Sports Day in Canada reflects national interest in physical literacy

These are happy times at Active for Life. Our purpose is to educate, inspire, and support Canadian parents in helping kids develop physically literacy. And the movement is growing as some big players are teaming up to promote physical literacy as a solution to children’s inactivity.

Take RBC’s Learn to Play project, for example. Active for Life is a partner in the movement which will include donations to community-based charitable organizations for physical literacy programs.

“Whether kids want to be bankers or baseball players, scientists or figure skaters, they need the confidence to pursue their dreams,” said Jane Broderick, chief brand and communications officer, RBC. “We believe in supporting the whole child – mind, body and spirit and through this Project, we will help give kids the confidence to be active and healthy at home, at school, and in the community during their younger years and into adulthood.”

Learn to Play kicked off yesterday with the launch of the RBC Sports Day in Canada Road Tour in Hamilton, Ontario, and the topic was physical literacy. In attendance were Olympians such as Becky Kellar, three-time gold medalist in hockey and a mother of two.

CBC sports reporter Scott Russell wrote that Kellar, “completely gets today’s theme of the road trip which stresses something called ‘Physical Literacy.’ It’s become a bit of a buzz phrase recently and it points to the fact that too many young people in Canada are unaware of the potential that their bodies have. The hope is that by educating children about sport and play, they will learn to live a more complete and balanced life just as they will by learning to read, write, perform calculus, and operate a computer.”

With RBC’s Learn to Play project and Canadian Tire’s Active at School campaign, it is an exciting time for the promotion of physical literacy and physical activity in our great country.