A NEW initiative aimed at improving the health and fitness of schoolchildren has been endorsed by the Scottish Rugby Union.
The Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) has teamed up with the SRU to launch a programme in 160 primary schools designed to increase youngsters’ knowledge of food hygiene, healthy eating and fitness. A similar pilot programme was developed with Aberdeen FC from 2005-07, but some 5,000 boys and girls in P5 and P6 will be involved in this new six-week training course, which uses most of the current Scotland rugby team as role models.
Some teachers and pupils involved in the scheme were at Murrayfield yesterday to meet and have a healthy lunch with the players, and were told by Ken MacEwen, the SRU’s national fitness coordinator, the value of treating your body “like a high-performance car with high-quality fuel”.
Lydia Wilkie, Assistant Director, FSAS, said: “We have evidence from our earlier pilot that using sports coaches as role models helps to motivate youngsters to take on and understand messages about safe and healthy eating along with fun activities.”
The SRU has been striving for many years, and with limited success, to convince the Scottish Executive and politicians in general that sport can help improve the health of a nation regularly at the bottom of European tables.
The benefit to rugby from the initiative is that rugby is the sport being presented to the children as the vehicle for becoming healthier.
Hugo Southwell, the Scotland full-back, is one of 20 Scotland players and two Scotland women internationalists who feature in the new educational mission book.
He told the children: “We all need to eat a varied, balanced diet that is packed full of healthy foods. Don’t sit all day in front of the telly or PlayStation, get outside, play sport and have fun.”
DAVID FERGUSON
http://sport.scotsman.com
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SRU pilots youngsters’ health initiative
A NEW initiative aimed at improving the health and fitness of schoolchildren has been endorsed by the Scottish Rugby Union.
The Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) has teamed up with the SRU to launch a programme in 160 primary schools designed to increase youngsters’ knowledge of food hygiene, healthy eating and fitness. A similar pilot programme was developed with Aberdeen FC from 2005-07, but some 5,000 boys and girls in P5 and P6 will be involved in this new six-week training course, which uses most of the current Scotland rugby team as role models.
Some teachers and pupils involved in the scheme were at Murrayfield yesterday to meet and have a healthy lunch with the players, and were told by Ken MacEwen, the SRU’s national fitness coordinator, the value of treating your body “like a high-performance car with high-quality fuel”.
Lydia Wilkie, Assistant Director, FSAS, said: “We have evidence from our earlier pilot that using sports coaches as role models helps to motivate youngsters to take on and understand messages about safe and healthy eating along with fun activities.”
The SRU has been striving for many years, and with limited success, to convince the Scottish Executive and politicians in general that sport can help improve the health of a nation regularly at the bottom of European tables.
The benefit to rugby from the initiative is that rugby is the sport being presented to the children as the vehicle for becoming healthier.
Hugo Southwell, the Scotland full-back, is one of 20 Scotland players and two Scotland women internationalists who feature in the new educational mission book.
He told the children: “We all need to eat a varied, balanced diet that is packed full of healthy foods. Don’t sit all day in front of the telly or PlayStation, get outside, play sport and have fun.”
DAVID FERGUSON
http://sport.scotsman.com
Related posts