As you become more involved in physical activities, you can elevate your participation by joining events

that promote health and fitness as well as address health issues like diabetes, obesity, nutrition, smoking, and
many more. By joining these events, you can learn more about these health concerns, what is being done to
handle them—and at the same time, you also get to increase your physical activity. The usual objective of
the organizers of these events is to raise funds for awareness about these health issues. Depending on their
advocacy, events may range from fun-filled activities that can engage entire families, to more physically
demanding ones. Participation in these events not only increases your activity but also gives you an
advocacy to work on. Your choice would depend on your interests and preferences. Here are some viable
options for you.
Fun runs
These are usually 1-day events that focus on running various
distances (i.e., 3k, 5k, 10k, or longer). They cater to a wide
variety of participants—competitive or recreational runners, and
even families. Whether you are a recreational or competitive
runner, fun runs are good ways to elevate participation in
physical activities since some fun runs are held in different
surfaces (e.g., concrete, off-road, beach) and with different
challenges posed on runners like an uphill run.

Dance events, competitions, or marathons

These events focus on dance as the main activity, whether as
competition (e.g., street dance, dance sport) or as recreation
(e.g., aerobic dance marathons, Zumba events). These may
last for hours depending on the event and variety of dances,
intensity levels, and music usually used, thus, elevating
participation.
Other than fitness benefits, you can get a lot out from joining
dance competitions and marathons. If events are competition-
based, usually cash prizes, trophies, and freebies are the main
incentives, along with bragging rights. However, if the events are recreation-type, participant kits (e.g. event
shirt, sponsor freebies) are the usual takeaway. However, the enjoyment and fun of dancing are the main
attraction in these types of events.
Sports tournaments
These are the most common type of health- and fitness-
related organized \events. They mainly focus on sports in a
tournament type of play where individual players and/or
teams compete. They are usually organized for school teams
[(e.g., 4University Athletic Association of the Philippines
(UAAP)]. However, sports associations, cause-oriented
groups, organizations, brands, and companies also hold
sports tournaments for various purposes, levels, and sports.
You can join sports tournaments of varying levels of competition and different sports. During summer, local
government units (LGUs) hold sports leagues especially for basketball and volleyball. Several categories are
open for basketball based on age groups. For both basketball and volleyball, teams usually represent
different barangays, sitios, puroks, or subdivisions. Some LGUs also hold sports programs or sports clinics
for the youth and other individuals. The Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) or the youth leaders of the community
commonly organize events like these.
In school, intramurals are the common sports competitions for students. Different
grade or year levels compete against each other in different sports. Games are
usually played after classes where semi-finals and championship games are usually
the highlights. Year levels are represented by team colors and are called by their
common year level labels (i.e., green for 1st year/freshmen, yellow for 2nd
year/sophomores, red for 3rd year/juniors, blue for 4th year/seniors).
Summer sports clinics
These are short-course sports programs catering to school
children. Sports clinics are offered by schools and product
brands when school is over and students have their summer
break. The usual sports offered include basketball,
taekwondo, swimming, gymnastics, football, volleyball, and
others. These last for several sessions spanning days or
weeks, and usually culminate with an exhibition tournament.
Outdoor recreation events like cycling events, triathlon, marathons, and football
These are specialized events that target sports enthusiasts
and athletes. These are held in specialized venues and
locations, and usually have different categories for different
levels of participants. Depending on the event, categories
such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced are formed or
opened. When you join such events, you get to experience
recreation-level of participation to a higher level of
competition. You also get to experience a different
atmosphere because of the ambiance in such events.
Sponsors’ booths and stalls are usually set up along with other related set ups.

Talks, seminars, or conferences

These are usually lecture-based events that cover topics discussed with an audience. Some
events are held for different lengths (i.e., half-day, 1-day, 2-day, 3- day, weeklong) and some
include workshops or hands on training. Some also are held with different formats like
classroom-type lecture, panel discussions, parallel sessions, and the like. Credible resource
persons and speakers are invited to speak so that reliable information are shared and learned.
Cause-oriented associations, product brands, companies, professional organizations, among
others hold such events for various purposes, some to increase awareness, promote various
causes, and to inform.
School, club, community, or company events
These are events that are organized by schools, clubs, communities, and
companies for specific purposes. These cover a wide range of activities
like the ones mentioned above. Schools and companies commonly hold
events to coincide with special dates and occasions. Events are usually
dependent on themes and duration is also relative to the celebration.
Aside from summer sports clinics, some communities also offer
recreation programs within the year to encourage an active lifestyle.