'Healthy Eating' Focus of New Initiative for Polar Games Feb 26, 2008 – The Sourdough
WHITEHORSE– When some 700
students converge at the Canada Games Centre this Friday, they’ll hear
a new Polar Games message. Health and Social Services Minister Brad Cathers
today announced a new healthy eating initiative entitled “Eat Right,
Kick Butt” for the Polar Games, which run Feb. 29-March 1, 2008.
This year, in conjunction with health promotion, the
department is providing each participant with a backpack containing
information on healthy eating and the link between making healthy food
choices and performing well in both sporting activities and academic
pursuits. Contents include a bottle of water, fruit bar, and a coupon for a
healthy food item at school concessions. Funding for the project is provided
through the Territorial Health Access Fund.
“Proper nutrition is important, both for participation
in physical activities as well as for cognitive development,” Cathers
said. “The department has been working together with Polar Games
organizers and teachers to provide children with some healthy eating
alternatives at the Games concessions this year. Each student will also
receive a coupon for a free healthy item at the concession.”
Dave Stockdale, long-time organizer of the Games is pleased
with the healthy eating initiative. “We’re happy to support an
initiative that gets youth thinking about making healthier choices during the
Games,” Stockdale said. “Hopefully what they learn about proper
nutrition during the Games will carry over and they will make healthier
choices after the Games as well.”
Polar Games is an annual event where children in Grades 5
and 6 from almost all Yukon communities meet in Whitehorse to participate in
a number of sporting events such as floor hockey, bowling, curling and
volleyball. The event is non-competitive and promotes sportsmanship and
teamwork.
