Celebrating Sport Participation Across Canada!

Every kid has the built-in desire to play. To run. To jump. To throw. To swing. Every kid has it in them to play sports. Some may be shy. Others may still be learning. Or some just haven't found their sport quite yet. Inside every kid is an athlete waiting for their chance. Let's give them that chance. Because sport is for life.

Visit ParticipACTION's website  to view the "Every Kid" TV spot celebrating sport participation in Canada!

School's out and here they come... all smiles and 'freezy-stained' after last-day classroom parties. The school bag is about to be dumped in the front hall (along with extra bags full of desk and locker contents from the year), the shoes kicked off, and before long, you'll be hearing those dreaded words: "I'm bored".

With what amounts to a little more than a two-month break from school, most parents, whether their kids go to camp or not, will at some point or another, find themselves in need of some tips. Because summer is actually the least active season of all for many Canadian children, my tips are designed to keep the kids active - and not just the little ones, the big ones too! So here we go!

Teens:

• GoodLife Fitness Centres across Canada are welcome kids between 12 and 17 years of age FREE this summer. Have your teens connect with friends and take advantage of this super opportunity.
• Volunteer work: If they're feeling too old to be campers and too young to be counsellors, help them find active volunteer work this summer.
• Check out your local YMCA for fantastic youth programs and leadership opportunities. The YMCA is the place to be for all ages!
• Help older kids find work or volunteer work as parent-helpers of babysitters after they complete a babysitting course that includes First-aid and CPR training.
• Consider a seasonal pass to an amusement park. The catch here is to encourage smart food choices, drinking lots of water, a re-application or two of sunscreen, and a stay-in-touch approach.
• Hire your kids! Washing the car, weeding the lawn, extra-long dog walks, watering the garden.... it all adds up to money in their wallets!
• Look into community programs like swim teams, cycling groups and even teen gardening clubs.
• Tennis lessons and local swimming pools provide active opportunities for teens too.
• Become the active house. Encourage the kids to have their friends over for active fun and make use of time you have as a family to get out and do something active during the evenings or on weekends each week.
• Provide the tools they need to get - and stay - active. A swimsuit, a bike, skateboard, basketball, rollerblades... these items and others will help your teens to be active. For many families however, providing these items for their children is a challenge. If you've got equipment to share or pass along, please do. Let someone else enjoy it!

Children:

• Register your children for swimming lessons - a life skill! Take them to the local wading or swimming pool and don't watch from the sidelines... get in and enjoy splash time with them!
• Introduce your kids to cycling and as they're ready, challenge them with longer bike rides in new areas and parks.
• Introduce your children to tennis on your local public courts.
• Explore your own backyard and engage younger children in digging, planting, weeding and helping to push the lawn mower.
• Put on the sprinkler and invite some friends over an afternoon of water play.
• Organize a mini Olympics with friends, plan a scavenger hunt, introduce the kids to geocaching, or plan an afternoon with friends at the community pool.

Family Fun:

Wondering what I'll be up to with my kids this summer on our own family days in and around the city? You'll find us:

• Hiking (on cooler days we'll bring our Golden Retriever, Daisy Duke). We'll also bring our Nordic walking poles on some hikes.
• Cycling - day trips from our home down to the lake where we'll stop for lunch before riding home.
• Heading to the waterfront to enjoy some canoeing, kayaking, and so that my kids can get a feel for stand up paddle boarding.
• Playing tennis in our community.
• Horseback riding. We'll be riding the trails this summer as well as hiking them!
• Painting! My younger daughter and I have decided it's time to paint her bedroom... so we've decided to tackle this one together.

Here's to a happy and active summer for all!

Catherine Cameron

Ambassador, Active Living

For more tips and articles written by Catherine Cameron, Ambassador, Active Living, or to chat with her, visit the ParticipACTION Blog. Keep up to date with the latest ParticipACTION news and join in on the discussion -become a fan of our FACEBOOK group, follow us on TWITTER or check out our BLOG.

