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

Flash Mobbers Make their way to ground zero.

Who is having more fun, the kid playing or the kid sitting?

Success! On June 28^th we pulled off our very first Sask in motion flash mob!

It was a total experiment with a new tactic for us. Flash mob have been literally popping up out of nowhere all over the world and we wanted to try.

So.. try we did, and guess, we pulled it off! We had around 50 people with a 50/50 split between adults and kids(5-12 years old). We were all decked out in our matching “Only 15%” t-shirts. We had a Vuvuzela, a couple soccer balls and some good music.

Our goal was to surprise down town Regina during their lunch break with the message that only 15% of kids are active enough.

Here’s how we did it:

Our plan was to show the public what 15% actually looks like. So we set a goal of recruiting 50 people to participate in our flash mob. With volunteers including friends, family, business associates and a great group of kids from one of the YMCA’s summer day camps we found enough people.

We sent all of our volunteers a note to meet in Victoria Park close to the Scarth Street mall in Regina where we would be putting on the flash mob. No one knew what they would be doing; although I’m sure they guessed it would be something active (we are SK in motion after all). The lead councilor from the YMCA day camp did know what was going to be happening so she could prep her team and the kids.

Once everyone was at the park and they received their instructions it was now or never! In 3 groups of about 15, about 20 seconds apart we made our way over to flash mob ground zero.

I led group one over with our music ready to go and our t-shirts on. My group was mainly adults; it was our mission to set up the perimeter of the flash mob area. (As illustrated by this beautiful diagram my office buddie Graham created.)

Nicole led group 2 over with a mix of adults and the awesome day camper kids! [Flash mob experiment lesson #1 happened right about now]: Always make sure the correct people have to correct props. Group 2 arrived without the soccer ball that according to the master plan, would start a friendly game of soccer between the kids (hence the adult perimeter) The adults were getting their grove on to the music, so yes, they were being active too. So we encountered our first hiccup, which leads me to.. [Flash mob experiment lesson # 2]: Improvise! With no soccer ball and a bunch of kids who were supposed to be active according to my master plan, I did the only thing there was to do… jumped in the middle of it all and tried to get those kids to dance to the music!

Finally ( after a very long 20 seconds) groups 3 made it with the soccer balls, and we were back on course! The adults danced and the kids scurried around running, jumping, kicking, throwing any active verb you can think of these kids embodied it. It was awesome.

So we had 50 people being active in the middle of a busy down town lunch spot, now it was time to send a message. Graham blew the Vuvuzela (in case you’re not sure what that is, it’s one of those crazy horns you hear if you’ve been watching the world cup). The horn was everyone’s signal to stop being active and sit down right where they were, accept for 7 of the kids.. which is about 15% of the 50 people, if we did our math right.

Those 7 kids kept running and playing around all of us sedentary people. It was a pretty striking image of how few 15% actually is. [Flash mob planning tip]: The active 15% kids were given bracelets to help them remember that they were going to keep on playing when everyone else took a seat.

Not only did the active 15% keep on playing but the other kids were given toy cells phones to pull out and play on (representing screen time.. get it?). The effect was better than we could have hoped for the kids playing were having fun and enjoying themselves while the screen time, sedentary kids looked bored and sad. We couldn’t have asked for a better endorsement for being active.

After a giving the crowd few minutes to soak up the image of Only 15% of Saskatchewan’s kids being active, Graham blew the Vuvuzela one more time as our signal to disperse. [Flash mob lesson # 3]: Big finish. It ended but it didn’t feel over so I screamed out www.saskatchewaninmotion.ca. It was effective in a rush but next time we want to make sure people know what we are there to say, so we’ll have to work on that element.

Overall we accomplished everything we set out to with our first try!

• The public was surprised
• The public noticed us, watched and were intrigued
• We had volunteers participate in raising awareness around the physical inactivity crisis
• We got great photos and video (coming soon to YouTube)
• We even got local media coverage. Thanks CTV
• We successfully completed our flash mob experiment
• Most importantly we had FUN!!!

