Come on Waterford teenagers!  Let’s get involved in the Pumped Schools’ Video Awards, a great opportunity to create a mini-movie and perhaps win 3,000 euro for your school in the process. Waterford Sports Partnership encourages Waterford schools and students to get involved against a backdrop of 274 people dying from cardiovascular disease in Waterford in 2013. 

The Pumped Schools’ Video Awards, supported by Bayer in partnership with the Irish Heart Foundation, the Federation of Irish Sport and RTÉ news2day, have been launched to encourage young people to create mini-movies on a heart health theme.

The competition invites participants to unleash their creative juices and explore the science behind physical activity, diet and smoking, the impact of these on health and well-being, and produce compelling 90-second videos that inspire viewers to act. With a prize fund of €10,000, there are three categories in which to enter – “Smoking Stinks”, “Active Teens – Healthy Hearts” and “Weighty Matters”. The awards are open to all post-primary students between the ages of 12 and 16 years with the winner of each category winning €3,000 for their school’s sports department and each individual student receiving a €100 voucher. More information can be found at www.pumped.ie

Rosarie Kealy, Sports Co-ordinator, Waterford Sports Partnership is encouraging post-primary schools and students from across County Waterford to take part: “The Pumped Schools’ Video Awards provide a great opportunity for schools and teachers to bring out their students’ artistic streak and to focus on the topic of the science behind what makes our hearts tick and the importance of getting active and eating a healthy diet. With fantastic prizes on offer, and a vital learning experience that every student should have, I would strongly encourage schools and students to consider taking part. Not only will it hopefully have a lasting impact in terms of our attitude to what we eat and drink, whether we smoke, and the importance of being active, but there is also the prospect of a very immediate and exciting cash outcome for schools’ sports departments and students’ pockets too!”

  It is estimated that one in five teenagers is overweight or obese with Ireland’s rates amongst the worst in Europe. Our young people also top an international league in terms of levels of inactivity, a major risk for overweight, obesity, cardiovascular and other diseases. The league, part of an analysis of 15 countries worldwide presented at a Global Summit on Physical Activity of Children in Toronto earlier this year, accorded Ireland a Grade D minus for physical activity amongst children, behind countries such as Mozambique, New Zealand, Mexico, Kenya and Nigeria. Only 12 per cent of post-primary students meet the Department of Health’s guideline of 60 minutes’ moderate to vigorous physical activity each day—girls less so than boys—and just 10 per cent of post-primary students are timetabled with the recommended minimum 120 minutes of physical education each week.
     Sarah O’Connor is Chief Executive of the Federation of Irish Sport and a member of the Healthy Ireland Council that seeks to mobilise communities, families and individuals with the aim of supporting everyone to enjoy the best possible health and well-being. “It is hard to understand against a backdrop of growing levels of obesity and physical inactivity, and the vision of Healthy Ireland—where everyone can enjoy physical and mental health and well-being to their full potential—that according to available research that only 10 per cent of post-primary students are receiving the recommendation of 120 minutes of PE every week. We also know that girls are less likely than boys to meet the physical activity recommendations for health of at least 60 minutes each day, that they receive fewer minutes of formal PE in school and that they are more likely than boys to be timetabled for single as opposed to double class periods. Schools along with parents have a key role to play in ensuring that young people meet the physical activity levels needed for health. It is vital that we take this issue seriously and we join with our partners in the Irish Heart Foundation in urging that all schools deliver on this and that all students participate.”
Maureen Mulvihill, Head of Health Promotion, Irish Heart Foundation said: “PE is an intrinsic element in encouraging young people to be physically active. Given the high levels of inactivity in teenagers, increasing levels of overweight and obesity and early signs of heart disease, it is vital that the recommended level of PE is compulsory for all pupils, as is the case across Europe for primary and Junior cycle education6. Projects like Pumped are part of the mix to help educate our young people on how to live a healthy lifestyle and prevent disease. Cardiovascular disease, mainly heart attack and stroke, is the leading cause of death in Ireland with about 10,000 people dying each year7.”
For more information on the Pumped Schools’ Video Awards, visit www.pumped.ie. Students should register their interest by December 1 and the closing date for entries is January 16 2015.