Congrats to VANOC with their latest initiative. As part of it's Northern Outreach Project VANOC in association with the Canadian Forces and the United Nations Association of Canada, helped see the distribution of sporting goods equipment to 20 northern communties across Canada today.
The sports gear — donated by Nike as well as the NHL's Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames teams will hopefully foster more play in northern communities, which in turn will lead to increased participation in sport.
This blogger is ecstatic with the initiative and can only hope that sport organizations, their athletes and professional sporting teams here in Canada follow VANOC's lead and get involved with projects of this nature going forward. As we are aware, physical inactivity is a serious concern here in Canada. It is widely acknowledged that Canadians are increasingly struggling with obesity and other health complications associated with inactivity , which is taxing our national healthcare system to a serious degree. The Conference Board of Canada states that healthcare spending because of physical inactivity ranges from $2.1 billion to $5.3 billion annually.
Situations are equally as dire in the United States, which is why the National Football League, and it's players have launched a multi million dollar national campaign titled "Play 60" encourgaging children of all ages to be actively engaged in sport for 60 minutes a day.
While only small in comparison to the NFL's "Play 60" program, the VANOC initiative is a start, and with time the hope here is that a small step today encourages all Canadians to actively promote sport. I know that VANOC has encourged me. Tonight I am going to flood the community rink. What can you do?
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