The Generation Action Youth Summit has been incredible so far, but now the youth summit team needs your help to make their vision a reality!

Here’s the situation:

In January Sask in motion hosted the first ever Generation Action Youth Summit. The summit team was assembled from youth who applied to make a difference for physical activity in the province.
     >Read more about the first meeting of the Generation Action Youth Summit<

The youth summit team was assembled because less than 15% of Saskatchewan children and youth get the physical activity they need each day to be healthy. The young people who applied to be a part of the Generation Action Youth Summit are NOT ok with that! The purpose of the summit was to determine what youth can do to solve the inactivity crisis, as well as, what the youth of Saskatchewan need provincial leaders and decision makers to do to address the issue.

When the youth summit team gathered for the second time in February it was time to get creative.  The team had the huge task of evaluating all the brainstorming and information we had compiled at the first youth summit meeting. The group was speaking on behalf of all Saskatchewan youth and once the work was prioritized, it was time to refine the most important messages to communicate to provincial leaders at the Inspiring Action Physical Activity Summit in April.

At each gathering, the team was always conscious of the responsibility to represent all of Saskatchewan’s youth.

Each member of the youth summit team brought their own experiences, perspectives, circumstances and knowledge to the team. They talked about the groups that may not be represented and worked to consider circumstances beyond their experience that may need to be addressed.  Here are a few examples of the considerations the team always kept in mind:

• Various socioeconomic circumstances
• Disabilities
• Religious beliefs and cultural practices
• Gender
• Geographic location in the province
• Availability of facilities, instruction, coaches, volunteers and equipment
• Community support
• Academic schedules
• Body image

. . . And many other circumstances

The youth summit team believes in the power of youth and they believe in the power of their voices speaking out for the activity opportunities all youth need to be healthy. But, they don’t want to stop at just their voices being heard.

They are inviting all youth who care about physical activity, their health and future generations of our province to join them in speaking out! They are asking youth to join Generation Action by signing the Generation Action Youth Charter for Physical Activity (click for more details)  

In addition to the Generation Action Youth Charter for Physical Activity, the youth summit team is encouraging youth to become part of the Generation Action movement by recording brief Testimonial Videos (click for info on what you should include in your testimonial, how to submit and more!) that could be included in the youth summit team’s upcoming presentation.

On behalf of the youth summit team, thank you in advance for joining Generation Action! When we Act Out, Speak Out and Get Out for physical activity we can make a difference!

P.S. – add your name to the Generation Action Youth Charter for Physical Activity in the Comments below, or follow the link to find out how else you can sign on!

Kenji

At part II of the Generation Action Youth Summit we will be developing our presentation for the Provincial Physical Activity Summit Saskatchewan in motion is hosting in April. Our youth summit team will be building on the work we did at part I of the youth summit. We identified barriers, benefits and opportunities to increase opportunities for physical activity in our province, especially for children and youth.

This time our goal is to determine our messages and exactly what we want to ask decisions makers (educators, community leaders, elected officials, parents etc.) to do to address the inactivity issue.

The Youth Summit team has the opportunity to address many of Saskatchewan’s decision makers at the Provincial Physical Activity Summit and we can’t wait!

Check back later! More to come on part II of the Generation Action Youth Summit . . .

Kenji

When I heard there were going to be new physical activity guidelines for Canada my first question was, why?

Turns out the old guidelines were simply outdated. The new guidelines were developed because of all the new research that has been conducted recently. This new research allowed the scientists to make more specific recommendations about physical activity. The old guidelines also didn’t cover all of the ages, the new ones do. The best reason for the new physical activity guidelines could be that the inactivity crisis needs up-to-date guidelines to better outline the situation.

So, how much physical activity is enough?

After 4 years of research, analysis and development, followed by recommendations from 3 reviews and a widespread consultation process with organizations like the Public Health Agency of Canada [PHAC], Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR], Health Canada, Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology [CSEP] and ParticipACTION the new guidelines were finally ready. The new Canadian guidelines are the most current recommendations for physical activity based on all of the scientific data to date.  

The guidelines are broken down into age categories: Click the category for the guideline information sheet

Children ages 5 – 11            [more for Children]

Youth ages 12 – 17               [more for Youth]

Adults ages 18 – 64               [more for Adults]

Older Adults ages 65 +        [more for Older Adults]

The guidelines for Youth – (12 – 17 Years) state:

• “For health benefits, youth aged 12-17 years should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily.”
• “Vigorous-intensity at least 3 days per week.”
• “Activities that strengthen muscle and bone at least 3 days per week.”
• “MORE daily physical activity provides greater health benefits.”

