Laverton kids lap it up for a healthy treat

Laverton is a mining town in our state’s Goldfields-Esperance region, located at the western edge of the Great Victoria Desert, 957 kilometres north-northeast of Perth. About 20% of the population is of Aboriginal descent.

The town’s aquatic centre is a popular location for residents as average temperatures sit in the mid to high 30s for five months of the year. During the recent summer season the town took part in the Go For 2&5 Swim for Fruit program, which aims to encourage children to take part in aquatic recreation in return for a healthy fruit snack.

Pool Manager Janine Rowe says the younger children were most active this season. “Term 4 started well with many young children participating in the programme with the help of the Youth Centre. However, many of the older children left town so there was a large decrease in their involvement.”

With the Youth Centre closed over the Christmas break Janine took the opportunity to find a local parent volunteer to assist her in promoting the Swim for Fruit program and supervising the children taking part. With the older children out of town Janine tried some new activities to keep the younger kids engaged, introducing aqua jousting sessions and adding the challenge of swimming through hoops rather than just standard laps.

Janine says the kids loved the new activities and racked up some impressive lap tallies. “Overall we had 16 under 10s take part, averaging 98 laps each, while the numbers were smaller for over 10s, who averaged just 31 laps each due to the fact they were out of town for a few weeks.”

As the current season wraps up we’re thankful for the support of Healthway which makes the Swim for Fruit program possible. We look forward to continuing the fruity fun next season when the warm weather returns.

You can find out more about Swim for Fruit at the link below.