Two Cochrane schools are going to be greatly improving their physical literacy over the school year.
PLAY (Physical Literacy And You) Cochrane is designed to develop physical literacy, not only at school, but also throughout the community, and is being put together by a collaboration between the Town of Cochrane and Sport 4 Life Cochrane.
“The goal is to really empower the school community to take on physical literacy as a value,” said Lea Norris, chair of Sport 4 Life Cochrane. “If a school values the development of fundamental skills, confidence and love for physical activity, that will really impact the way that you plan everything about the school day.”
The two schools involved are Holy Spirit Elementary School and Elizabeth Barrett Elementary School.
Norris said that this is one of nine projects going on across Canada that are exploring ways to improve the physical literacy of a community with each project having a slightly different focus – Cochrane being focused on schools.
She said they are also partnering with the RBC Learn to Play Project, which offers community and program grants. Norris said this would allow them to share all they learn with other communities as well as being able to continue to work and have more valuable resources.
Norris explained that physical literacy is something that is very important to teach starting at a young age. It is the ability of children to participate in a variety of sports successfully by teaching them fundamental movement skills that are incorporated into a number of different sports.
According to Norris, there is often a misconception that kids need to specialize early on in a specific sport if they want to become a professional athlete – but this is not the case.
“We find that the professional athletes that specialize early don’t achieve the same results,” she said. “They aren’t as successful, are less adaptable and more prone to injury than the athletes who come from a multi-sport background and do lots of different activities.”
Norris added that they are also looking at mentoring teachers and providing support leadership opportunities for the students so they may lead games or physical activities in schools.
Outside of the PLAY program at the local elementary schools, there are also a number of events being put on by Sport 4 Life Cochrane over the next few months.
On Tuesday, Sept. 30 they will be hosting Sports Warm Ups from 7 – 8 p.m., where individuals, teams and coaches ages eight and up are invited learn movements that prepare for success and prevent injury.
On Tuesday, Oct. 28 there will be an event looking at coaching female athletes. In November Sport 4 Life will hold an event called How to Fuel Your Body in a Weight Conscious Sport.
For more information on the events and how to sign up visit sport4lifecochrane.com.
