A pilot project between the Kamloops-Thompson School District and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture hopes to help high school girls become more physically active.
SD73 After School Program Coordinator Alexandra Inglis says the 16-week program called FitSpirit will kick off next Wednesday, Feb. 5, with 240 girls from six schools in the city, part of the ‘EmpowerHER’ forum’ at the Tournament Capital Centre.
The forum taking place in partnership with PacificSport Interior, the City of Kamloops, and the Kamloops YMCA-YWCA.
“We want to help girls find success in their own way, and we want to help them do that through movement,” Inglis said. “So we’re wanting to give them an exposure to a variety of different movement activities so that they can hopefully find a bit of connection with one of them.”
“This isn’t just a one day event, this is really the start of a journey.”
Kamloops is one of two cities in Western Canada that will pilot this initiative, which Inglis says is a huge honour.
“It shows that there was a level of readiness to kind of take this on. We’re just so happy that FitSpirit was looking to expand at the same time. Great timing and a great partnership for us.”
While the program will start small, it has plenty of room to expand.
“Really trying to encourage them to bring friends to their programs. We have unlimited spaces available,” she added.
“We are hoping to target girls if they’ve left physical activity or they haven’t had a positive experience. We’re hoping to reverse that. So we are really hoping to get girls who maybe this is a first time participating in an activity.”
And Inglis says a wrap up event will be held at Riverside Park on June 3.
“It is such an honour for FitSpirit to enter this new partnership with these dynamic organizations,” added Claudine Labelle, the President and Founder of FitSpirit. “Staying active is an integral part of young women’s physical, mental and emotional health. If girls commit to an active lifestyle in their teenage years, they are more likely to continue to be active in adulthood.”
The pilot is also being launched in the Fraser Valley.
