Boys don’t always play nice.
That’s why a group of more than 35 girls on Thursday embraced a Girl Power session held at the Thunder Bay Boys and Girls Club.
From rock climbing and cheerleading, to dance and smoothie making, there was a little something for everyone’s tastes, said nine-year-old Ciara Bergamo, who called it a great opportunity for girls to just have fun without the boys.
“It’s nice, because sometimes if you do something wrong in a sport or something, boys can tease you. And it’s just nice to have other girls around when you do stuff,” the youngster said.
Jessica Nelson, also nine, liked the variety offered at the day-long event.
“You can do lots of activities and you can be more active and you can find lots of ways to do more things, instead of just watching TV.
“I think it’s an awesome opportunity to do more sports,” she said.
Lee-Ann Skirving, program director at the Boys and Girls Club, said the Girl Power conference is entering its ninth year and continues to grow, so much so that they decided to host Thursday’s splinter event, while schoolchildren are still on their Christmas break.
“It’s a way to get girls active and try to give them choices and try new things without the commitment of signing up for an eight-week session or something,” Skirving said.
“Also the girls, at around age 10 or 11, they start fading off from the gym activities and so we really want to be able to keep that momentum going and in the gym.”
It’s also why they’ve expanded from one large conference, hired a Girl Power co-ordinator and hosting mini events throughout the year. It also allows them to track how active kids are throughout the year.
According to Statistics Canada, health levels amongst Canadian children have continued to decline over the past few decades.
A 2007 Canadian Health Measures Survey showed 12.6 per cent of girls aged six to 10 were overweight, with 4.9 per cent considered obese. In the 11 to 14 age category, the numbers jumped to 23 per cent and 6.5 per cent, though Stats Can warns the numbers aren’t 100 per cent scientific.
Girl Power activities were chosen carefully, Skirving said, calling it a taste test of the bigger conference being staged later this year.
She acknowledged having boys around can make the girls self-conscious, which in turn can keep them away from the physical activity they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“Having their own day and their own activities that they can just let loose in, it gives them self-confidence. Then they’ll be more apt to go into the gym and participate in activities,” she said.
“We’re also going to give them some ideas of places they can go to stay fit and stay active. And we’re going to try to hold more mini events. So we hope to keep them going through grades 5 to 9 and then pretty soon it’s just going to be a way of life.”
