Healthy lifestyle for children stressed

Manama, Sept. 9 (BNA): A call for parents to activate a healthy lifestyle for their kids and avoid childhood obesity was highly urged as the International Physical Literacy Convention (IPLC) got underway today at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manama. This conference brings together global thought leaders who are innovating real change. They include Canada’s Richard Way and Tom Jones, in addition to Australia’s Dr Dean Dudley. "The IPLC is designed to bring together health, education, sport and recreation experts and practitioners, and policy-makers from around the world to share research and best practice," said Way, the Chief Executive Officer of the Sport for Life Society in Canada. "A conference of this caliber is paramount as childhood obesity and rising inactivity among children threatens the future health of many nations around the world". "For kids to be healthy and stay physically active, they need to feel confident, be motivated and competent to use fundamental movement skills – physical literacy," added Way. The convention commenced with a speech by Supreme Council for Youth and Sports assistant secretary general and Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) secretary general Abdulrahman Askar, who said the event is one of many directives of Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Supreme Council for Youth and Sports Chairman, and BOC President, in an attempt to put the kingdom on the world sport map. In the main hall, three themes were presented to kick off the ‘Active Nation, Healthy Population’ slogan. Richard Way of Canada made the first presentation on ‘Sport for Life – the Journey of excellence and health’, in which he spoke about the role of Sport for Life Society in creating a new normal in Canadian sport, which now grows out into global education and health through using physical literacy to fundamentally change the thinking of health professionals, educators and coaches. Late on, Dr Dean Dudley of Australia presented his keynote on the Four Pillars of Physical Literacy Policy, which explores the evolution of the ‘literacy’ construct for the last 50 years and what can be learnt about physical literacy moving forward. It also presents an approach to policy construction that facilitates a common. This was followed by a panel session, in which Richard Way, Dr Dean Dudley and Canada’s Tom Jones, talked about physical literacy in communities around the world. They shed the lights on the fact that physical literacy has been integrated into many communities and education systems in countries around the world. They also shared the work they have done to support this and had discussions on how physical literacy can be integrated into the community and education system in the local Middle East North African Region. In the second hall, three themes were presented – Sport for Life, anti-doping in the field of sport, and the road to professionalism in sport, which were also part of the sport convention. Dr Mohammed Al Dosari of Kuwait, an anti-doping expert, spoke about the prohibited substances either in or outside sports competition, and its influence on athletes. Dr Al Dosari also brought up various diseases caused by these substances, which may also lead to death. Late on, Winners Football Center director Fawaz Albinmohammed made his presentation on the road to professionalism in sport, in which he stressed on professionalism and sports missions project in Bahrain as a way to develop sports and transform national athletes into future heroes. Meanwhile, three more themes in the IPLC will be presented today on the concluding day from 8.30am onwards.