My philosophy of recreation and leisure is extremely important to my style of leadership and effectiveness as physical educator of adolescents. The benefits of recreation and leisure in the modern world, with its focus on work and materialism, cannot be underestimated. In this paper, I will introduce four specific strategies through which I will put my philosophy of recreation and leisure into place while working with adolescents: 1) instill the values of play, recreation, and sport; 2) link the physical development of recreation and leisure to mental stimulation and development of adolescents; 3) model the values and behaviors of living the ôgoodö life; and 4) educate adolescents to the importance of balance and being community-directed as a means of well-being and happiness for self, others, and society. A brief conclusion will address how my approach will contribute to developing the ôgood lifeö in adolescents.
My intended area of practice includes becoming a physical education teacher for high school adolescents. I intend to put my philosophy of play, recreation, and sport through four practices. The first of these will be demonstrating to students how the elements of play, recreation, and sport have been instrumental to the well-being of human beings throughout history. The concept of ôplayö is a critical one in the history and philosophy of sport and physical education, mainly because the concept of play is evident in all cultures throughout history and is basically a fundamental aspect of being human. Play provides a basic function to human existence, whether it is enjoyment (amusing oneself) or physical exertion and the rewards it produces in the brain from neurotransmitter systems. Johan HuizingaÆs studies on play have been an instrumental part in defining the concept and its place in human history. It was in his seminal work Homo Ludens, that Huizinga cultivated the hypothesis that play is precultural and p...