What is Physical Literacy?
Do you:
- Love to be active?
- Find the time to make physical activity part of your daily routine?
- Believe that you can jump in to a new physical activity or sport and succeed?
- Take initiative to make being active a life-long goal?
Then you are physically literate!
The academic definition is: “The motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement in physical activities for life” (International Physical Literacy Association, 2014).
Why is Physical Literacy Important?
With so many sedentary activities competing for your time, be it your desk job or that viral YouTube video after work, it takes a lot to be active and achieve 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity recommended for adults between 18 and 64 (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, or CSEP).
The CSEP created 24-hour movement guidelines that acknowledge “the whole day matters” for everyone, including children and youth. Physical literacy can be the difference between choosing to go outside and play with friends or choosing to sit on the couch and play video games.
What are the benefits of Physical Literacy?
Physical literacy is about more than just physical activity. Participating in different types of physical activity and a variety of sports will improve physical literacy. These skills can be developed or improved at any age. However, nurturing physical literacy earlier in life improves long-term physical activity.
Building Physical Literacy Capacity in Thunder Bay
In 2018, the City of Thunder Bay and TBDHU received a grant from the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund to work on a project called “Building Physical Literacy Capacity in Thunder Bay.”
The project will build physical literacy capacity in our community by training passionate leaders who work with children in the early years (0 to 6 years) on how to include physical literacy in their programs. The training would take place through a workshop that was designed by Sport for Life to provide an increased understanding of physical literacy development in young children.
This workshop was first offered in the fall of 2018. It went so well that TBDHU brought Dr. Dawne Clark back to Thunder Bay to facilitate this interactive 2-day workshop again in May 2019, Fall 2019, and Spring 2020.
Participants received a certification of completion for the Master Trainer Workshop. Participants gained knowledge, resources, and tools to be a mentor and build physical literacy capacity in their own workplace or organization.
For Further Information
Call the Physical Activity Program: (807) 625-5900
or toll-free 1-888-294-6630