The clock is ticking and Ashlee Claydon is hoping a call to action will get the ball rolling.
A certified Class A golf professional/instructor and a certified fitness coach, Claydon, 28, qualified for the LPGA Futures Tour last November but has been on the shelf with a nagging injury since June.
“I’ve only played in one tournament this year,” she said, pointing to the CN Tour Event back in May in Squamish. In the meantime, her focus she says has been on rehab, and on the 60 Minute Kids Club program, which she is completely behind.
“Completely. It’s awesome, and I just want to get the word out to people about it.”
The 60 Minute Kids Club she explains is an innovative and interactive program that motivates kids ages 5-11 to get healthy and active for 60 minutes a day. An interactive Kids Club website will be utilized as a platform for sharing and inspiring success. This resource says Claydon “empowers kids, parents and teachers to achieve success with relevant and up to date nutritional and fitness information.”
The program also encourages kids to increase their physical activity level by completing realistic fitness challenges.
The BSS grad said she’s tried unsuccessfully to get through to some of the powers that be with School District 69, which she assumes is because of the job action strike.
In the meantime, Matt Young, founder of the 60 Minute Kids Club along with co-founder Daryl Devonish have secured enough funding for 25 schools in B.C., and another 25 in Ontario, where Devonish is from. As of this year, Telus has signed on as the founding sponsor for a half million dollars a year for five years.
That funding said Claydon, “now gives us the opportunity to enrol more schools,” adding the money will also be used towards enrolment fees ($3 per child per year) and prizes.
“We do not want any barriers for the kids not to enrol and would like to keep eating all costs. We are currently searching for more partners to join the 60 Minute Kids Club and be actively involved.
Right now there are five schools in B.C. (Vancouver area) and five schools in Ontario on board, and Claydon said the object is to enlist 25-30 more schools (that would be some 15,000 kids) in each province for 2011.
Closer to home, she said the short term goal is to have five schools from Vancouver Island utilizing the program, and “the ultimate goal in the next five years is to have all schools in Canada enrolled in the program.”
“This is such an important issue for kids and something I have always been passionate about, and something that can be stopped. Obesity does not have to be an issue if we can educate the kids, parents and teachers and I think we need to get our community involved in this program.
We want the public to be beware because we want the kids to ask about the program and want to be involved, but obviously it comes from the top so if the principals, the teacher and parents are on board then the kids will be on board.
“There’s no administration or planning on the teacher’s part,” she said, adding “everything is taken care of by us. All they have to do is put the posters up. We provide posters and outlines in the staff room, the class room, all the kids e-mail us directly, we go into the school and do a presentation on the subject... we’re just trying to get all the local schools on board so the founder (Matt Young) can go to them all in one day while he’s here.”
Young will be in the Oceanside area Oct. 11 “and we’d like to get two or three more schools confirmed (among the seven schools in the area),” she said.
The first 60 Minute Kids Club inaugural session starts Oct. 15 and runs for 60 days, “and the prizes at the end are really cool — it gives the kids something to look forward to.”
“It’s a great program, very well thought out,” she said, adding “they did it blood sweat and tears so far, and their goal is to have every elementary school in Canada involved.”
Anyone looking for more information can call 250-228-4737 or e-mail ashlee@ashleeclaydongolf.ca or go to www.60minkidsclub.com.
THE UGLY TRUTH
The harsh reality is that kids born in 2000 and later are the first generation that scientists and doctors believe won’t outlive their parents. According to recent studies, obesity rates in children have almost tripled in the last 25 years with just over a quarter of children between 2-17 rated as overweight or obese, and unless something is done to tip the scales the other way, 20 years from now the overweight and obese children will become overweight and obese adults, putting a further strain on the country’s health care system and economy.
Kids club X-factors:
- Proactive health care/management
- incentive to participate
- accountability to the program and results
- follow up process and results
- NO administrative work for teachers
- defined start/stop points (60 min/60 days)