19 December 2006 Speech Notes

Embargoed until: 1.15pm

Moving it with Mervyn

Hi kids! It’s a great pleasure to be with you again this year at what is without a doubt one of the highlights of my Christmas calendar.

Before we get down to the business of showing these teachers how it’s done on the netball court, I’d like to introduce you to my very blue and very energetic mate here, Mervyn.

You’ll be seeing a lot of Mervyn this summer. He’s going to be doing some fun things over summer that are described on these activity cards. The cards show you how to do fun things with your friends, family or on your own. So with a bit of luck we’ll keep you from being bored over summer – because I know you’d all rather be back at school!

Fun activities like balloon volleyball, kilikiti and elastics are great ways to have loads of fun with your friends or family, and keep healthy and active at the same time.

Outside is just as fun, if not more fun than inside, and these cards will give you a head-start to coming up with exciting things to do outside, away from the telly and computer. They are also great ideas for things to do during get-togethers over the Christmas and New Year period.

Instead of playing Playstation games, surfing the internet or watching a movie, why not get everyone outside and involved in a game of backyard cricket, touch rugby or hacky sack? It is just as much fun, and it has the added bonus of getting everyone active and away from the screens.

Mervyn’s kindly agreed to give you all a pack of activity cards to take home with you to help you get active over the holidays. You can share them with your mates, cousins, brothers and sisters – and they can get their own pack for free from Countdown supermarkets; from sports stores such as Rebel Sport, Stirling Sport, Sportspower and Sportsworld; or they can download a pack from Sport and Recreation New Zealand’s website.

I hope all parents will be keen be keen to have a shot at the activities on the cards too. There are heaps of cool things to do with your kids that will get them off the couch and away from the TV.

SPARC, has put together these cards as part of the Labour-led government’s Mission-On initiative. Mission-On is about getting our children and young people active, eating well and embracing life.

Of course many of the leisure activities our children embrace today are sedentary and screen-related. The idea behind the activity cards is to give children entertaining alternatives to spending time in front of television, computers and mobile phones.

Mervyn and the activity cards are one of ten initiatives that make up Mission-On – a $67 million, four-year programme we have put in place to improve the quantity and quality of healthy choices for our children and young people.

I hope all of you have a great holiday doing fun activities using the activity cards. Hop off the couch and give them a go – I'm sure you'll have lots of fun.

And in keeping with the message of getting out there and giving it a go - lets go kick some netball butt!

Ends

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