Healthy routine part of the exercise

By Kelly Yates
STUDENTS from Coomoora Primary School joined Olympians Andrew Gaze and Alisa Camplin on 9 April to celebrate that 150, 000 children are now involved in the Government’s free Active After-school Communities (AASC) program.
The Springvale South school has been involved with the program for the past three years and had 20 children from Grades 5 and 6 attend the celebration at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
The children participated in several sporting activities and listened to speeches made by the guest Olympians. This was the first time the school had been invited to an AASC event.
Senior school teacher at Coomoora Primary School Larna Cleary said the children were inspired by the olympians and learnt about creating a balance between sporting life and relaxation.
“They spent three hours playing various sporting games and each child received a show bag at the end of the day,” she said.
“Half a dozen fell asleep during the bus ride home so that tells me they definitely had a brilliant day.”
The AASC program reinforces the message of fitness and helps build children’s self esteem.
Minister for Sport Kate Ellis spoke at the celebration and said reaching the milestone was a great achievement.
“The competition for the attention of young people is intense. The growing use of the internet and video games presents a major challenge to get kids off the couch and active,” Ms Ellis said.
“To address the obesity crisis we need to ensure programs, like AASC, encourage more Australian’s to develop healthy routines at a young age.”