We’re not done yet.. do you want to be involved in an in motion  commotion? You can plan an event with our help, volunteer to participate, even do one on your own and send it to us. A toolkit to help you is on the way.

Tell us if you’re interested and what you think in the comments below.

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

Happy New Year to you all!

I wanted to share with everyone a lengthier version of an e-mail I sent out to all of the contacts I’ve made at the 08’and 09’ Student Leadership Conference. As well as the participants of the Lieutenant Governors Youth Forum.

Anyway I’ll get right to it; here’s what I want to share with you:

Generation Action has gone live! It is our “youth” blog, written be me, Kenji. – I write about physical activity all the time, but it’s unique cuz I make links to anything relevant. A lot of the time the topics of the blog are things you may not have thought of as being related to physical activity.

We have our new facebook group, Generation Action Saskatchewan in motion. You can also find the group by finding me, Kenji (Kendra Kenji Schmidt)!

We’re all over the social media scene cuz everyone here at the provincial office is part of the twitterverse (twitter) too. You can follow me @Kenji22 or follow the provincial office @inmotionsk.

Here is the straight up truth. Only 15% of kids and youth are getting enough physical activity to receive health benefits. I am not cool with that.. are you?

Our generation is set to be the first to have a shorter expected life span than our parent’s generation. – How is that possible with everything we know? The science is simple; to be healthy we need to be active.

The lifestyle is the hard part. That is the part we all usually need a little help with. We all need to help each other keep activity interesting. We need to come up with good ideas to motivate and engage people. We’ve gotta advocate for policy that enhances a lifestyle where activity is encouraged.

A bunch of us need to say “no thanks” to all the health problems and disadvantages that come from leading sedentary lifestyles. Then say “yes” to the benefits and joy that come from being active, and reconnecting with the natural world.

I know there are so many problems and things to worry about in the world so you might ask why worry about being active? Making the choice to be active is something you can directly and immediately impact. It’s your life and unlike bigger issues you don’t have to wait for anyone else to make a decision to change for the better, it’s all you! You can choose active transportation, or join a class, or take a hike, or swim in a lake. While physical inactivity is a huge issue the solution is straight forward. Move forward, one day at a time, get active and stay active!

That whole bit made it sound like living active will be hard work. Honestly though, some of my best memories are from biking around the neighborhood with my friends, and my time being involved with sports and dance.

If you’re interested in receiving the same kind of e-mails as these guys send me a quick e-mail (kenji@saskinmotion.ca) to let me know.

Have a great active weekend everyone!

Kenji!

At Base camp (what we call ourselves here at the provincial office) it can feel like climbing Everest at times. We’re always on an uphill climb towards behavior change, but man when we get there it’s gunna be a rush! We need people who understand how to take action and mobilize people who will make a difference. Luckily, Saskatchewan in motion has Farley Flex as a buddie. Farley is probably most recognized for his work as a judge on Canadian Idol but he does a lot more than that. He was the manager of Canada’s most successful rapper Maestro Fresh-Wes. Right now he is the President and CEO of Plasma Management & Productions Inc., a music supervisor for film and television and radio host. Farley was the founding music director and former VP of Business Development at FLOW 93.5, Canada’s first Urban and first black-owned and operated radio station.

His tremendous passion for community development has also gained Farley recognition as a social activist, master mentor and humanitarian. In 2007 he received the Harry Jerome Award for Entertainment and Community Service. In 2005, he received the Bob Marley and Community Role Model award. Farley is also a leading international motivational speaker and he works to motivate youth in First Nations and other marginalized communities. This past October he was announced as a National Ambassador to UNICEF and more recently was appointed to the Special Advisory Council to the League of Human Rights. Wow hey? I feel really lucky to know and learn from him.

Come Together

This past weekend the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA) hosted thier annual conference and in partnership with Saskatchewan in motion they brought Farley Flex to Sask to speak as one of the key notes.

