CHILDREN NEED HELP TO GET OUT AND HAVE FUN WITH SPORT AND GAMES AGAIN, AFTER SPENDING FAR TOO LONG COOPED UP BECAUSE OF COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS.
Coming out of two years of social isolation thanks to the pandemic, former youth worker Jimmy Ivill says lots of young people are faced with overwhelming anxiety at the idea of participating in sports, games or any kind of physical activity among their peers.
“There's so much anxiety and hesitancy to get back into any sort of sport, let alone just getting outside and enjoying some sunshine,” he said.
“All the mental and physical benefits they get from that they've just been lacking for so long.”
When Jimmy and his best mate Klay Giovannini saw the poor mental health outcomes that young people were suffering from, they started the My Future Academy to engage young people in physical recreation to help them build resilience to manage their mental health.
Starting out by facilitating recreation and games in their home town of Euroa, they now run programs for young people at 26 primary schools across Victoria and southern NSW.
“We know the benefits of physical movement and how that benefits your mental health, but even just socialising and getting to know new people,” Jimmy said.
“Families can come down and get involved and socialise from the sidelines as well. While we take them through different games and activities.”
Jimmy wanted to create a space for young people who weren’t interested in team sports, but still need to engage in physical play.
Some of the activities include various games of tag, obstacle courses and dodge ball — all of which are made more interesting by different variations and objectives every week.
“It’s freedom, it’s exploration of movement, in a non-competitive sort of way,” Jimmy said.
“It's just moving to have a bit of fun, and I think that's the most important part.”