Football stars from Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City FC will spearhead the launch of a new healthy lifestyle program, aimed at improving the activity levels of children aged 6-12 across Australia. Football Federation Australia, which oversees the most-played team sport in Australia, is running the three year program, designed to inspire school children across the country.
Launched in Melbourne today by young football stars Milos Ridesic (Melbourne Victory), Stephanie Catley (Melbourne Victory) and Tom King (Melbourne City FC), the Play Project will promote active play to school children with priority given to high-risk areas identified in the national obesity study, inspiring children to live active, healthy lives through better knowledge, attitudes and behaviour.
The first part of the program will teach children about the relationship between active play and their muscles and bones while the second will focus on student’s understanding of the necessity of activity throughout history and the impacts of excessive recreational screen-time on their bodies. The final part of the program will demonstrate the importance of activity and active play in their daily lives and encouraging students to adopt it as a regular habit.
Football Federation Australia Chief Executive Officer David Gallop believes that football is well placed to get children active and promote healthy living principles.
“Football is a skillful, simple and safe game that is perfect for improving students at all levels of ability to live an active, healthy life through better knowledge, attitude and behaviours.
“The Play Project workshops will be run by professional facilitators in primary school classrooms with an emphasis on dialogue, interaction and activity and is aligned with the Health and Physical Education of the Australian Curriculum,” concluded Gallop.
School teachers will be supported by a robust set of post workshop teaching resources and we hope to reach thousands of students over the next 3 years.
The first year of the Play Project will focus on schools within the NSW and Victorian areas, with the launch taking place at Moreland Primary School in Melbourne on 23 October. The program will also be linked to a complementary schools food education project, which will be announced in the coming months. Together the two projects will comprise Australia’s largest healthy lifestyle program for kids.
The program is supported by the Mondelez International Foundation (MIF), which provides funding for community-based programs across the globe. Over the course of the three year program, the Play Project will complete over 3,000 workshops, reaching over 100,000 school children from across the country.
For further information, and schools looking to sign up, visit playproject.com.au or call
1800 619 798
