About the Award - Program Areas

Physical Fitness

Improve your quality of life through participation in fitness activities. The Congressional Award challenges you to set and achieve a measurable goal in a physical activity. Both team sports and individual activities are acceptable as long as the activities lead to an improved performance or greater physical fitness.

1. Your activities can be competitive but your goal cannot.
   Example: "I will improve my basketball skills so that my free-throw percentage will increase from 35 to 40 percent. Within one year I hope to advance from junior varsity to the level of a varsity player."
   This goal does not work: "I will become the captain of the basketball team;" (Becoming captain of the team depends on the decisions of others.)
   
2. Your goal can involve a new activity or achievement of a new level of performance in an ongoing activity. Be sure to include relevant physical fitness statistics to ensure that a challenging, objective goal can be achieved.
   
   Try to include:
   Experience level, Weight, Heart rate, Respiration, Specific skills,     Times and distances, Batting or hitting averages, Average scores
   
3. Include your current fitness level or sport skill and specify how much you plan to improve while working toward The Congressional Award.
   
   Showing a new level of achievement: "I can presently jog 5 miles in 50 minutes and I intend to improve my time to 8.5 minutes per mile. Through my aerobics programs, I will improve my resting heart rate from 90 to 75 and lose 10 pounds within 15 months."
   
4. Physical fitness goals for persons with disabilities are given special consideration. Often an appropriate activity can be identified with the help of a physician. Remember, a fitness activity does not have to be strenuous in order to be challenging.

Activity Ideas:

Aerobics	Gymnastics
Archery	Handball
Backpacking	Hiking
Badminton	Hockey
Baseball	Martial Arts
Basketball	Racquetball
Bicycling	Rafting/rowing
Bowling	Rollerblading
Boxing	Rugby
Canoeing/kayaking	Running or jogging
Dancing	Sailing
Exercise program	SCUBA/skin diving
Exploring	Skateboarding
Field events	Skiing
Figure skating	Soccer
Fencing	Tennis
Fitness walking	Volleyball
Football	Weight training
Golf	Wrestling

Once you are registered, you can CLICK HERE to get your copy of the Record Book. Work with your Advisor and Validator to set goals in each program area, then set out to achieve them.