From Deseret News archives:
Great outdoors not so great with teens
Television, computers and video games were the top factors causing a decline in teenagers' interest in the outdoors, 89 percent of parents reported in a survey of summer youth activity done for the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council.
"I was disappointed in what I was reading, but I was not surprised," said Jayne Battey, executive director of the Bay area nonprofit.
The Stewardship Council distributed $2.25 million in grants statewide this year toward encouraging outdoor youth activity and is interested in gauging that activity, particularly among underserved populations.
It's a gauge that reflects broader concerns, such as health issues, academic performance and physical fitness, Battey said.
Parents of California children 13 to 17 years old were surveyed online during September, with 605 of 2,600 parents responding for the survey, including 7 percent from Sacramento County.
Although 70 percent of parents rated the access to outdoor activities as either good or excellent, nearly 60 percent said their children's interest in the outdoors is declining.
Only 3 percent of parents reported their teens went hiking more than 10 times during the summer, and 46 percent said they never went.
But it's hardly vacant outdoors.
For 17-year-old Bryan Caselli, the perfect summer day adds up with a skateboard and several of his friends, pushing each other to board perfection. He spends less than a couple of hours a week at MySpace.com and at only a few television shows he watches. "I would rather be outside on a skateboard," he said.
Bryan, who lives in the Land Park neighborhood of Sacramento, isn't even turned off by rain. He and friends relish a game of tackle football in the mud of Land Park, he said.
He is inspired by his father, a runner, and his mother, who works out regularly at home, he said.
"My dad is really busy with work, but he gets up while it's still dark and he goes running," Bryan said.
Bryan, his 13-year-old sister, who plays soccer and volleyball, and a 20-year-old brother at Fresno State University were all on swim teams, said Mike Caselli, father of the brood.
"None of our kids is anything more than middle of the pack," said Caselli, a banker.
Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
Comments
- U. hopes to keep clicking 8:28 p.m.
- Steelers lead Broncos at halftime 8:13 p.m.
- Jazz win in N.Y. for 1st time since '04 8:02 p.m.
- Suns outlast 76ers, 119-115 7:51 p.m.
- Quilt auction aims to benefit lives 7:44 p.m.
- Eating fruit not a cause of weight gain 7:44 p.m.
- Charcoal, cat-box filler help with odors 7:44 p.m.
- Wife and friend are too close 7:44 p.m.
- 'Brain' seems scattered 7:44 p.m.
- Locklear at 'Melrose Place' again 7:44 p.m.
- TCU showdown has big implications
- Seniors helped BYU regroup
- Lambert surprisingly tops news
- Hope for single moms
- Bystanders framed for child porn
- Korver and Miles to be evaluated
- Prep girls soccer MVPs named
- Utah Jazz Extra: Whose hot/not
- GOP blasts Matheson after vote
- Newhouse Hotel, an explosive end
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
269 - House passes health care bill
225 - Lobo suspended
180 - TCU showdown has big implications
175 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
154 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
131 - TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd
112 - Thousands protest health bill
110 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy
94
Clare... Fox is too busy *Hating* President Obama to tell the truth.
Mark my words the Utes will beat TCU by 7 points and murder the team down...
And I think if anyone in the MWC has the chance to beat TCU it is them, but...
As touching as this year has been, I agree that almost a quarter of a million...
"if lay witnesses are not mental health experts and not competent to pass...
To RedShirt | 4:06 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009 You said: “The modern...
I am liberal and proud. What are you talking about tyranny "Anti-pc" so when...
I had time to read the 2000 pages in this thing. Is there an accurate...
wonderful column. my daughter, living in Scotland, told me that the Mormons...
What going on at the Univ of New Mexico. What is in the water? A few weeks...

You can be the first to comment on this story.