to America’s realization of its full potential as a nation..” I completely agree.  I really like how our president administration (especially Nixon and Ford) really believed that sport encompassed the positive values of mainstream America and that elite athletes were especially note worthy for their high character.” I like how we had presidents around this time that came to realize this. The president I must say I am in most agreement with is Kennedy. In that he realized it was very important that they started to realize that not only elite athletes needed to improve their athleticism, but America as a whole needed to. As Hunt mentioned, perhaps we should focus more on adults in our country, since they have less exercise resources at those in other countries. American needed to become more physically fit as a nation, to represent our country well, and even though we still have a LONG way to go, the presidents of that time made great leaps in promoting that fitness for the mass.