How fortunate that teachers and athletes mounted a campaign against scrapping the School Sports Partnership. And now Education secretary, Mr Gove, states that exercise helps a ‘rounded education’ – perhaps he should have spoken to Josie Thompson-Green.
Josie explains the benefits she has gained from regular exercise:
“I think that a lot of youngsters would quite like to take up running, or another sport, but are put off because they feel they’re not good enough. When I joined SE Fitness I really liked the relaxed atmosphere and the friendliness of the leaders and other runners. Having built up to be able to run for 40 minutes without great difficulty is a great feeling. It’s something that most teenagers haven’t ever experienced. Most people my age say they hate exercise (although, often, they’ve never even tried it properly). They don’t ‘have enough time’ and think it’s ‘boring and pointless’. But you don’t have to dedicate your life to running to see the benefits! The benefit of running is that even though it can be tough at the time afterwards you feel like a new person. Often I’ve had exams or loads of homework, but I’ve still managed to drag myself out for a run. At the time I’m moaning, but when I get back home I feel focused, relaxed and know I’ll be able to produce better work. Most young people say they’d rather be on the computer than exercising, and most of the time, so would I! But once you’re out there on a run, you feel you’re doing something worthwhile, and then, when you’ve showered, you feel like you deserve to relax, making watching your favourite programme even more enjoyable. I definitely recommend running to everyone, especially teenagers! It doesn’t matter how unfit you are, SE Fitness really helps to raise your confidence and the leaders are always there with encouragement. You also get to make great new friends!”