Innovative approaches to wellness at FU

Several weeks ago, I traveled to Dumaguete City to, among others, pay a visit to Foundation University’s (FU) sports program, IYS Peace, an innovative physical education and sports program in Asia. I had written about the program in a UNESCO-supported book sometime in 2008.

IYS Peace is an “experiment in peace building through youth and children sports” in consonance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the UN Millennium Development Goals Task Force prescription for Member States “to utilize sports for health, education, social development and peace.”

A pioneering project of IYSPeace is the “Youth@Play”, the purpose of which is to provide opportunities for children and youth, regardless of talent and social status as embodied in Article 31 of the CRC.

Two years ago through the efforts of FU chairman, Dean Sinco, FU embarked on the construction of a three-storey building to be called the “Youth@Play” Center. The building, when finished, will house a dance and music area, sports facilities, and a research laboratory to investigate the effects of physical activity participation on values formation among children. According to experts like Dr. Perry Mequi, former chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission and Dean of the College of Physical Education of FU, the relationship of sports participation and values formation among children offers a rich and unexplored study for research. Part of the FU’s plan is to utilize research and empirical proof to support FU’s graduate studies in PE and Sports and Wellness Management.

It could very well be that the vision and mission of IYSPeace is one of the vital missing links in a national sports development which still has to be formulated using the 1996 – 2000 Master Plan for Sports as a take off point.

The IYSPeace initiative deserves support from various sectors since it represents a practical and well thought out strategic intervention for sports. It is a marked and refreshing departure from unimaginative and run-of-the-mill programs that have been proposed for funding over the years.

In a related front, FU put together in 2008 a program called “Rice is Life Marathon” which was lauded by the Dumaguete City health office as having “helped reduce the incidence of lifestyle diseases.” The program was one of 20 finalists from among over 400 entries in the highly prestigious Anvil Awards.

Since the time the program was launched three years ago, it has undergone several changes. FU now makes it mandatory for all students to complete the Quarter Marathon Wellness Walk Challenge (QMWWC) or the Walk, a distance of 10.5 kilometers to pass PE 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Students at FU do the Walk four times during their stay at FU. When they finish the four Walks, they shall have walked a distance of the full 42K marathon making them, in effect, marathoners. The idea is of course to make them “Walkers for Life”.

What was the scientific basis for this unique requirement? Not too long ago, a student completed a master’s thesis in PE and Sports that showed that more than 49% of FU entering freshmen, aged 16-21, are at health risk due to obesity as determined by currently-used and more reliable measurement than the Body Mass Index (BMI) – the WHR (waist-hip ratio).

FU believes that the walking program is totally relevant in Negros Oriental. It appears Negros has acquired the distinction of being the Motorcycle Capital of the Philippines, having staged in 2008 the “longest motorcycle parade”. Some argue that the distinction may not be that environmentally-friendly since the motorcycle is a source of pollution and, according to findings, motorcyclists are prone to osteoporosis.

It is believed that by adopting FU’s PE requirement of making students walk in an enjoyable way, we could break a perceived “psychological barrier” in the psyche of young people which makes exercise distasteful to them. The FU requirement is attempting to do what other institutions have failed to consider in battling the growing incidence of children, youth and adult obesity in all parts of the world, whether rich or poor. FU has in effect combined walking and running a marathon and responded to the challenge to promote a healthy, active and what the late President John F. Kennedy, described as the “vigorous life”.

The message of FU and others with like minds is, higher educational institutions (HEIs) invest substantial amounts of resources providing our youth excellent facilities such as IT centers. It is in these centers where the youth sit and engage in sedentary pursuits like manipulating a mouse or tap on Iphones or Ipads. Such sedentary pursuits have led observers to say with a tinge of regret that what we have is a sad spectacle of ”youth with educated eyes in uneducated bodies”.