PANNIQTUUQ/PANGNIRTUNG - For 10 days in early November, youth in Pangnirtung learned about the importance of being active and getting involved in physical fitness through various activities.

Christine Lamothe leads students at Alookie School in Pangnirtung in a monkey dance to get kids physically active in early November. She is a physical activity specialist with Sport Nunavut, Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth. - photo courtesy of Saila Qayaq

"They were just fun to do," said Carmen Sowdluapik, who participated and helped run some of the events including the SportFit activity run by Legacies Now, a not-for-profit organization out of British Columbia aimed at strengthening sport and recreation, healthy living, literacy, accessibility and volunteerism.

Each participant was given a SportFit card and went to each of the seven stations set up and did the activity. Once they completed the activity, they were scored on a card which sports they would be good at. They were also given a certificate.

Sowdluapik ran the basketball station. She had the kids at her station sit with their backs against the wall with their legs straight and then they had to see how far they could throw the ball.

"We had over 157 participants from Alookie School and 113 participants form the high school," said Christine Lamothe, a physical activity specialist with Sport Nunavut, Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth.

She said the kids were tested on their agility endurance, muscular power, explosive power and speed.

Lamothe was in town from Nov. 1-10.

She also got the youth to be part of a pedometer study designed to measure the physical activity levels of kids between the ages of five and 19.

Lamothe said the territory started participating in this initiative in 2008 with the information collected going to the Active Health School Report Card, a national assessment of the state of physical activity among children and youth. The information also goes to the Canadian Physical Activity Levels Among Youth Survey done by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute based in Ottawa.

The kids are given pedometers which record their daily steps for seven days. They wear them from when they first get up in the morning until they go to bed.

At the end of the week the 120 pedometers were collected.

Saila Qayaq from Clyde River helped out Lamothe with these and the other activities.

"Some of the high school kids were more shy but the elementary school students loved them," he said.

In the mornings, Lamothe led morning fitness breaks with the students at Alookie. All schools in Nunavut are supposed to have a mandatory 20 minute fitness break daily.

She also held some dance practices with the Sikus Pangnirtung Hip Hop Group of which Sowdluapik is a part.

"There aren't a lot of activities here so we make sure everyone has fun and comes out to dance," she said.

Whether they took part in the SportFit activities or were dancing in the evenings, many who participated said they had a great time.

"It is important for everyone to be physically active. It's another way to learn your body, learn your capacities and have confidence in your abilities through physical fitness. It's just a really positive way to interact with other people," Lamothe said.

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