Once you read the guidelines the next question is, what do they mean by all that? Luckily CSEP made a handy glossary to help clear things up. I’ve taken the liberty of summarizing some of the really crucial terms.

Moderate intensity physical activity – On a scale of 0-10 moderate-intensity activity would put you at about a 5 or 6. The suggested rule of thumb is; when you are at a moderate intensity level you are able to talk but you won’t be able to sing during the activity (you are working hard enough to raise your heart rate).
Try: Active recreation (canoeing, hiking, cross-country skiing, skateboarding, rollerblading) Bike riding (stationary or road) Brisk walking, House and Yard work (pushing a lawn mower) Games that require catching and throwing (baseball, softball).

Vigorous intensity physical activity – On a scale of 0-10 vigorous intensity activity would put you at about a 7 or 8. When you are doing a vigorous intensity activity you won’t be able to say more than a couple words without taking a breath (you’ve raised your heart rate significantly).
Try: Bike riding, martial arts (karate) dancing, jump rope, sports (tennis, ice or field hockey, basketball, swimming, soccer) aerobics, running, games that include running and chasing (flag football).

Muscle strengthening activity – Strength training, resistance training or muscular strength and endurance exercises. Exercises that increase skeletal muscle strength, power, endurance and mass.
Try: Rock climbing, games like tug of war, resistance training with bands, weight machines & hand held weights, push-ups and crunches.

Bone strengthening activity – Activities that produce an impact or tension force on the bones that promote bone growth and strength. Running, jumping rope, and lifting weights are examples of bone-strengthening activities (weight-bearing activities).
Try: Hopping, skipping, jumping, sports (gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, tennis) and Weight training.

The youth guidelines are for all apparently healthy youth (12-17) no matter your gender, race, ethnicity or socio-economic status. The guidelines encourage a variety of activity choices that support development, are safe and fun!

You can get your daily activity through play, games, sport, transportation, recreation, physical education or planned exercise. The activity should be in addition to incidental movement through the day.

Following the recommendations can improve cholesterol levels, blood pressure, body composition, bone density, cardio respiratory and musculoskeletal fitness & aspects of mental health. CSEP says it best, “the potential benefits far exceed the potential risks associated with physical activity.”

Different organizations define “youth” by varying ages so don’t get hung up on terminology. The important thing is to note your age and then look at the appropriate guidelines. I still identify with the term youth, but I’ve cracked my 20’s now so I look at the Adult guidelines (18-64).

It’s totally cool to check with your doc if you have any questions about your daily physical activity.

Remember if you are on the inactive side right now; start slow and work up to the recommended levels. Gradually you can increase the duration, frequency and intensity of your activity!

Want to know more, get some background, investigate the glossary of terms to better understand the guidelines and check out FAQ’s. 

Are you meeting Canada’s new Physical Activity Guidelines? I’d love to hear about your activity in the comments below!

Kenji

The Summit brought together youth from across Saskatchewan who have something to say about physical activity, ranging in age from 16 – 23. The participants applied to be a part of this historic occasion. A group of 9 youth, including Graham and I from the provincial office (we are just young enough to fit our age demographic) made up the delegation.  I have to give a shout out to Nadia who couldn’t be there because she was feeling under the weather.

The group came together at this awesome (kinda creepy haha) place called Cedarlodge. The huge old lodge is built right on the hill at Blackstrap Provincial Park just outside of Saskatoon, SK. The atmosphere was perfect for a group of strangers to come together and form a team in a really short amount of time. We were the only guests at the lodge, with the exception of the permanent residents who run the lodge. The main room overlooked a snow covered lake with at least a two story high ceiling lit by “old school” wagon wheel chandeliers. It’s a perfectly modest place that takes you back a few decades in the best way. No TV’s in our rooms set the stage for us to entertain and get to know one another. We had tons of space including a gym/auditorium for activities and key note addresses, meeting rooms to really accomplish our goals, and a beautiful night to take a hike out onto the lake as a group.

Now that you have a feel for where the summit went down, I’m sure you’re curious what exactly we were all doing there…

In total there were 9 participants, (in no particular order) Katie, Kendra, Nafisa, Kirsten, Paul, Stacey, Brett, Graham, and me. The summit wouldn’t have happened without the awesome in motion staffers, Marnie, Nicole, Cathie, and Julie. Plus we brought in 2 more amazing individuals to round out this team, Don Ratcliffe-Smith and Farley Flex!

