Active News

Sewing an Olympic Legacy

The Sew a Legacy: Olympic / Paralympic Banner – Sports Bag Program, promoting active healthy living in Vancouver elementary schools, was launched in the Fall of 2009.

This initiative will distribute hand sewn sports bags to children through their participation in an Active Adventure day featuring SportFit. The program is structured to leave an Olympic legacy among three distinct populations residing in the inner-city: sewing groups, elementary school children and aspiring youth leaders.

This ground breaking project began with the recycling of official Olympic and Paralympic street banners. By engaging 35 inner-city sewers and non profit groups, 1,100 sports bags were created as Olympic mementos. Participating groups included: the Aboriginal Mother Centre, the Kettle Friendship Society, Malalay, and Coast Mental Health, Social enterprises including: EMBERS, Dev-Co Co-op Development & Training, and the Sewing Social Broker also helped to produce the sports bags.

Eleven inner-city schools are participating in the second phase of this project; engaging inner–city elementary students in healthy living exercises. Active Communities Vancouver is providing an Active Adventure day featuring the SportFit program. The 2010 Legacies Now SportFit program provides a fun opportunity for students to assess their current fitness levels while motivating them to be more active. Upon completion of the eight station circuit, participants are invited to enter their scores on a computer to find out which three summer and winter Olympic sports they might like to try.

Prior to starting the SportFit circuit, an Olympic athlete addresses the school assembly and shares their experience as an athlete. Students hear about the Olympic experience and what it is like to represent Canada on the world stage. These inspiring talks help motivate the students to do their best as they take on the SportFit challenge.

While participating in the SportFit challenge students will be mentored by aspiring youth leaders from the inner-city. Each station in the SportFit circuit is led by Aboriginal Youth from the Red Fox program. These individuals guide the students through the various SportFit exercises; increasing their facilitation and coaching abilities, and developing valuable skills for future employment.

As a reward for participation in the Active Adventure day the students will be given an Olympic\Paralympic Sports Bag filled with useful materials for active living, as well as various school supplies. The MoreSports  pamphlet found in each bag will provide program details and contact information to enable the students to become more active on an ongoing basis.

Additionally, the elementary schools will be given the necessary tools to implement the SportFit challenge in house. Through the Active Adventure Day, the schools will garner the ability to set-up the SportFit challenge, and manage the circuit with the help of intermediate student leaders at each of the eight stations.

As a final reward the schools will be presented with soccer balls, jerseys, and a pair of goalie gloves to encourage them to continue their active living pursuits, and to keep the spirit of sport alive and strong in their school community.