The Village Festival is a community initiative developed by Cook Islands Football Association Just Play project manager Michelle Paiti and designed to promote active and healthy lifestyles for children aged between six and 13 years old.
While it encompasses a range of different sports,Paiti says there is a strong football component based on the OFC Just Play Programme.
Budding young sports stars took part in fun activities culminating in small-sided games as they learnt the various skills associated with the different sports including dribbling, passing, shooting and team work.
“One of the things we hope the kids get out of this is an increased awareness of keeping active and playing sports to keep healthy,” Paiti says.
“We emphasise this to our children through these monthly after school activities.”
The Ministry of Health was also present at the festival with representative Papa Rangi using this month’s festival to promote ‘hydration’.
With a bucket of sand, a plastic glass and a teaspoon Rangi selected a volunteer to illustrate how many teaspoons of sugar is contained in a can of coca cola which caught the attention of the children who soon realised the amount is not good for their health – proving water to be the best option.
The festival continues to be a success as it travels around the country promoting healthy active lifestyles with a focus on sports.
Developed by the OFC social responsibility and technical departments, Just Play is designed for children aged six to 12 and promotes physical activity while encouraging community involvement, healthy living, gender equality and disability development.
OFC has worked closely with UEFA, the Australian Government – through its agencies the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) – and Football Federation Australia to implement the programme across the Pacific over a three-year period between 2009 and 2012. It was launched in Tonga and is now also running in American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and Vanuatu.
The confederation has also been working in New Zealand with Special Olympics on a Just Play programme for people with mental disabilities and has launched the same initiative in Samoa and Fiji.
Just Play has reached over 106,000 children – 43 per cent of whom are female – across the Pacific and trained over 2,200 teachers and volunteers.
For more on Cook Islands football go to www.cookislandsfootball.com

Share