Active for Life was born in a cottage in the Laurentian Mountains in the spring of 2010, where the leadership team of B2ten met to debrief after Canada’s success at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. They realized that winning medals is wonderful but if those medals aren’t inspiring kids to be active then what was their true value? The B2ten team soon determined that Canadian kids were less active and less involved in sport than ever before. The inactivity and sedentary behaviour were making Canadian children sick.
B2ten became dedicated to reversing this negative trend in kids’ health. They created Active for Life and gathered a team to inspire and offer solutions.
In AfL’s search for those solutions we talked to many experts and parents. The recognized leaders in the field of children’s sport and activity, like those at Canadian Sport for Life, told us that there was one simple thing that could turn the tide: physical literacy.
When we spoke to parents, we learned that while moms and dads were aware of the alarming statistics and the crisis in children’s health, they were overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do to make a difference in their kids’ lives.
We connected the pieces of the puzzle and reached the following conclusions:
- Physical literacy is one simple solution to help kids become more active, healthy, and successful for life.
- Parents need direction, education, and inspiration, but mostly they need practical solutions.
- Parents are the gatekeepers of their kids’ activities, and the enablers of life-long habits.
In 2012, few people beyond the sports and recreation sectors had heard of physical literacy, yet we were convinced it was a concept parents could grasp and care about.
We were right. Since we’ve been established the term physical literacy has evolved from obscure concept to mainstream topic.