LOCKDOWN WON’T STOP ME INSPIRING NEW GENERATION
“I talk about
resilience and gratitude” “School is still
going on, in a different way”
FRANK Greally talks about life ‘before the axe came down’. Specifically, he is discussing the Daily Mile, the idea that has brought structured exercise to thousands of schools around the world.
It is run under the auspices of Athletics Ireland in this country, and Greally is its ambassador.
The idea is simple and brilliant: for 15 minutes each day, schoolchildren do some exercise.
That’s it. It’s that straightforward. And its effects can be transformative.
That is the premise – and it has proven enormously popular. So popular, in fact, that Frank Greally says Ireland was close to reaching a milestone before the coronavirus pandemic hit.
‘Just before the axe came down, we were on the cusp of getting our first 1,000 schools signed up to the Daily Mile,’ he says. ‘I think we had only 50 or 60 more to go, before we got to that figure.
‘That would be a big achievement within two years, considering we started from scratch.’
Greally is a legendary figure in Irish athletics. For 37 years he edited the Irish Runner. Now, with colleagues Anthony White, who manages the project, and Valerie O’Brien, he is spreading the benefits of exercise around the schools of Ireland.
He was doing it in person until the schools shut and Ireland locked down.
Back in pre-crisis times, his days revolved around visits all over the country. ‘I miss those visits a lot,’ he says. ‘I would normally do a talk with the kids about ideas like resilience and gratitude. Then I might go and do the run with them.’
National school children, giddy at the prospect of getting out of the classroom and into the fresh air, could not be expected to appreciate the athletic pedigree of the man running with them.
But Frank Greally was a gifted athlete, good enough to go on a scholarship from his home in rural east Mayo to East Tennessee.
That didn’t work out, and his life has had its share of challenges as well as triumphs, all honestly catalogued in the outstanding memoir, Running Full Circle, that he wrote three years ago.
He also has the distinction of holding the longest-standing record in Irish athletics. It will be 50 years this August that as a 19 year old, he ran the 10,000 metres in 30 minutes and 17 seconds at the Morton Stadium in Santry.
Inspiring a new generation is his aim now. And this is not about the search for athletic talent, but rather introducing children to the importance of exercise at a time when sedentary lifestyles pose significant risks to their long-term health. He cites research by Professor Niall Moyna in
Dublin City University that has explored the serious consequences of overweight and unhealthy children. That is why he places so much importance in the Daily Mile which was, incidentally, the brainchild of a Scottish teacher who was worried about the lack of fitness among her students.
Of course, with lockdown came the risk of this daily routine getting overlooked as teachers and students tried to adapt to remote learning, and parents found themselves with a slew of new responsibilities, too.
‘We responded to the lockdown with the Daily Mile at Home,’ says Greally.
‘School is still going on, just in a different way. But we wanted to keep it going. And we got feedback from parents and teachers who wanted to keep it going.
‘So the children are encouraged to still take their break during the day, and their teachers and parents encourage them to get out and do their 15 minutes of exercise, and if possible parents can do it with them.
‘It’s a simple message about keeping the awareness of the Daily Mile going with parents and children.
‘Noel Carroll used to say a little a lot is better than a lot a little. So keeping it going was vital. That routine is important, especially at a time like this.’
Information is available through thedailymile.ie.