Top handball player Ephrahim Jerry and Olympic swimmer Marrit Steenbergen paid a special visit to Beneden Beekloop primary school in Geldrop. They launched a new lesson package intended to get children to exercise more.
This initiative is a teaching package, devised by BrabantSport, and a necessary one, the fund believes. According to the Health Council, about 45 per cent of children do not get enough exercise. In addition to lessons about exercise, the children also receive lessons about healthy nutrition, performing under pressure and the pros and cons of gaming.
“Language lessons are only about spelling and vocabulary and maths lessons are all about numbers. Now we are suddenly being taught by athletes and we really like that,” say 9-year-old Liv and Jimi from group 6 of the Beneden Beekloop.
Development
Jerry finds it worrying that many children get little exercise. “It is unthinkable to me that children do not play sports. It gives you so much energy, social contacts and motivation in life,” he says. Steenbergen agrees. “Sport is so important for your social development. The children do have contacts at school, but at the sports club you have other people around you and you are actively involved.”
Need
The municipality of Geldrop-Mierlo supports the initiative. “Sport and exercise are high on the municipal agenda. We are looking at various ways to make sport even more accessible and accessible to everyone in the different neighbourhoods,” says policy officer at the municipality of Fanny van Mierlo. “By bringing more attention to sport at school in this way and allowing the children to experience different sports, we hope that the power of sport will inspire our young residents.”
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
