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DARCEY BUSSELL Get stricter on fitness for kids
DARCEY Bussell has called on school heads to get stricter over fitness for children and urged them to introduce two hours of PE a week.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge opened up about her desire to get youngsters more active ahead of National Fitness Day on September 26.
Darcey insisted that state schools are failing to live up to their private school counterparts, some of which offer pupils more than double the amount of physical activity a week.
Speaking at the UK Active conference this week she said: “Two hours of sport a week is not going to make a difference. You have to do more. My kids are lucky they go to private school and they get to do over five hours of activity a week.
“I went to a state school and I did every club possible to burn off all that energy that I had. My mum was a working mum and I had to go to all the clubs after school. There are a lot of kids who don’t do that any more.”
National Fitness Day encourages those young and old to get involved in physical activity and fitness celebrations across the UK, as gyms, leisure centres, fitness instructors and sports clubs throw open their doors to get more people active.
Organised by UK Active, last year the event helped get more than five million people active across 20,000 free events. Darcey kicked off the celebrations with a mass dance workout in London’s Guildhall Courtyard yesterday.
The ballerina-turned-TV star launched the DDMix Dance Programme in 2007 which consists of full body aerobic workout based on a wide range of different dance styles. It has since been launched at schools across the country.
She said: “I have got teenagers now and you see all the demands on them. They have exams, results and self-image problems. I just wanted to give them something that makes them feel good. That was my biggest goal.
“There has to be a way of keeping someone active so that they feel good and that carries with them for the rest of the week, term and year.
“We don’t want kids to associate being physical as a chore. I want kids to use dance fitness.”