
A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example
table football,
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...
(US soccer, UK football),
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
,
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
,
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
s,
occupational therapy and
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
activities. Youth clubs and centres vary in their activities across the globe, and have diverse histories based on shifting cultural, political and social contexts and relative levels of state funding or voluntary action.
Young social groups
Many
youth
Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Y ...
clubs are set up to provide young people with activities designed to keep them off the streets and out of trouble, and to give them a
job and an interest in activity. Some youth clubs can have a particular compelling force, such as music,
spiritual/
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
guidance and
advice or characteristics such as
determination.
In the United Kingdom, there are a number of national youth club networks, including:
*
UK Youth
*
Ambition
National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs
In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, the
Boys & Girls Clubs of America is one of the most popular (or well known) youth clubs.
Projects and activities
Many youth clubs and projects are open to all people aged 15–21, although some clubs may still accept young people as old as 25. There are places where young people can meet with friends and practice new activities. Many youth clubs offer various activities, such as
table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
.
Youth clubs are there to help young people understand the world around them. They are there to advise young people with their future, to talk about the past and even help them with the present. Many clubs hold different sessions to educate young people about different topics regarding their health and worries, e.g. contraception. Youth clubs normally have a leader youth worker who normally organizes trips or workshops for the young people to contribute in, e.g. Show Racism the Red Card. They can also hold charity events and even volunteer to do many different things. Youth clubs will sometimes help young people to gain qualifications for their life ahead, e.g.
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...
.
See also
*
List of youth organizations
*
Salford Lads Club
*
Essex Boys and Girls Clubs
*
Teen center
References
Youth organizations
{{youth-org-stub