in motion hits the streets for an Active Transportation flash mob

It may be wishful thinking to say that spring has sprung with snow still popping up in the forecast, but I’m saying it anyway, spring is here!

To me spring means a lot more time outside! Don’t get me wrong – I love winter activities and getting out in the snow but I’m a warm weather gal at heart. Spring means it’s time to live and breathe the outdoors.

Spring also presents a great opportunity to get back into active transportation. The snow is melting and the sun is shining; it seems only logical to bust out your bike, boards, sneaks and blades!

I’m guessing you have an opportunity to choose an active form of transportation more than you think. How far is it to get to your school? Do you have a weekend or after school job? When you go to chill at a friend’s, how do you get there? Could you choose an active way to get there instead of driving? Do you?

Those are just a few examples of opportunities to choose active transportation with many more opportunities I didn’t mention that pop up on a regular basis. If choosing an active way to get yourself from point A to B isn’t normally your thing, I’m curious, why do you think that is? What makes you choose driving or getting dropped off over walking or biking?

At the recent Generation Action Youth Summit the participants identified some barriers to youth being physically active. They suggested time might be a factor, improper equipment (maybe you don’t have the right shoes or a bike), safety (maybe there aren’t any paths along a busy street you would need to use) or the youth team suggested that some people might just be lazy.

Saskatchewan in motion is all about identifying barriers to physical activity. We want to find out what stands in the way of people living active lifestyles, especially young people. Once you know what’s keeping you inactive you can change it for the better!

A great way to incorporate activity into your daily life (to help you meet daily physical activity requirements) is to choose an active way to get from place to place. But, what should you do if you want to choose active ways, or say, getting to school, but something like a dangerous road is in your way?

You should check out Active and Safe Routes to School! Green Communities Canada started the initiative to promote the use of active and efficient transportation to school. Not only does the program address health and traffic safety issues, it also encourages action on air pollution and climate change.

Check out the Active and Safe Routes website for resources, tools, information and links  to help you create an Active and Safe Routes program tailored to your area and needs.

If you’re an all season active transportation guru, it’s time to change tires and give your bike a tune up. 

Remember to always be safe out there, keep yourself protected by following the rules of the road, wearing safety gear,  keeping your equipment in good working order and making smart choices.

 See you out there!

Kenji

While not everyone can be an elite athlete and physical activity doesn’t just mean sport, the dedicated lifestyle of an athlete is something to be applauded. The young athletes who compete for Team Sask are no exception.

These individuals spend a vast amount of time, effort and financial resources on developing their skills, practicing to improve and are enthusiastic about the sport or activity of their choice.

These athletes have truly chosen an active lifestyle! Hopefully because they love it and it makes them feel healthy and happy, physically and mentally. Perhaps they do it because of the potential opportunities they could have and even the people they get to meet. Through sport, individuals are granted the opportunity to be part of communities; the team community, their local community, the sport community, and more.

Over the past couple of weeks young athletes from across Saskatchewan have been competing at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax!

Our athletes did awesome and represented our province extremely well. We finished 6^th overall in the medal standings, with 23 medals!

Perhaps even more importantly, all of the young athletes who participated had the opportunity to showcase their skills and dedication to sport and physical activity! These young people have worked hard and had the support of their families, coaches, teams, schools, and many others to accomplish this goal. All that hard work and commitment has many benefits. These athletes have the opportunity to travel, to meet new people and to be active role models for other youth in Saskatchewan.

So, to the coaches, volunteers and especially the athletes, thank you for being inspirational role models for an active lifestyle. That goes for all the provinces, but a special shout out to Team Sask.!

Keep up the amazing work!

Take a look at some awesome pictures from the Games featured on the Team Sask facebook page, visit the page for more amazing pics from all the events!

Kenji

It really is a happy tuesday because I have the honor of introducing you to Saskatchewan in motion‘s new Youth Ambassador!

I met Nafisa at a presentation Nicole and I did at the  Lieutenant Governor’s leadership forum about a month ago.  After the forum Nafisa got in touch and let us know that she wanted to get involved with the in motion movement. It was an awesome feeling to know that Nicole and I were able to connect with Nafisa, and inspire her to do her part to increase physical activity.

Now enough from me, keep reading to find out more about Nafisa and why being a part of this movement is important to her!

Kenji

Hello,

My name is Nafisa Absher, and I’m in grade 12 at FW Johnson in Regina. I’m very involved in my school and community. I also have a part time job, and I try to volunteer in my community whenever I get a chance.

