11:09am Friday 19th February 2010
Are you a couch potato? Maybe it is time to make some changes.
Health Editor Barry Nelson reports on a scheme to get youngsters and their families in shape.
SPORTS never appealed to Hayley Cooke until a nurse suggested the North-East schoolgirl should get involved in an innovative healthy living project.
Within a couple of years of joining Mend, a scheme designed to boost the health and well-being of young people, the Middlesbrough youngster went from being sports-shy to sports-mad. She joined the Kader Girls under 12s football team, a trampolining club, an athletics club and also started playing volleyball, badminton, cricket and rounders.
Hayley went from strength to strength, winning Most Improved Player of the Season from Acklam Grange Football Club, a silver medal for trampolining and helping her team achieve gold in a schools competition.
She has lots of certificates to prove her sporting achievements.
Her mother, Lindsay, has noticed a big change: “Hayley has got so much more confidence now. Instead of standing back, she throws herself straight into anything and has a go.
She has gone from one extreme to another with all the sport she does.”
She is one of dozens of seven to 13- year-olds who took part in the first Mend programme in Middlesbrough three years ago. Mend stands for Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it! and was designed to get overweight and obese children to do more exercise and eat healthier.
Mend courses have been running at leisure centres and swimming pools in Middlesbrough, Eston and Saltburn for several years and the scheme is already having an impact on young people’s health and fitness.
But the specialist staff who run Mend programmes would still like to see more youngsters joining up, as well as their families.
In Hayley’s case, it started when she was referred by a nurse at the age of ten. At the time, she was struggling to get involved in sport at school, partly as a result of bullying. But she was keen to do something active to improve her health.
She began a t t e n d i n g the twice- aweek Mend s e s s i o n s , which inc l u d e d l e a r n i n g about food groups, sensible diets and portion control using interactive quizzes and games. The second part of the class involved either a group sport or swimming pool activity.
Her mother went with Hayley, as did her brother, Jordan, and twin sister, Adele, to support her. “It really boosted Hayley’s confidence when she came home with nutritional information they didn’t know,” she says.
“They would ask her advice and they gave her lots of encouragement.
Hayley already ate a healthy diet, but she needed to understand about portion control and that she didn’t have to eat everything on her plate.”
Lindsay says: “We didn’t do this as a weight-loss scheme. It needs to be done as a healthy step forward to learning about the right foods to eat and e n c o u r a g i n g exercise.
“I would d e f i n i t e l y recommend the Mend scheme to kids who want to build their c o n f i d e n c e with sport and feel better about themselves.”
One of the main aims is to encourage children to get involved in sports activities, games, nutrition sessions and recipe testing.
Claire Eyre, the NHS health improvement specialist who manages Mend programmes for Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland community services, says the courses are “a fantastic opportunity for children to get in better shape and lay the foundations for a much healthier life”.
Despite the success of the scheme, which routinely gets an 80 per cent satisfaction score from users, the programme always could do with more people signing up.
“We run three to four programmes a year from three sites in Middlesbrough, Saltburn and Eston. Normally, we aim to recruit about 15 families per programme. Two evenings a week is quite a commitment for a family and we do see some people drop out early on,” says Claire.
But it can have a huge impact. In most cases, families and children adopt healthier lifestyles and are more aware of the importance of good nutrition and regular exercise.
But Claire warns that, without the commitment of family members, the courses will not make a difference.
“You have to get behind the programme or it simply won’t work.
There isn’t a magic wand.”
MEND courses run for ten weeks and are free. Programmes are provided by NHS Middlesbrough, NHS Redcar and Cleveland and NHS Hartlepool. NHS Stockton-on-Tees offers a similar service known as the Young Persons Active Health Scheme. For more information, call 01642-777845 (Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland) or 01429-284261
Head to the green gym
FED up about the New Year’s resolutions you failed to keep?
Well, forget the gym and head out to the “green gym” instead, where the exercise is free, fresh air is in abundance and the views are inspirational.
Walking is great for your mind, body and soul, not to mention the environment, as you leave muddy bootprints instead of carbon footprints.
“There are 140,000 miles of footpaths in England and Wales, as well as over 6,250 square miles of Open Access land. That’s a lot of walking.
But having the right skills and confidence to explore this wonderful countryside without the fear of getting lost or misplaced can sometimes be a barrier,” says Northern Echo walks correspondent Mark Reid.
Mark runs teamwalking navigation skills courses to give people the ability and confidence to stride out and explore the countryside, secure in the knowledge that they will always know where they are, where they want to be and how to get there safely. “These skills will last a lifetime and will help open up a whole new world of joyous,” he says.
The courses are run from locations in the Yorkshire Dales by Mark, author of The Inn Way guidebooks, and Richard Tarran, qualified mountain leader and personal development trainer. The courses are accredited to the National Navigation Award Scheme, with bronze or silver level awards available.
“We take a holistic approach to the outdoors by also looking at weather, route planning, essential kit, emergency procedures and environmental impact,” says Mark. “With a calorieburn of about 400 calories an hour, hill-walking is a great way to get fit.”
Courses run from March to November and cost £89 per person for two-day’s navigation training, workbook and use of outdoor gear, map and compass.
■ For further information, visit teamwalking.co.uk (Hartlepool). For more information on Stockton’s Young Persons Active Health Scheme call 01642-528772
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