Supporting our young people to embed small daily habits to develop hauora / wellbeing for life...
There is no longer any dispute that moving our body regularly is critical for both physical health as well as mental and emotional wellbeing.
Yet time being sedentary has steadily increased as we become more screen and indoor focused. Alarmingly, this is negatively impacting our mātātahi / young people more than ever, despite efforts to improve it.
The Young and Healthy Charitable Trust was established in 2019 to contribute to solving this rapidly increasing problem. Using a unique combination of technology and inspirational athletes we deliver scalable activity and wellbeing programs via an engaging digital interface that appeals to our tamariki and cultivates habits that lay the groundwork for a lifetime of health and vitality.
Thanks to support from our partners, Zespri, ASICS NZ, and Opal Packaging, our wonderful teachers and families who see the benefits first hand; over 20,000 tamariki and rangitahi from across Aotearoa, participate annually in our programs.
Join us in shaping a generation who understand the importance of an active, healthy lifestyle and experience the numerous benefits it brings to their holistic development.
First developed in paper form with children Kim worked with in the early 2000's the online version was created in conjunction with NSW Ministry of Health who were seeking a children's activity and health program with an engaging digital interface. The challenge enables participants to build their own unique avatar and learn in a fun and entertaining way the choices they can make themselves to feel the best that they can, each and every day.
During the event students track their real-life healthy behaviours like; moving often, eating fruit and vege's, choosing water as their main drink, sleeping well and minimising leisure screen time. This earns points that move their class around the virtual global course and as their class reaches each destination, tamariki are rewarded with a video featuring their unique avatars exploring the location they are "visiting“ and learning from and interacting with our inspiring ASICS Ambassadors. These learning based rewards help create intrinsic motivation, further assisting the development of lifelong skills and habits.
Rather than just a few lessons, the Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure runs over 4-5 weeks, which gives enough time for children to immerse themselves in the fun learning elements and most importantly take action in the real world, so they experience first-hand the positive feeling of the impact of all their small daily actions combined.
The pilot of the activity challenge was evaluated by the University of New South Wales and found, “The Challenge had a positive impact on the physical activity of students during the Challenge period. Teachers also reported that the Challenge was a great opportunity to motivate students to become more physically active. Further, doing more physical activities, becoming fit and feeling healthier were identified by the students themselves as some of the things they liked the best about the Challenge. Teachers and program implementation staff also noted unintended benefits of the Challenge in relation to improved attendance and behaviour, facilitating positive social behaviour by promoting teamwork and encouraging student relationships.”
To date over 150,000 kiwi kids have taken part and cultivated habits that lay the groundwork for a lifetime of health and vitality.
The Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure
Key Details
Entry in the
Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure
is FREE for schools / kura in Aotearoa / NZ
The event will run in Term 3 from 12 Aug - 16th Sept (Week 4-8)
You'll receive a Class Pack before it starts containing simple pedometers, a wall map and a few surprises too!
By taking part in weekly Mini-Challenges you could WIN;
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a Super Fun Day at your school for everyone to enjoy
-
a class lot of ASICS sport shoes (several to be won)
-
$200 vouchers (several to be won)
Our Virtual Coaches
We are so grateful to have our inspiring ASICS Ambassadors Ardie Savea, Kane Williamson and Ameliaranne Ekenasio are our virtual coaches, leading classes through the Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure. They provide support, encouragement and education. Whenever possible we visit participating schools so tamariki can meet our sporting superstars in person.
The Zespri Young and Healthy Virtual Adventure uses a unique digital platform to engage tamariki in a fun way, inspiring and encouraging them to make healthy choices.