Rural PLAY Days kicked off in Irvine

Meck Hutchinson receives some pointers from PLAY DAYS project Paige Callaghan on badminton ar Irvine School on July 20.

The inaugural Rural Play Days —standing for physical literacy and you—session began on Friday at the Irvine playground. Youth aged 6-12 could come and play on all the equipment, participate in activities and learn from session leaders at no cost.
The programming is hosted by the Medicine Hat College in conjunction with PLAY Medicine Hat and Be Fit for Life Medicine Hat.
The days are focused on physical literacy and engaging in physical activity and will include water games, baseball, frisbee, hoola hoop, volleyball and football to name a few.
Although the programming started last week in the Hat, organizers realized that the rural municipalities had a more difficult time planning programming and it expensive for kids to participate in larger cities.
“Our goals at the Be Fit for Life Centre is to get as many people, effectively kids, active and this is a great way to do it,” said Paige Callaghan, the centre’s project assistant for the new venture.
“I think a lot of larger programs forget about the rural areas. We want to make sure they’re included and they have their own special day for them.”
Friday sessions will take place in the rural areas. If you missed the July 20 Irvine session, there will be another one on Aug. 3.
Other rural dates will be in Redcliff on July 27 at Lions Park, Seven Persons School on Aug. 10 and 24 and Foremost School on Aug.17. All sessions will be from 1 -2:30 p.m.
Registration can be done on the day of PLAY Days, by emailing Callaghan at step_sportwellness@mhc.ab.ca or by phone (403) 580-5181.