An Initiative We Can Totally Get Behind

Brought to you by Finish with the Right Stuff.NSWHEALTH3

Back in the olden days when I used to play netball, the player of the match used to get a certificate and a voucher to a local fast food restaurant. You bet that I wanted to win that netball game, and you bet I was a chubby kid too.

It always baffled me though; exercise and get rewarded with unhealthy stuff. It didn’t make sense. We even had a challenge at school, where the kids who read the most books won lots of pizza. You can bet I did a lot of reading too. Again, looking back it doesn’t really make sense.

Fast forward 20-something years and I have a daughter that plays netball, and loves it. I also love being a netball mum. I’ve even been contemplating returning to the game myself. I love it. We’ve just signed on to start a new season.

The sad thing is, around 20% of school-aged children in NSW are classified as overweight or even obese, and the major contributors to this is increased energy content in their diet and a decrease in physical activity. What does make sense is that we start healthy habits early with our kids, they need the right fuel to stay healthy and live their best life. Creating good habits now means that our beautiful kids are more likely to make better choices in life as they grow, even when they’re not playing team sports.

NSW Health’s exciting program Finish with the Right Stuff, helps junior sports clubs and netball associations provide and promote healthier food and drinks at their club canteens. Our canteen has SUSHI. I loved seeing the offerings they had, and how much better they were from when I was playing netball.

Finish with the Right Stuff partnering with Country Rugby League, Netball NSW and AFL helps canteens help the kids that play these games. This season, Finish with the Right Stuff has also engaged Good Sports to register more junior sports clubs in NSW. Good Sports is a health prevention initiative for the sport sector, tackling the health issues of alcohol, smoking and obesity

If your kids play any sport, you can encourage club managers and other parents to get involved. It’s free and can make a HUGE difference. By registering to Finish with the Right Stuff, your club will get FREE merchandise {woot!} and FREE online training and support for the canteen managers, coaches and volunteers. They’ll learn how to stock the canteen with healthier foods and drinks, how to make the canteen menu healthier, as well as how coaches can be involved in promoting healthy food and drinks to their players.. So much good FREE stuff.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? I’ve asked our club to bring it up at the next meeting and encourage you to do the same. Imagine what a difference we can make in our kids’ lives, by taking advantage of this awesome program. You can find out everything you need to know over at the Finish with the Right Stuff website.

Do your kids play sport? Would you like to see this come into action at your club?

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

4 thoughts on “An Initiative We Can Totally Get Behind”

  1. This is awesome! I feel the same way and as you might know I coach my daughter’s school teams. We have entered 3 teams this year. So needless to say after reading this I have signed up! Those drink bottle caddys are awesome for teams and I want to get some this year to keep the girls water extra close. And Telle – you should totally go back and play netball!! I still play. Its such a great calorie burn. But at our age we have to stretch because the last thing we need is getting hurt by pulling things. When I made the come back my physio said I was too old to play netball! I was 30 whaaaaat!! But she meant to was too old to play without warming up and stretching Ha Ha — this aging thing is a killer xoxoxoxo

  2. That’s awesome! I played netball for years, i don’t recall if we got fast food vouchers but I do recall oranges never tasting better than during netball quarters HAHA.

Comments are closed.