On Friday evening once everyone had arrived we all got to know one another a little better with an ice breaker activity. Then we had the pleasure of hearing in motion Manager Cathie Kryzanowski fill us in on the current physical activity situation. We heard a bit about how things were back in the day and the inactivity crisis as it is today.

Our good buddie Farley Flex was up next to get us in gear to really achieve some results at the summit. Farley motivated us to step up and be the leaders we all said we wanted to be when we applied to be part of the summit.  He made sure that we were conscious of the fact that we weren’t at the summit just to represent ourselves; that we had a responsibility to represent the complete spectrum of Saskatchewan youth as well as we could. We had to think inclusively and consider a wide range of economic situations, geographic locations across the province, and be mindful of limitations. Farley spoke about principles of character and leadership, like respect, responsibility, honesty, empathy, fairness, initiative, perseverance, courage, integrity and optimism. Cathie and Farley set the stage for the summit beautifully and pumped us all up for the work that was ahead of us.

After some chill time together discussing how our digs for the night were straight of the movie The Shining (you know, “here’s Johnny!”) and a night hike we all hit the sack to rest up for the big day ahead of us.

The graffiti wall captures what we have heard from youth across SK when they were asked to identify challenges, benefits & opportunities for physical activity.

Looking back I’m not sure how we got through all the work we did Saturday. We had an amazing breakfast! Have I mentioned how ridiculously awesome the food was all weekend? I’m sure it was a huge part of how we were able to accomplish everything we did. By 8:45 we were hard at work identifying challenges, benefits and opportunities for physical activity in our province to add to our graffiti wall. We had a great base of information to work from that the in motion team has gathered from youth across the province at Student Leadership Conferences, the Lieutenant Governors Leadership Forum session and other events. The amount of input from all the participants was fantastic and far exceeded expectations!

All of the amazing work to expand the graffiti wall presented a new challenge to the whole group. Now we had to take all of those challenges, benefits and opportunities and evaluate which ones we could develop realistic solutions for and actions for change around. We essentially prioritized what could realistically be done and what needed to be done first.

With excellent leadership from our facilitators, the participants began to generate solutions and messages directed at 3 specific groups

1)      Youth addressing speaking to Youth

2)      Youth addressing to Provincial Organizations and Community Leaders

3)      Youth addressing  Municipal or Provincial Government (i.e. Mayors, The Premier)

Finally we arrived at the last really ambitious task of the weekend. One of the main goals of the summit was not only to tell the physical activity story of our province from a youth perspective, but to provide actions directed at those three specific audiences from this collective of participants representing the youth of Saskatchewan.

How are we going to do that you ask?…

The participants of the Generation Action Youth Summit will be using a medium of the groups choosing to convey a message about the state of physical activity in our province, and asking for specific actions to improve the situation to those who are in critical positions to impact positive change at a Provincial Physical Activity Summit in April. The final session of the day was aimed at developing a strategy for this presentation.

We`ve got some amazing concepts to work from. No… I can`t tell you about them yet.. you`ll have to check back to see how things are coming together.

If you had the opportunity to speak to your Mayor or even the Premier, what would you ask them to do to address the physical inactivity crisis in our province?

Join the conversation; tell the Generation Action Youth Summit participants what you would like to say in the comments below!

PS Check out the Generation Action by Saskatchewan in motion facebook group to follow the work of the Youth Summit.

Kenji

Rock 'n their new in motion advocacy t's ready to increase physical activity

in motion
This year at the Student Leadership Conference in Meadow Lake Saskatchewan in motion set up a trade show booth and delivered presentations to the young delegates. A team from base camp including, Graham Richardson, Don Radcliff-Smith and me, set out to make sure all of the delegates are aware of the physical inactivity crisis. More specifically we made the trip to talk about what youth can do to increase physical activity.

Team Work
We didn’t attend the conference to tell the youth delegates what to do; instead we wanted to hear from youth what they think we can and should do together. This isn’t the first time we’ve asked youth at SLC this question, but instead of dropping this loaded question without much guidance we added some structure to help come up with creative ideas together!

We didn’t just come with a 3 step structure either, just like it isn’t cool to toss a loaded question out there, we didn’t want to make suggestions without testing them ourselves.  Check out the structure and the ideas we’ve tested out.

 Act Out – From now on Acting Out is a great thing, it doesn’t mean causing trouble, it means getting attention to raise awareness with a purpose! Go for as much attention as you can.

• Try putting on a Flash Mob these events can be big or small and it’s easy to incorporate activity, plus they are a blast to be a part of! Check out our Dance flash mob.
• Plan or get involved with an in motion event- which simply means plan something active, a charity walk/run, coach a team, plan an event at your school.

