While the benefits of sport and recreation for kids are well documented, many children simply don’t get enough physical activity outside of school.
Now in Creighton, an exciting new sports program is addressing this problem head-on.
Last Saturday, Nov. 21, 22 budding athletes gathered in the Creighton Community School gym for the Basketball Jamboree, a fun day to focus on skills and fitness.
The event was a kick-off for a series of community sports sessions that will be offered this school year, thanks to a $25,000 grant from the RBC Learn to Play Project.
Carol Sutherland, community school coordinator, applied for the grant last spring. The school was one of 199 institutions to receive funding, out of 400 applicants across the country.
Sutherland says the funding is earmarked for programming focused on sports and healthy, active living.
Mike Yarowy, branch manager of RBC Royal Bank in Flin Flon, stopped by on Saturday to hand over an oversized cheque and check out the first event offered with the Learn to Play funds.
“We are really excited to help out,” he said.
Saturday’s jamboree ran from 10 am to 2 pm, and included warm-ups, drills in dribbling and passing, and wrapped up with scrimmages.
Seasoned coaches Ryan Gray and Tony Ticzon coordinated the activities, and the event was open to students from Creighton Community School, Ruth Betts Community School and École McIsaac School.
“It’s a chance to apply their learning and have some fun,” Sutherland explained.
Other Learn to Play programming is already underway at Creighton Community School.
“Our goal is to offer four drop-in sessions once a week throughout the school year,” Sutherland said.
At the moment, these sessions include floor hockey on Wednesday evenings at the Denareplex in Denare Beach, intramurals at Creighton Community School on Friday at noon, a gym night on Thursdays, and drop-in basketball on Sundays. Sutherland says the noon intramurals are specifically for Creighton students, and while the other three sessions are geared towards Creighton students, they are open to kids from other schools as well.
For information on drop-in sports sessions, parents can check the Creighton Community School website calendar, the school’s recreation calendar, or contact Carol Sutherland or Kody Turner, recreation coordinator, at 306-688-5138.
