“In my judgment, physical fitness is basic to all forms of excellence and to a strong confident nation” – Robert F Kennedy

This being fitness month, the Fiji National Sports Commission is promoting fitness through its sports outreach and train the trainer programs for the tikina of Baravi in Nadroga which kicks off today. The program will run for two weeks.

Villages on the Coral Coast from Namatakula to Korotogo and up the hills to Balenabelo and surrounding villages and settlements down to Biausevu will converge on Vatukarasa Village to participate in the two-week program.

Seven sports including; tennis, basketball, amateur boxing, netball, volleyball, rugby league and rugby union will take part in the program.

Health and fitness apart from sports skills, are key components of the program. Unless we engage in practical activities to highlight the importance of healthy living and wellness, NCDs will remain a threat to our very livelihood and health.

The first week of the program focuses on teaching the basic skills of the seven sports to give our rural people opportunities for a variety of sports. We wish to bring sports choices for our rural people. The Fiji National Sports Commission believes that providing such varieties create more opportunities for participation. Sports such as boxing, tennis, and basketball are part of this program and they are classic examples of sports that can be played anywhere as long as the passion and commitment is there. Bringing minor and less popular community sports is step one to igniting this flame in the community. Through the establishment of proper structures by the national sporting organisation including community clubs, more people will participate and the sport grows. One of the biggest challenges of national sporting organisations is overcoming this challenge. The rural communities in Fiji want to play other sports not just rugby, soccer and volleyball so the onus is really on the sporting organisations to come in and be part of these programs. The Fiji National Sports Commission is sending out the whole year’s itinerary to national sporting organisations and inviting them to be part of the programs. As we reflect on this fitness month, I hope sporting bodies will consider joining us in taking and promoting their sport to the most rural parts of Fiji.

On the first week, the program starts at 6am with mass aerobics. Everyone is invited to join the participants on this first hour of fitness training.

On a serious note, the program continues into the second week where three sports, rugby union, rugby league and volleyball will deliver formal accreditation to participants to qualify them to actually coach or referee in these sports. We have always encouraged national sporting organisations that have an interest in developing their coaching capacities to join us on these programs. It costs nothing to the sporting body as long as they have their accreditation in place to deliver at community levels. The strength of any sport is the pool of qualified coaches in the sport.

Basketball is a classic example of a sport that has taken the initiative to be part of the program despite the challenges of limited facilities. While basketball is a no-no for a lot of our village and rural communities because of the lack of hard courts, the sport will remain minor in its status unless it takes on the challenge to bring the interests to the rural communities through programs such as the sports outreach program.

The program is further enhanced through the involvement of the Ministry of Health to conduct screening and promote NCD awareness. As part the coaching program, the Ministry of Health will send its officers to conduct sessions on sports nutrition, sports injuries, care, prevention and management. There will also be separate sessions on the correct techniques of strapping.

In addition, participants at the workshop will be trained by specialists to become fitness leaders or NCD ambassadors in the community. They will undergo basic training in aerobics instructions in our efforts to promote aerobics in villages to get everyone out and move their bodies towards prosperity. The two-week program is a compact training package involving different stakeholders who share a common vision that through sport and sports involvement one creates the desire to become active and remain active for life.

The commission has challenged trained fitness leaders to go back to the community and start moving people towards fitness and wellness.

The commission welcomes the Nadroga youth administrator and the youth officer who will be joining us on the program. I know that the rural communities of the coral coast will utilise this opportunity to come in numbers and witness first hand this exciting program that will be conducted at Vatukarasa Village.

It is our hope that this famous quote by Robert Kennedy, will inspire us to move as a nation towards fitness.