Live Right Now - A coast to coast congratulations Canada!

Congratulations, Canada - in six months we took a giant step towards improving the health of this country. Here are some of our collective accomplishments: 

• Pledged 1.5 million pounds.
• Took 89,037 challenges.
• Took 5,622,872 steps, or 4,433 kilometers, the equivalent of walking from Halifax to Vancouver.
• Played for 355,970 minutes.

Remember, Live Right Now  is a movement to improve the health of this country through small daily challenges. Join the movement and inspire Canada to get healthy! Small changes will make a big difference.

For more information on Live Right Now, visit the CBC website .

Ontario Health Study - You can make a difference!

Help build the healthy communities of tomorrow by joining the Ontario Health Study (OHS) today.

The overwhelming majority of Ontarians believe that projects like the OHS could provide important health benefits. It only takes 20-30 minutes to complete the online questionnaire. Over 30,000 Ontarians have already registered.

The information that you and your fellow Ontarians provide will help researchers here and around the world develop strategies for the prevention and treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, Alzheimer's and depression. Your few minutes can change the world.

For information on the Study or to take part in the survey visit the Ontario Health Study website .

Printed Copies of Physical Activity Guidelines - Available In Ontario

Residents of Ontario may now order printed copies of the new Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines information sheets from Service Ontario. Click the "Be Active!" link and navigate to page two of the Service Ontario Publications Page to place your order.

Girls and Physical Activity

If you are the parent of a girl, you will want to pay some serious attention to this; there is significant gender inequality when it comes to girls and physical activity. In fact, girls are not keeping up with the boys when comparing their participation rates in physical activity and sport. The recently published Canadian Health Measures Survey reveals that among Canadian children and youth, only 4% of girls (vs. 9% of boys) actually achieve the recommended levels of 60 minutes daily of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity. Girls report experiencing more barriers to participating in physical activities and in general, report higher scores for overall teasing (i.e., being laughed at because of their appearance and or lacks of coordination), being criticized because of their size or weight, and are more likely to feel that others were watching them while participating in sport. Given the many known health benefits of physical activity, the low rate of activity among children and youth is alarming, particularly among girls. Follow the link below to read more and get tips on what a parent can do to make sure that their daughter stays physically active.

For more information, see our Research Files.

For tips related to Girls and Physical Activity see our Lifestyle Tips.

National Webinar
September 28, 2011, 1:00-2:30 pm EST

The ParticipACTION Forums are designed to facilitate knowledge exchange and sharing between partners. The theme of our September Forum is focusing on physical activity in the great outdoors, and will allow participants to connect, share insights and potentially collaborate on future initiatives. If you are interested in participating in our forum, or would like to receive information about our all of our 2011 ParticipACTION Forum dates and themes, please email forum@participACTION.com.

Sports Officials Canada Annual Conference: The State of Officiating

Mississauga, ON

September 23-25

The Sports Officials Canada Conference continues to be one of the premier professional development opportunities for Canadian officials. Since it commenced in 2003, the conference has grown to an event which now attracts officials from over 50 sports and from all levels of development. The conference offers panels, lectures, discussion groups, workshops, exhibits and keynote speakers from across North America. A highlight of the weekend is the Annual SOC / Fox 40 Awards Dinner where top officials from both amateur and professional sports are honoured by their peers.

This year's theme is The State of Officiating. The program will include panels, workshops and lectures on the following topics: What's Happening in Canada, The Business of Officiating, Recruitment, Leadership Development, LTOD, Training Techniques, News in Technology and Officiating Standards.

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit the Sport Officials website

Recreation Nova Scotia

The Power and The Potential, RNS' 14th Annual Conference and Trade Show

Digby, NS

Oct 11-14

Recreation Nova Scotia is pleased to invite you to Recreation: The Power and The Potential, RNS' 14th Annual Conference and Trade Show Plan to experience a top quality program, excellent networking opportunities and a professional trade show. Register for what will prove to be a memorable experience. You will leave the conference more energized, connected, informed and full of new ideas!

