Jamie is a 7 year old boy who lives in East Lothian with his Mum and younger sister. When Jamie moved into Primary 3, he wanted to try out some of the Active Schools clubs that were on after school with the rest of his classmates.
Jamie is a 7 year old boy who lives in East Lothian with his Mum and younger sister. When Jamie moved into Primary 3, he wanted to try out some of the Active Schools clubs that were on after school with the rest of his classmates. However, Jamie is overweight and so lacks self-confidence when it comes to taking part in sport or physical activity with his peers.
Jamie’s mum encouraged him to give it a go and Jamie signed up for a martial arts club. However, for the first two weeks, Jamie refused to leave the car after seeing all the other children going into the class. He believed he was the most overweight and wouldn’t be able to keep up. Jamie’s mum contacted the coach running the sessions and explained the situation. The Active Schools Co-ordinator went to meet Jamie during lunchtime at school and agreed that he would meet Jamie in the car park after school and go with him to the sports club. This meant Jamie had a friendly face waiting for him when he arrived at the session. The Active Schools Co-ordinator also contacted the club coach and explained that Jamie was feeling self-conscious and the coach suggested that Jamie was given a ‘P7 Buddy’ (who was a member of the martial arts club) to partner him in the first few weeks to help him integrate with the other children whilst building up his confidence and stamina.
Jamie felt so comfortable after a couple of weeks and no longer needed the Active Schools Co-ordinator to meet him in the car park. After the block of activity was over, Jamie had enjoyed the sessions so much that he then joined the martial arts club as a full youth member and now participates every week, along with his ‘buddy’ in the local community centre.
