Youth Olympic Games Awareness

Posted: August 25th, 2021

Youth Olympic Games Awareness

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Youth Olympic Games Awareness

The Youth Olympic Games (YOG), restricted to teenage participants aged between 15 and 18 years old, were founded to reignite attention totheOlympic Games and reach two essential goals. Firstly, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) believed it was a better way of bringing on board the youth communities worldwide fortheir understanding and appreciating the Olympic values (Petersen,Deitz, Leitzelar, Bellar, & Judge, 2015). Secondly, the IOC considered the YOG as a better strategy to bring people together to be able to understand the contribution of young athletes globally (Petersen et al., 2015). Mostly, the YOG was an ideal approach intended to boost participation and interest in the Olympic Games, especially among the adolescents.

Since the intention of introducing the YOG was to enhance interest among teenagers in the Olympic Games, the IOC had to make it more outstanding from the rest of the sporting events. With the target group in mind, the IOC ensured the YOG became exclusive to young adult participants in the age bracket of 15-18 years (Petersen et al., 2015). Similarly, the IOC structured the YOG so that it had a different schedule from other Olympic Games. For instance, theSummer YOG would occur concurrently with the Winter Olympic Games and vice versa (Petersen et al., 2015). This organization made it possible to integrate the Olympic cultures effectively, including the Culture and Education Program (CEP) among other aspects. Thus, starting the YOG was an ideal way of appealing to more youths to be a part of the event.

From the analyzed data, it is apparent the YOG recorded the least personal and perceived public awareness when compared to other Olympic Games, such as the LOG and the WXG. Besides, the YOG trailed other sporting activities,which had low intention to attend critical events, follow the sporting on social media, or even view the proceeding of the games through television programs (Petersen et al., 2015). The primary approach to address this stalemate is by integrating parents into the YOG not only to increase youth awareness but also to ensure the rate of participation also increases. Lastly, both the national organizing committee and the IOC need to focus on and prioritize aspects that can boost the interest of the young adults for the sake of future growth.

References

Petersen, J. C., Deitz, S., Leitzelar, B., Bellar, D., & Judge, L. W. (2015). Youth Olympic Games awareness: An analysis of parents of elite youth sport athletes. Global Sport Business Journal, 3(3), 29-41. Retrieved from http://www.gsbassn.com/Journal/Vol3-3/GSBJ-Vol3-Iss3-Petersen-pp29-41.pdf