Speak Out – You have a voice and the opportunity to use it. I know I had something to say when I found out that Only 15% (4/25)of Saskatchewan’s children and youth are getting enough daily physical activity… this fact directly relates to our generation being the first in history expected to have a shorter and less healthy life than our parents… So join the conversation

• Let us know what you think on.. you guessed it the blog! Comment or even submit guest blogs, tell us what you think about the situation, what you think we should do, or why physical activity is important to you etc.
• Join our Facebook group and connect with the movement and other young people who recognize the importance of physical activity
• Follow Saskatchewan in motion and me on twitter for up to the minute info about the movement, resources and tips

 Get Out – Be an active role model. If you think physical activity is important and identify the inactivity crisis is serious problem you can “walk the talk” to show the public. Show people what you love about activity and how easy it can be to gain the benefits by making activity part of your daily routine.

• Be active and bring a buddie – when you’re going to be active bring along a friend who could use a little help incorporate activity into their life.
• Leave the car at home: Choose Active Transportation – Before you jump in the car think about riding your bike or walking to where you are going (I walk to work every day, it’s how I officially wake up and start the day off right).
• Have fun! – Don’t forget how much fun living active is. Physical activity isn’t limited to exercise or sport (a common misconception), going tobogganing, or playing in the water at the lake, going for a hike or kayaking are all physical activity. Try something new too!

I hope our breakdown helps you become more active but also helps you become a more active leader in the physical activity movement.

Tell us what you think.. Do these suggestions help you? What else do you need? And don’t forget to share your success in the comments or on any of our other social media! We can’t wait to hear from you!

Kenji

Smart man that Mr. Adams, and it makes sense doesn’t it:

 If you want people to care about what you care about, they have to know it exists!

You need to make people notice and remember you (/your group) and your cause, so they can start to care about it!

You have to make sure you can get people’s attention quickly and stick in their heads. You have to cause a commotion to get people’s attention (an in motion commotion [wink]).

How do you go about creating an commotion you ask?

Well, how about a flash mob!

If you haven’t heard the term before basically, the goal is to have as many people as you can show up to the same crowded place at the same time. You pre arrange a routine or unique action for/with the group.

The goal is to have everyone blend into the crowd, then on the signal 1 or a few of your group start the “routine”. The rest of your group joins in progressively as the crowd watches (confused and intrigued)until the whole group joins in!

Some examples..(YouTube rulez)

“An Active Mob“  - I love it.. perfect for a physical activity message- HINT Hint!

“A mob with a Cause”  -Be bold with your message

“Freeze Mob Paris”  -Talk about sending a inactivity crisis message

“Choreography”  -I’d like to see someone try to ignore this!

The wiki definition is: a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, and then quickly disperse.

Getting Started

1. Have an original idea- People like being a part of something new, fun, exciting, and silly. Having an original idea is key. People want to be cutting edge.
2. Timing is everything- Timing of the plan: where and when is the best place to have your flash mob? Timing the day of the event: everyone needs to start on cue and disperse when the flash mob is done.
3. Recruiting- Seek out people looking to participate in a fun event! Post to activities and events sections of craigslist, local live journal communities, papers, blogs etc. Post at least 2 weeks before the event, and every other day leading up to the event.
4. Clear Procedures

• Define the rules and behavior expectations for the participants of the event to keep the event clean and police free.
• Make absolutely sure the whole crew of participants knows what the signal to start is.
• Keep in mind that assembling in public places is cool, but when it comes to private property you should get permission (or avoid all together).
• If you use posters attach rip tags or include a memorable way to be contacted. I.e. MySpace address, twitter handle, Facebook group etc.  Then post in local stores, on public bulletin boards, anywhere a lot of people will see it!

1. Day of!- On the day you can meet at a pre set location (away from the site of the flash mob) or provide a general meeting place if there are costumes involved.. You’ll know who you are. You can also use social media or mass txts to organize prior to the event, thus avoiding tipping people off that something is about to happen!

A few more tips:

• Don’t touch or disrespect the people present that aren’t part of your group (it’s rude and could get you into trouble.. it’s a no, no)
• If you can, keeping the originator (you) of the group mysterious can add an element of intrigue, set up an e-mail to manage to event etc.
• Try starting a group online with the intention of organizing a flash mob; you’ll have a huge potential participant pool
• Have everyone dress memorably (it’s just one more way to be noticed and remembered)
• One more time, be clear about where everyone should be and at exactly what time

Remember, once it starts, get out of the way! It’s happening, just let it develop on its own. You’ll be encouraging creativity in the people watching!

