Students actively involved in Participation Nation St. Joseph's CLAYTON HUNT The Coaster

These students were actively involved inn the game of Omnikin during the lunch hour break at St. Joseph's on October 27.

The grades four to six students at St. Joseph's Elementary in Harbour Breton are very active participants in the School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador's (SSNL) Participation Nation program.

Trisha Boyer, The Participation Nation Program Director, was at St. Joseph's on October 27 to officially thank the students and staff for their involvement and promotion of the Participation Nation program in 2008-2009.

Ms. Boyer said, "St. Joseph's Elementary was one of the six pilot schools in our promotion program last school year. Mr. Baker and Ms. Snook did such a phenomenal job of encouraging their students to participate in the program and had such a high success rate that we are extending the program to all grade four to six students in the province in 2009-2010."

Ms, Boyer said that SSNL wanted to bring the Participation Nation program to elementary schools for several reasons.

She said, "The obesity rates for children in our province have escalated and, to some degree, this is because students are not active and they're not choosing the right foods.

"This program promotes healthy schools and healthy students through physical activity and healthy food choices.

"If we can do this at the elementary levels the students may take the message into their high school years and adult lives."

Ms. Boyer added that the program is great in that it promotes non-competitive sports and activities that all students can participate in and enjoy.

In keeping with the theme of non-competitive activities, Ms. Boyer had the students playing the Omnikin game during her visit to the school. Omnikin is a very popular game in Quebec that basically is aimed at keeping a large ball in the air as long as possible.

Terry Baker, the principal of St. Joseph's, said that he wanted his students to get involved in the Participation Nation program because it promotes activities aimed at all students regardless of physical abilities or their level of interest in sports.

"We had a 97 per cent participation rate last year," Mr. Baker said. "We had such an amount of positive feedback from students, and parents, that we decided to continue the program this school year.

Susan Snook is the physical education teacher at St. Joseph's

Ms. Snook said that the non-competitive events encourage all students to participate.

Ms. Snook said, "The program is excellent in that each student gets to play in a game. There's no sitting out in a Participation Nation game and this is a big plus for many of the students."

The mission statement of Participation Nation is to promote active and healthy living in the provincial student body by developing and organizing non-competitive sports events, which encourage mass participation and fun.

The program's vision is to provide an opportunity for every student within the province to experience an active environment without the pressure of winning, but rather the enjoyment of the game and the reward that comes from participating.