Being physically active didn’t seem that important to me. However, being on the Lieutenant Governor’s leadership forum changed my whole perspective. On the forum, my fellow participants and I were expected to run, jog, or walk every morning for an hour. At first I wasn’t looking forward to going out at 6:30 AM to go walk, but it wasn’t long before I got used to it. I began enjoying these walks, and I realized how much energy it gave me throughout our very busy days. Now, my mother, my brother and I go for walks after school, and also, my best friend and I go jogging twice a week together.

I wanted to become an ambassador, because now I understand the importance of being physically active. When I found out that only 15% of kids in Saskatchewan are as active as they need to be, I realized that I must do something to change that. So, I want to help raise awareness in my school and community about this issue.

In the end, by being active we’re helping our bodies and minds to be the best that they can be. So take that hour out of your day, and fly a kite, take a hike, or jump in a lake.

Nafisa,
Saskatchewan in motion Youth Ambassador

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

A little over 50 years ago the First World Health Assembly called for an annual “World Health Day” (April 7^th every year). The idea is once a year the World Health Organization (WHO) addresses the health of the global community,  encourages improvements and fosters develpment of real soulitons.

In 2002 the focus of World Health Day was “Move for Health” which means the WHO wanted to help people understand the increasing problem of non-communicable diseases (NDCs), meaning they are not infectious.

Usually these diseases are caused by personal lifestyle, genetics, or environment. The WHO website acknowledged clearly that increasing numbers of physically inactive people contribute to the problem.

“This is due, in part, to a rapid change in lifestyles leading to reduced physical activity, changing diets and increased tobacco use.”

The goal in ‘02 was to make policy makers, the public health community and civil society more aware of the issues. More importantly the WHO wanted to emphasize the importance of fitness and healthy lifestyle.

Check out more on “Move for Health”,  including research that shows physical inactivity is among the main modifiable risk factors for common NCDs (you’ll find advocacy tools too!)

I thought it was important to make the connection between what a huge international organization thinks is important, and what Saskatchewan in motion as a provincial physical activity movement does.

World Health Day 2010 is shining a light on urbanization and health with the campaign “1000 cities-1000 lives”.

• 1000 cities: to open up public spaces to health, whether it be activities in parks, town hall meetings, clean-up campaigns, or closing off portions of streets to motorized vehicles.
• 1000 lives: to collect 1000 stories of urban health champions who have taken action and had a significant impact on health in their cities.

In one way or another the importance of physical activity and healthy lifestyle are consistently represented on World Health Day. So it’s agreed: both the World Health Organization and Saskatchewan in motion know how important regular physical activity is for everyone!

For more on “1000 cities-1000 lives” hit the World Health Day 2010 page. You’ll find tools, additional links and media to help you become a healthy active champion for yourself and your community.

Let me know what you’re going to do in the comments below.

Kenji

I will totally admit to highly enjoying figure skating, of all types. Those people are athletes for sure. Patrick Chan is just a darling; he recovered so well from his not so great first performance. His free skate was beautiful and he finished top ten. I’m sure he’ll back for 2014, plus, what a role model. He stumbled but he got back out there and made himself and Canada proud.

In Ice Dancing, Canada’s Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir couldn’t have scripted a better result to their Olympics. They have the perfect back story, of being paired up as little kids. They skated with intensity, drive and passion to position themselves at the top going into the final skate. Fully aware of insane pressure the entire country was putting on them. They glided flawlessly through their final routine all the way to a well deserved gold medal.

The best part was Scott’s reaction. He looked like an over dressed hockey player up on the podium. So amped to have won, veins were popping out of his neck! It was great, they were both so happy. They worked for it and appreciated it. Once again, not a bad road map to try and follow for up and comers.

Hockey has been decent, and I’m excited for the game in a couple hours but.. the most exciting thing for me to watch for sure has been Long Track Speed Skating.

One of my bestest friends in the whole world is a speed skater. She skated with Saskatchewan’s own Lucas Makowsky for years. So he is a friend of a friend (yes, I have actually hung out with him in real life, it was a long time ago ..but still)! I remember hearing tales of competitions and practices, and thinking how tough and brave my friend is for excelling at such an intense sport. Now her friend (mine by extension) is at the Olympics! How crazy is that! He has done extremely well in all of his events! I made sure all my neighbors new by cheering way, way too loud at my TV haha. Congrats Lucas.

There is the potential for me to ramble for days about what I know, and enjoyed about every event. Instead I’ll just extend a congrats to all the athletes and a bravo to the medalists. You’ve all been a joy to watch and cheer on.