 Farley is an ambassador for the Saskatchewan in motion movement, which is made up of so many people. He is the busiest guy I’ve ever met! That dude is constantly on the move, but to his credit he’s always totally present in what he’s doing. We once asked him what he does in his “free time”.  His answer was one of the most memorable pieces of wisdom Farley has ever shared with us: “It’s all free time if you choose to do it.” During his speech he went into a little more detail about what exactly that means.

Explore Your Motivations

Farley made the point that in our society’s lifestyle of consumption, globalization and innovation, we make more to spend more. We have more stuff and things get hectic.  He posed the question, do you ever stop and really ask yourself what makes you make choose to live the way you do? Or are you simply swept up in whirl wind of life set out before you? To me the idea of taking a hard look at life and the way I live it is daunting. There is so much out there to be conscious of. When you start to look at what we impact on a daily basis it can be overwhelming. If I were you I’d be asking, “If it sucks so much why would I do it?”  

The short answer is accountability. The long answer is just as simple, but Farley has a way of making it hit home a little harder. In a few more eloquent words he said that your life is not your own and you leave no legacy if you don’t know why you make the choices you do.

Constructive Criticism

I think Farley’s best quality is his ability to respectfully point out the truth, good or bad. Sometimes we can convince ourselves we are covering all the bases. We say, “heck ya, I’ve got this cased” Farley observes what he sees and shares it with people. His intentions are never to offend, insult or demean. He just really wants to make the world better. He may notice a gap no one else saw (or pointed out) or catch an angle that was missed. He always tries to work to a solution. Listening to Farley made something I always think seem even more important:  it’s never wrong to notice something and try to make a change for the better!

You Can Make It Happen

He’s very good at making you want to run out of the building and make something happen! I’ve found the same thing from other people in the past, but when you try to go and do something you find yourself going - great, but how? Farley was awesome cuz he tells you! It doesn’t matter if you want to go and make your province more physically active (a good cause I think) or make healthier snacks available to your school. Once you’ve decided you want to make a change you want to know how. You need to be empowered. Once you take a look at your life and decide this is why I make the choices I do, you already are. Deadly eh? It’s that easy to be empowered. , Who’d a thunk it? 

As Farley described being empowered and empowering others he used a phrase that was really powerful. He pointed out that when you’re aware of the way you live and the legacy you are building (big or small), you have a seamlessness of work and life. How awesome does that sound? No one likes working for something they don’t care about or without a goal in mind. Working towards what you believe in, sounds to me like what life should be about.

Farley just has such a cool way of saying things. He uncomplicates things that otherwise seem so twisted. With all this beauty and simplicity, he’s also realistic. He never says life is a Disney movie where tiny cartoon birds are going to make this all happen Cinderella style. Without a doubt, there will always be challenges to living the life you choose. This could mean going against the grain and changing entire behavior systems - like making the shift from a stagnant inactive lifestyle to a get up and go physically active way of life. Oh and remember just because you decide one thing about how you’re going to make decisions doesn’t mean you can’t add, subtract or change your mind whenever something changes. As long as you make an informed decision it’s all yours!

Be the Change!

Possibly the best part of feeling empowered is that you have created an excellent reason for the people around you to care. When you’re passionate about a cause you engage the people in your life in the cause too.  When you feel good about yourself and your choices, you make others feel good, and now you have a platform for discussion (Look at you go!). Once you’ve set off a discussion, you’ve brought about the opportunity for change (Could you be more awesome?)! After all that awesometivity  (yup, you can do more!), you and the people around you will respect all that you can do, and now you have the confidence you need to take action (Man you are good!)! Once you’ve made an impact (it doesn’t matter how big or small) you’re rewarded with the simplest part. You’ve been successful. Go ahead and tell people. Share the amazing work you’ve done, because now you have the opportunity to empower someone else in their goals! Before you know it you have a whole network of empowered change makers .. it sounds a lot like a movement.. hmm…

Farley closed his key note with a crazy little analogy that is so cute, but so true.

“There are 2 kids in a sandbox. One has a shovel and one has a bucket. Figure it out! “

What are you going to do to figure out what keeps you and those around you from living an active well rounded life? Share your ideas in the comments below.

Kenji:)