The Conference offers:

• Your choice of over 20 breakout sessions
• Annual Research Forum
• Dynamic keynote speakers
• Students' Networking Opportunities
• Trade Show with 30 plus exhibitors
• The 2011 RNS Awards Ceremony Reception and Dinner
• Networking with 200 plus delegates

For more information or to register for the conference/tradeshow, visit the Recreation Nova Scotia website   

Exercise and Health for Everybody Conference/L'exercice et la santé pour tous

Loews Le Concorde, QC

Oct 19-22

This theme represents the diverse goals and interests of the CSEP membership in achieving and promoting healthy living for all Canadians. This diversity ranges from research in basic cellular and molecular mechanisms of exercise, to the practical application of this knowledge in health and fitness programs. The majority of exercise scientists and CSEP health and fitness professionals in Canada attend this meeting, along with a large contingent of graduate students. Approximately 600 delegates are expected.

For more information, or to register for the conference, visit the CSEP website .

The ParticipACTION Partner Network - Building Strength in Numbers
  

Since the inception of the ParticipACTION Partner Network (PPN) in late 2009, a variety of not-for-profit and public-sector organizations have joined our ranks. The group shares a similar vision - to motivate and encourage Canadians to lead more active, healthy lives. With over 130 organizational members thus far, and with more and more organizations joining every week, the PPN is building strength in numbers.

The PPN is dedicated to those involved in the physical activity, recreation and sport participation sectors. ParticipACTION's belief is that the PPN will not only help support the work of individual member organizations, but will strengthen the physical activity and sport participation sector in Canada.

Membership in the PPN is free and voluntary, and provides organizations with the following benefits:

• Access to desirable and valuable sector information through Partner Forums and free, easy-to-use communications and resource distribution channels
• Membership to the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC)
• Access to customizable ParticipACTION Tool Kit materials

For more information on the PPN and how the network can benefit you and your organization, visit the PPN webpage or contact Christa Costas-Bradstreet at ccbradstreet@participACTION.com.

Nepean Nomads Walking Club

Ottawa, ON

Year Round

Come join us on one of our walks, you will see parts of Ottawa that you would not normally visit. The walks take between 1 to 2 1/2 hours depending on which walk you do (5km or 10km). The trails are on city streets as well as wooded trails.

The club believes that walking is not only healthy physically, but also mentally. The club usually walks in a group so there is lots of opportunity to make new friends and have interesting chats along the way.

All you need is the love of walking, comfortable footwear and dress appropriate for the weather conditions.

For forty years there has been a 5k road race in Meaford, Ontario. When the Apple Harvest race came to an end after 25 years, Brian Renken, Race Director, for the Meaford Harbour 5k Run/Walk/Stroll, picked up the event for the hospital. Over the past 15 years the race has raised $158,000 for medical equipment and participation has steadily grown.

This year the Race Committee made up 250 "goodie" bags, which included pedometers from ParticipACTION. Much to our surprise we ran out of bags because 350 people, including all age groups, came out to the race. We believe the numbers were up because the weather cooperated, a record number of young people are starting to participate, Marilyn Morris and Cathy Walsh, from the Scarecrow Committee, recruited eleven teams and online registration/pledging is steadily growing.

Funds raised at the race this year will go towards a $200,000 mammography pledge made by the Meaford Hospital Foundation. This pledge represents 13% of the cost of replacing old mammography equipment, and this is the same percentage of women from our catchment area who travel to Grey Bruce Health Services Owen Sound for testing. In addition to the mammography pledge, the Meaford Hospital Foundation has pledged $125,000 towards a medical clinic in Meaford and annually they provide $300,000 for medical equipment at the Meaford Hospital.

If you are interested in participating in 2012, the Meaford Hospital Foundation will host the race again on the second Saturday in July.

For more information and results on the race visit the following website.

View other Success Stories or submit your own on the ParticipACTION website.