Health and Wellness International programmes at Coláiste Fionnchua
These past months have reinforced the importance of health and wellness for all. Health and Fitness Ireland, now Health and Wellness International, have been working with Coláiste Fionnchua for the last number of years, with the aim to ensure that all students, not just those involved in a specific sport, have a grounding in the area of health and fitness.
The HEAT (Health, Exercise and Activity training) programme, which was rolled out to all students, provides education and supports in areas like Health Psychology, Nutrition and Hydration, Quality Movement etc.
The PAD (Player Athlete Development) workshop is another workshop but this is aimed specifically at students who play sport and would like to become better in their chosen field. It covers Sports Nutrition, Sports Psychology, Speed & Agility, Strength & Power, Periodisation (sports planning) and FMS (functional movement screen).
Participants took part in a number of lectures and also given workshops of effective stretching, diet, and strength training. 1st and 2nd year students also took part in a Sports Diploma, which contained workshops on each of the elements of the PAD workshop.
The next stage will be the implementation of the ‘Student Health Matters’ program to the first years coming in 2021. This program will look at areas like Stress Awareness and Management, Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, Mindfulness and Meditation, Communication and Networking, ‘My health and wellbeing’ and living a Balanced Lifestyle.
HWI have also worked with parents, and recently organised a Health and Fitness Zoom meeting with parents, which spoke about ways of improving immunity, fitness and health during these challenging times.
WELLNESS WEDNESDAY
As gyms are closed, matches are cancelled, and activities are confined to a 5km distance, it’s difficult to get motivated about getting out and active. However, Coláiste Fionnchua’s ‘Wellness Wednesday’ introduced an element of competition as the five houses competed against each other in a steps challenge. A massive 1,630,308 steps were walked by our students, which equates to 1,242km. This is the equivalent of walking from Mitchelstown to Dublin and back again three times!
However, when all the steps were counted, it was the House of Shark on 415,387 steps, who won 30 merits for their house.
Prizes were also awarded to the student with the highest step count in each year.
They were: 1st year: Brid O’Brien (26,389 steps); 2nd year: Callum Martin (34, 261 steps); 3rd year: Ellen Curtin (26,266 steps); 4th year: Marta Viola (22,778 steps); 5th year: Charlie O’Brien (25,280 steps); 6th year: Grainne Browne (24,710 steps).
Transition Year students are also taking part in the 300,000 step challenge in aid of COPE Foundation. For the month of February, they aimed to walked at least 300,00 steps while raising funds for COPE, a very worthwhile organisation that does huge work in our local community.