At a time when screens and mobile devices seem to have taken over and the chant of “I’m taking away your iPad” outweighs the old school punishment of, “you’re grounded,” kids at Holy Spirit school in Cochrane are taking back the outdoors and promoting a healthy lifestyle.
On May 9, the school’s sixth annual Health Fair took over as community representatives from a number of different sports and recreation groups came together to promote sport, fair play and healthy living.
“Today is about the kids learning more about well-being. Not just from an athletic point of view, but spiritual and mental health as well,” said volunteer Celine Roieux.
“We’ve had a variety of different sports and activities over the years, but it’s a day centered around personal health and having fun.”
From Thai Chi, where kids learned to slow down and take in peace and relaxation, to lacrosse and learning a new sport the kids were engaged and finding new ways to expel excess energy.
For Lea Norris of Sports 4 Life Cochrane, seeing kids engaged in multiple activities is important and she said it’s nice to see that everyone had the chance to learn a little more about a healthy active lifestyle.
“One of the greatest benefits of this is to have these kids more exposed to different sports in the community,” said Norris. “I think it’s a nice opportunity for Sports 4 Life to offer an opportunity for the local sports groups to come in and promote health and fitness.”
“All the groups were wanting to come in and give kids a taste of what they could learn and for us to be able to bring them all together in one day is fantastic.”
Sport can be a conversation starter to many more pressing issues, from discrimination and bullying, to learning and strengthening the mind and body.
For Holy Spirit School, challenge of putting on an event of this scale with every grade being involved is worth every drop of sweat. The payoff comes when the students take something away, learn and become stronger, and the kids at Holy Spirit get it.
“It is about more than just sport, we’ve had guest speaker come in and talk about how sport helped them with learning disabilities and helped them overcome obstacles in their youth,” said Michelle Mackenzie, a parent and volunteer.
“We’ve even had kids come away from those speakers and say, “Wow, I didn’t realize it but that is me and I know I’m special, but I’m not the only one,” she said.
There are a lot of obstacles facing the youth of today, but Holy Spirit is using every tool they have and if that means giving the kids a free day to run, play and learn with friends once or twice a year, well, that’s something they’ll continue to do.
