Blair Sands is a Generalist and Physical Education teacher with Bernard Constant Community School on James Smith First Nations Reserve which is about a 25 minute drive from Melfort. Since his arrival at the school about three years ago, Sands has dedicated himself to increasing the physical activity of not only the students and staff, but the entire community as well. "I'm concerned about the health of all our community members, and through Saskatchewan in motion, I have found many tools and resources to help me get our residents moving more," stated Sands. "Before our school became aligned with in motion, we didn't have a lot of information. Now we do. We know that less than 15% of Saskatchewan children and youth are active enough. We also know that kids are spending way too much time playing video games and using cell phones instead of just playing or getting involved in sports and being active. We also learned that kids of this generation will live a less healthy, shorter life than their parents."
Sands grew up in Barrier River Valley, just south of Tisdale. He was always involved in sports programs such as volleyball, soccer, football and hockey. His passion for sports and being physically active led him to an interest and now a career in education. Sands says that his physical education teachers guidance and support played a huge role in his youth by always ensuring that there were opportunities for unstructured play or organized sports. "Often after school, teachers would stay and keep the gym open so the students could drop by and play a couple of games, run or jog. The gym became a place to go to during school and also after school to just play and have fun," added Sands. "I still remember the old names of the school intramural teams. They are Taurus, Ursus, Centaurus, and Scorpios. We were told to not worry about scoring in a game or by how many points the game was won or lost. We just thought about being active, playing sports, and having fun. That's what my teachers taught me and that's the same philosophy I take with me every day that I'm in the community, talking with students, parents, coaches, and staff."
Under Sands guidance, Bernard Constant Community School recently became declared as an in motion school. This means that in addition to the mandated physical activity guidelines set forth by the Ministry of Education, all in motion schools provide another 30 minutes of physical activity. "We have committed to offer all sorts of movement and physical activity as part of our every day school routine," said Sands. "We do stretching exercises, walk a lot, play games in the gym and basically just keep everyone active, including our caretaker and cook. They often remind me that they too need physical activity throughout their busy day as our school custodians."
Sands also believes that being physically active helps to build healthy attitudes and self confidence. "I walk by faith and not by sight," remarked Sands. By this comment, Sands means that if you work on setting the systems in place to offer the programs to keep our kids active, then the kids will be healthier, they will believe in themselves, and they will benefit greatly from the positive power of physical activity.
Bernard Constant Community School is an independent school and serves 300 students in kindergarten to grade 12. It's governed by three Cree Bands under the leadership of the band chiefs. "Without the support of our bands and the James Smith Health Clinic, we wouldn't be able to offer the current programs that keep our kids active and busy," remarked Sands. "By working together, we're providing after-school playtime and activities for our kids and that includes indoor soccer, badminton, basketball, ice hockey, slow pitch, track and field, and volleyball. "I'd like to recognize our Cree leaders including Chief Robert Head, Chief Calvin Sanderson, and Chief Wally Burns as well as our school principal John Dombowski and Daniel Stonestand, Retention Support Worker, for always making the time to listen to me when I talk about the benefits of physical activity and for also helping me to implement physical activity in our school and community environments,'' said Sands.
In addition to Sands registering Bernard Constant Community School as an in motion school, Sands along with the James Smith Health Clinic Director, applied to the Actions Schools BC program which provides financial assistance to help students become more physically active. Recently Sands received a letter advising that Bernard Constant Community School was selected as one of the Action Schools recipients and will be awarded a $7000 activity kit to keep the students active and moving. Sands will be attending a two-day workshop in Saskatoon in December to learn more about the activity kit.
Through in motion, Sands knows that kids need a minimum of 60 minutes of physical activity every day and more is better. "By keeping our kids and residents moving, we hope to help them live a longer and healthier life. We know that prevention is key and keeping physically active is a great way to prevent ailments such as Type 2 Diabetes and heart disease in our community," added Sands. Bob McGee, the school sports coordinator for Prince Albert Grand Council recommended the in motion 30-30-30 model which the staff follows. The model encourages 30 minutes of physical activity at home, 30 minutes at school and 30 minutes in the community. Sands knows that the kids are becoming in motion followers. One of his students remarked that she told her mom about how they're moving at school because they're in motion. Now the student is joined by her mom for after school walks.
Blair Sands is proud of Bernard Constant Community School's involvement with in motion and has noticed the positive benefits for students and staff and community members too who are becoming more physically active. When you enter the school, the first thing visitors will see is the in motion banner as well as the in motion wall. According to Sands, "The in motion wall is where all the written stories are posted. These stories are primarily from the students listing what they're doing to keep physically active. The stories serve to inspire others to include physical activity in their daily lifestyle and also serve as some of the pledges the James Smith Cree Nations Reserve is collecting as part of their registered entry for the in motion Community Pledge Challenge. Saskatchewan communities can register for the challenge, along with the support of their chief or mayor, and collect pledges to increase the physical activity of the kids they care about, until December 30, 2011.