Award-winning fun fitness activities
Fun health & fitness activities for kids
Multi-Skills Factsheet
Harry Hula Bean
At Runner Beans we follow a Multi-Skills approach as endorsed by the Youth Sport Trust. We strongly believe in the importance of developing and mastering the basic physical skills of agility, balance, co-ordination and speed along with spatial awareness before a child specializes in the specific skills required for sports such as tennis and football. This is a view, which is supported by Sir Alex Ferguson, who said "I see boys when they arrive at our academy and it seems obvious to me that despite being the best young footballers, many of them are lacking in what I can only describe as basic athletic skills!" (May 2003).
"Specialization before the age of 10 is not recommended for most sports, with the exception of gymnastics, figure skating, diving and table tennis." (Istvan Balyi, National Coaching Institute, British Columbia, Canada, 2003).
Fundamentals of Multi-Skills
- Agility, balance, co-ordination, running, jumping and turning (motor skills)
- Hand-eye co-ordination, throwing and catching
- Rhythm, power and endurance
- Listening to and following instructions
- Teamwork
- Spatial awareness
- Sense of self
The Runner Beans programme is well placed to deliver Multi-Skills development through fun, well structured sessions in a challenging and enjoyable environment.
It is widely believed that the key to encouraging children to continue in physical activity as they grow older is by introducing participation from a young age. The figures in 2000 show 1 in 3 children between the ages of 2 and 7 do not achieve the minimum levels of 1 hour of activity a day (British Heart Foundation and Health Education Authority). “Instilling an activity habit in children when they are young is vital” (Dr Joanne Wellsman, Children’s Health and Exercise Research Centre, University of Exeter ).
The Institute of Sport and Exercise believes physical activity is essential for every child’s physical, social and psychological development.
Health Related Benefits
- Decrease heart disease, risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
- Maintenance of optimal body weight in childhood, thus reducing the risk of obesity in adulthood.
- Healthy growth and development of the musculoskeletal and cardio respiratory systems.
- Stimulates bone growth and density which decreases the risk of osteoporosis later in life.
- Boosts self confidence and body image, reduces levels in anxiety and overall improvement in mood.
- Manage physical and emotional challenges and improves sleep.
- Increased likelihood of continuing to be active as an adult.
Encouraging children to be active from an early age – particularly if the experiences are positive and fun will probably result in young people feeling confident about their physical skills and bodies, developing positive attitudes to exercise and a general healthy lifestyle.
Why not join a Runner Beans group now or let us organize your party?
We can organize your child's party so that the warm up, games and cool down sessions are based on your child's favourite tv programmes, films, hobbies, or anything that takes their interest.