5x60 fitness fun!
Gone are the traditional times where sport was allocated only for the fitness fanatics and included running around in muddy fields, instead activities such as dodgeball and fencing have take their place. Thus proving young pupils in the Penarth area the extra-curricular sport based activities that can be fun thanks to the inspirational scheme - '5x60'.
Officer of the scheme Pete 0’ Sullivan aims to get youngsters more active, and attempts to motivate young people in a positive way, encouraging them to want to exercise instead of seeing it as an extra chore. The 5x60 scheme provides sessions to take place in Stanwell and St Cyres Comprehensive school, before pupils start school, during their lunch hour and finally after school.
The main goal of the scheme is to get secondary school pupils to exercise five days a week for a least 60 minutes, and the overall goal is to get 90 % of teens active by 2020. So you all better start getting active then!
What makes this scheme so personal to young people is that they get to chose the activities they’d like to participate in. Pete O’Sullivan claims that “Some pupils may not be that keen on the traditional sports such as football, rugby, netball and hockey, and really want to have a go at something different, such as fencing.
"The pupils are able to voice their opinions and ideas for what they would like to get involved in, and they will be completing questionnaires later this term. I have been very impressed with the enthusiasm they have shown so far and I don’t mind what they choose; the most important thing is for them to take part in regular exercise from a young age.”
Pete, who has a strong sporting background and currently plays rugby for Barry RFC (‘The Bombers’), added: “If the pupils take a shine to a new sport, they will hopefully join a local club and continue to enjoy taking part in sports and physical activities outside of school in their own time.”
The scheme seems to be a positive success with young people, they do not see the activities as being too “sporty”, the experiences they gain are positive and also encourage positive self-esteem building and friendship groups. All in all 5x60 is positive program that promotes healthy life style in a fun and engaging way!
Fencing photograph by Qatar Olympic. Flickr.com
