20 June 2013
Close to 500 boys and girls aged between four to six years old competed in the annual Kiddies Olympics hosted by the City of Johannesburg at the Klipriviersberg Recreation Centre, in Kibler Park earlier today. After months of training, preparations and regional competitions, teams representing seven regions went head to head in true Olympic style in a bid to get their hands on medals and trophies on offer. SMSA Trust assisted the Kiddies Olympics 2013 event organisers by donating equipment to the value of R100 000.
The SMSA Trust believes that the Kiddies Olympics play a fundamental role in the development of pre-school children.
“There are so many benefits of this programme which include commitment, motivation, physical and cognitive development, nurturing of skills, promoting healthy lifestyles and activities in a way that is fun and target-driven. The Kiddies Olympics promotes socialization and healthy competitive spirits and will surely have an impact on our child obesity rates as well.”
Customized activities for the pre-schoolers included ball throwing, kicking, dribbling, throwing, relays, ball hopping and bean bag balancing. The Kiddies Olympics is an annual event preceded by seven regional events which culminate in the selection of regional teams of 70 children per region for the annual finals. The first Kiddie Olympics took place in Atlanta, Georgia in 2007 as an awareness event to counteract childhood obesity.
