Sean Tran
1/31/17
Kinesiology Essay Question #1
There are three factors that influence our decisions in regards to which physical activities
we would want to engage in and how physically active we want to be. These factors are personal
circumstances, social environment, and personal preferences. The first factor, personal
circumstances, refers to four important aspects: the geography, the physical activity culture, the
economic considerations, and personal attributes. The geography is the climate in your area, for
example, if you live in Minnesota, you cannot expect to practice surfing there since there are no
beaches in Minnesota unlike other areas like Hawaii where they have the opportunity to go
surfing due to the climate in the area. The physical activity culture is the kinds of physical
activities people do around your area, for example, people in Canada tend to play many ice
related sports like hockey since that is the popular sport in that area because of the geography of
Canada. The economic considerations are if there are any restrictions or things preventing you
from participating in a physical activity. For example, a poor area cannot afford to be playing
sports like golf since there are a lot of expensive equipment required to play that sport and the
area needs to construct a golf course which is difficult if the area is poor. The personal attributes
are skills that you may have, for example, some people have very good hand-eye coordination
which allows them to play sports like baseball since the ball goes really fast and you need that
quick reaction time to hit the ball. The second factor, the social environment, refers to the people
around you, for example, these people include your friends, family, coaches, teachers, etc.
Having positive people around you are going to help influence your decision to which physical
activities you want to engage in because these positive people will support you, motivate you,
and encourage you. For example, if your group of friends all play basketball, it is most likely that
you will play as well since you want to participate in the sport with people you enjoy having
around and trust. Finally the third factor, the personal preference, refers to what you prefer to do
over another activity. For example, some people prefer to do activities that requires a lot of