Children compete in home sports activities as Hampshire Games Challenge goes indoors

Each year the Trust organises outdoor activities for schools across the county to participate in. Determined to ensure children get their daily fix of exercise, despite the coronavirus crisis, pupils now have access to a range of online resources and activities to help them keep active during the lockdown.

Regional manager, Madeleine Campbell, said: ‘Due to the coronavirus situation, our role has changed and we’ve been tasked to set virtual activities for pupils to get involved. The national network has shifted to support and implement the chief medical officer’s guidelines for all children to continue to be active for 60 minutes each day, 30 minutes of which is supported by schools.’

Primary school pupils are completing a daily personal best challenge by taking part in a range of activities including a ‘speed bounce’, ‘static balance’ and ‘partner challenge’, which involves ‘keeping a toilet roll between your knees as you travel across the room’.

Secondary age pupils have a daily circuit which this week includes v-sits, balance, book squats and a keepy-uppy challenge. Each week, one activity is selected as student’s own personal challenge to achieve their best time or most repetitions.

Madeleine said: ‘Each activity has a set of instructions and includes a video link which engages children.’

To maintain an element of competition, once children have completed their challenge they upload their score to the online Google document. They also input which school they attend so that a league table of top performing schools can be produced. The Trust are also providing a series of sports related quizzes and fact finders.

‘Children get sent a digital certificate for completing their challenge with virtual prizes also on offer for the best performing pupils,’ added Madeleine.

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With children increasingly confined to their homes and gardens over the coming weeks to maximise social distancing, the trust has highlighted the importance of factoring physical activity into any home education programme.

Madeleine said: ‘If children are having to isolate then it’s important to exercise for mental wellbeing as much as physical. It’s important at any time for children to be fit and healthy and that’s why we have devised a programme which can be done indoors if space is limited.’

With an estimated 300 children across the county already taking part, the trust is keen to get more children involved. To find out more go to

http://www.facebook.com/portsmouthssp/

or

www.facebook.com/HampshireSGO/