Your Health

Active youth

A wealth of studies over the last few years suggests that the majority of today's teens are not as active as they need to be in order to maintain good health. Nonetheless, many teens interviewed by Wave do manage to pack some activity into their lives. Here is how they do it:

Patrica Polden

Age 17, Grade 12

Patricia Polden has a newfound passion. The 17-year-old loves to dance.

"I love how it helps keep my legs toned and my stomach toned and it's making me feel better about myself."

The Grade 12 student is a relative newcomer to the dance world. She first started taking classes just two years ago at her high school. "I'm not the greatest, but I love being active," she says.

Polden also loves to run on the track, and on Wednesday and Thursday nights throughout the year, she helps her boyfriend hand-deliver flyers in the neighbourhood.

The couple walk briskly and cover the route in 60 to 90 minutes. Although she is fairly active, Polden acknowledges that she doesn't necessarily get 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each day during a school year, unless she has dance during a semester. "It's hard to work out that much every day while juggling school work, the course I am currently taking outside of school, helping out around the house, and still having a normal 17-year-old's social life."

She will, however, continue trying.

Matthew Martin

Age 15, Grade 10

Sixty minutes every day.

That's how much physical activity every Canadian teen needs to maintain good health. And walking from the living room to the kitchen and back again won't cut it. We're talking about moderate to vigorous, heart-pumping, sweat-inducing action.

Fifteen-year-old Matthew Martin knows the drill.

The Grade 10 student in Winnipeg is a passionate sports lover. He plays basketball, baseball, floor hockey and tackle football. He can't wait for gym class so he can get moving and he joins lots of intramural sports, too.

Playing sports "makes me feel energized," Martin says.

His active life has also given him another gift. "I feel pretty confident about myself."

He would love to help other kids get hooked on sports and exercise.

As Martin says: "I could help teach them different sports.

Shasta-Kelly Nimubona

Age 12, Grade 7

Shasta-Kelly Nimubona starts every day with the same routine.

After she jumps out of bed, she shakes out her arms and legs, stretches up to the ceiling, then down to the floor and side to side.

She wakes up her limbs and works out any little kinks she's acquired overnight.

Once she's warmed up, the tween, who was born in Tanzania, then pops down to the floor and does the splits. Her mom, Christine, has also started teaching Nimubona other gymnastic moves like cartwheels and backbends. The daily routine takes just a few minutes but is well worth the time.

Nimubona loves to dance jazz and hip hop and play soccer after school, too.

This summer, while at Camp Manitou for a couple of days with Helping Hands Immigrant Society, Nimubona played basketball for the first time. Now she's hooked.

While she doesn't worry a lot about keeping track of how much time she is active - she's too busy - she does believe she meets the minimum standard for children and youth of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day to maintain good health. And that, she says, "makes me feel good."

Helena Stanicevic

Age 17, Grade 12

There's one place you'll never find Winnipeg teen Helena Stanicevic: the couch.

She's not into watching television or spending hours in front of a computer screen.

"I'm pretty active every day."

That's an understatement.

Every day before school, she hits the treadmill at the Fermor YM/YWCA for a quick 20-minute run before classes start next door at Glenlawn Collegiate.

The 17-year-old Grade 12 student plays pick-up basketball, soccer and taught herself to freestyle and breakdance. This year, she's trying out for the volleyball, basketball and ultimate frisbee teams at school.

Stanicevic has also become a mentor for other kids trying to stay active, embrace exercise and learn new sports. She also teaches gymnastics, basketball and dance to younger kids at the YMCA-YWCA, where she works.

When she's not participating or teaching sports, Stanicevic runs on the treadmill and works out with weights whenever her schedule permits. She also spends a lot of time chasing after her two younger brothers, ages six and two. Being active has also changed her life. Two years ago, she lost 65 pounds after completely changing her diet and adding more physical activity to her daily routine.

"I feel amazing about myself and what I've accomplished."

April Limosinero

Age 17, Grade 12

About three years ago, April Limosinero discovered she had a new talent: running.

And she was pretty good at it, too.

The Winnipeg teenager liked nothing more than lacing up and hitting the track.

She's been hooked ever since.

Today, the Grade 12 student and track member trains every other day after school, running indoors and outdoors. "I love it," she says. "It's your endurance, your shape, your health."

Limosinero is an active teen. Through her new-found passion, she manages to get in about 60 minutes of vigorous exercise every other day. She complements that by participating in other activities, including badminton, lacrosse and swimming, which she started when she was 10.

She also took up weight training in Grade 10 and recently joined a dragon boat team. To top it all off, she walks to and from her bus stop on her daily commute to school.

Her dad, Henry, is a big influence. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings from September to June, Limosinero and her father play badminton as part of a recreational league. She says her dad "is really sporty," and a great example of how adults can keep and stay active.

Besides loving the competition of playing sports, paddling and running track, Limosinero has also learned to love something else: herself.

"I have a lot of self-confidence," she says. And it's a message she hopes other young people learn, too. "If you're active, you're going to have confidence in yourself."

Amin Bangura

Age 16, Grade 11

Even while watching a friend play computer games, Amin Bangura is rolling a basketball around in his hands.

Basketball is his chosen sport, one he plays on a team at his high school, as well as on a local outdoor court.

"Sports give me quicker reflexes," he says, tossing the ball to John Doherty, a co-ordinator of the Going Places club in Amin's neighbourhood. "Playing keeps me in shape, gives me strength."

Doherty reminds Amin about how they talk about Canada's Food Guide and eating healthful food in order to fuel an athletic body. "Yes," agrees Amin. "We learn about that in school. And about not smoking."

Amin grew up playing soccer as a kid, and now plays football with his friends, although he says most kids his age would rather be indoors, playing video games. He also goes out walking with his father, and horses around with his younger brother, Ali.

"I like basketball the most," he says, adding that he works out in the neighbourhood gym, using the weight machines to build up muscle. "I think I get in 30 minutes a day, on top of the team practice at school. I have great friends on the team."

Back to "Are today's youth active enough?"

	About Wave Wave is published six times a year by the Winnipeg Health Region in cooperation with the Winnipeg Free Press. It is available at newsstands, hospitals and clinics throughout Winnipeg, as well as McNally Robinson Books. Read the September / October 2012 issue of Wave