Finally, you are all there to have fun! .. but you could try to spread a message like only 15% of Saskatchewan’s children and youth are active enough…or just encourage physical activity (just a suggestion)!

The important thing is it to Act Out for what you believe in. Doing a flash mob is just one more way you can guarantee people will notice what you’re thinking about!

If you try it out record it, we’d love to see and hear about it in the comments below! Plus maybe you’re video will go viral and your message spread across the globe.. ah.. the potential!

Kenji

Only 12% of Children and Youth are meeting Canada’s guidelines of 90 minutes of physical activity a day. Sadly we’ve slipped slightly from 13% in ’09. That said, we’ve got to focus on the momentum that is building, and the progress that has already been made. In 2007 the national average sat at 9%, so there has been progress and awareness is building.

Let’s be real though, 12 or 13 % it doesn’t matter, it’s pretty brutal.

Here’s a quick break down of our national results for Physical Activity Levels:

C    Organized Sport and Physical Activity Participation

F    Active Play

D   Active Transportation

F   Screen Time

There is a ton more information in the Report Card that you should check out. You can download your copy from the Saskatchewan in motion website.

The Saskatchewan specific page doesn’t look much better.  As a province we’re sitting at 13% of kids getting their 90 minutes/day of physical activity.

Does that sit well with you? It really doesn’t with me.

The bottom line is that if we live inactive, sedentary lives in our younger years its likely we will live that way when we’re older as well. Inactivity is a recipe for an unhealthy life.

The good news is here in Saskatchewan (and across Canada) an effort is being made to make sure physical activity is recognized as being a hugely important issue.

Even better than that you can take this info and make a lifestyle choice that is good for you! Then once you see how great you feel living active you may want to spread the word.

If you have any questions, or want advocacy tools or more info, make sure you leave a comment below and we’ll get you all the info you need!

Kenji

Part of the contest was the opportunity for Saskatchewan’s youth to submit a blog and win a chance to be featured here on Generation Action as a guest blogger. Out of the entries (which were all fabulous, thank you so much everyone for submitting) Ogema’s own Katie Bacon was selected by the staff here at basecamp as our winner!

Congratulations to Katie on her great piece of work!

 So here is a little about Katie and her thoughts on the physical inactivity crisis, enjoy.

My name is Katie Bacon. I grew up on a farm by a small town called Ogema. I like being outdoors and doing all kinds of activities including baseball, volleyball, swimming and dance to name a few. I love being with my friends and family and having fun!
 
Thanks so much to Sask in motion for these awesome prizes!

Physical Inactivity: Who’s to blame?

I remember when I was in elementary school, we had to go outside no matter how cold it was. Before the morning bell rang at 9:00, during our 10 minute recesses, and throughout the entire lunch hour, we were kicked outside to play.

Nowadays when I visit my old school, the kids are allowed to sit in the porches because it is “too cold.”

As I watch the kids outside, they hardly play any games. My classmates and I always used to play tag, cops and robbers, boys chase girls, push down (although the teachers didn’t approve) and any other games you could think of that included running around and being active. In the summer we would get out the skipping ropes, and in the winter we would bring our sleds. Half the kids these days don’t even know all the different cool rhymes that you sing while swinging the skipping rope around and around. That was the best part of it all, teasing each other as we made up stories and rhymes about who is kissing who. Kids these days are missing out!

Also, when I was younger our town had many hockey teams, baseball teams, a figure skating club, etc. Everyone played because that is what you were expected to do. I probably didn’t even have a choice about participating when I think about it. In the summer you did baseball and swimming lessons, and in the winter you did skating and sledding. I probably didn’t want to go some days, but I did what my parents said and that was that.  I believe this is the way it should be. We weren’t allowed to sit and watch TV or play video games all day. If we did, you would hear “Get your butt off the couch and do something!” We had chores, responsibilities and hobbies that kept us busy. Kids are allowed too many choices. If they say, “But I don’t want to”, they don’t have to, which is crazy. They don’t know what is right for them when they are eight. So make them be active!

To sum it up, parents and authority figures, such as teachers and community leaders, are to blame in my opinion. I know that’s a pretty strong and harsh opinion, but it’s what I think. Kids aren’t fragile and lazy unless you mold them that way. In a way kids are babied too much. They need to toughen up and not be afraid of hurting themselves for running too fast or jumping too far. Kids need to be pushed and who knows, maybe they will find out they actually like it, or have a natural gift for a certain sport or activity. You will never know unless you make them try!

By Katie Bacon.