Yandeyarra children with Pool Manager Jacqui Forbes and Anthony Holman from EON Foundation
Children whizz up healthy eating fun at Yandeyarra
Children at Yandeyarra caught a break from the recent heavy rain in the area last week, to take part in a very special triathalon event at our Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pool in the community. The event was possible thanks to a visit from EON Foundation’s Anthony Holman, who brought his special Smoothie Bike to town!
EON Foundation is a charitable organization that provides assistance to Aboriginal remote communities in the Pilbara & Kimberley. They currently operate in 6 communities across the region, including Yandeyarra where they visit on a fortnightly basis.
The Foundation’s Thriving Communities program is implemented over a 3-5 year period, to build capacity within the community, preventing disease and improving health of community members.
Last week’s visit saw the Yandeyarra children take part in a “Tri-A-Smoothie” triathalon in which they ran 4 circuits of a track around the pool’s grassed area, 4 x 25m laps of the pool, before jumping on EON’s special smoothie bike to complete 100 pedals and mix up their own fruit smoothie as a reward for their hard work!
The triathlon was delivered as part of the regular after school Go for 2&5 Swim for Fruit program that happens at the pool, and was a fantastic twist that the children thoroughly enjoyed! The aim of the day was not only to get the children active, but also to help them see the value of healthy eating and how delicious healthy snacks can be!
The children were split into 3 groups - under 6, under 10 and over 11years - and the little ones had to work extra hard for their smoothies because they could barely reach the pedals! The older children’s smoothies were whizzed up in no time!
Yandeyarra Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pool Manager Jacqui Forbes says “It was a great afternoon of fitness and fun. We had around 24 children take part aged from 5-15 years. There was quite a lot of huffing and puffing as the run followed by the swim was harder than they all expected. Their favourite fruit smoothie mix was banana, pear, mint, yogurt, milk and ice.”
Both Royal Life Saving’s Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pools Program and EON Foundation are supported by BHP Billiton, and we’re pleased to be able to collaborate with each other to encourage healthy eating and activity in the Yandeyarra community.
Learn more about our Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pools project at the link below.
