The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR a number of years, fitness guru Leonardo ‘Nardo’ Dean has been assisting the various local sporting bodies either with advice or training programmes to move their disciplines forward.

Today, with students still stagnant because of the coronavirus pandemic, Dean is calling for fitness testing standards and evaluations back into the school system to be included into their athletic programme.

“In the Bahamas, our obesity average is about 41 percent for women and 27 percent for men,” Dean said. “This is above the regional average of 30 percent for women and 22 for men. So we are already in a health crisis.

“This translates to about 13 percent of our children being obese and as they get older, the obesity rate increases for both males and females. So we have a problem here. Obesity leads to diabetes, high blood pressure and even certain types of cancer.”

With the effects of Hurricane Dorian followed by the pandemic, Dean said the majority of the Bahamian student-athletes have been domiciled at home and they have turned to the technology where their focus has switched to the computers, TVs and social media.

“They have fallen into a state of slumber and laziness for the most part because of a lack of motivation,” Dean said.

“This can increase bullying and the kids can become insecure, body shaming goes on and have low self esteem.

“The collaboration between physical activity and mental ability and mental learning has collapsed. They go hand in hand.

“Kids that are more focused have a better attention span.”

Dean said parents need to get a better grip of the lifestyle of their children and provide the necessary ingredients for them to live their lives in a more healthy environment.

“If you don’t know the standard lifestyle for your children, there’s no way to manage it and so it becomes harder to target those kids who are at risk,” he said.

“We just have to start getting our children back outdoors and doing more activities, even if it just starts with shooting marbles, skipping ropes and climbing trees. Our kids don’t do these types of activities.”

Kids, who are mentally prepared will end up becoming better athletes, Dean stated.

He said they need to be in a better mental state of mind so they can get back into the sporting environment.

For those kids who have been stagnant because of the pandemic, Dean is asking them to get involved in some of the sporting clubs and the sporting programmes being offered so that they start to get moving again.

“There’s a number of sports that our kids can get involved in,” he said.

“If they are not being offered in their schools, they can join a club. So it’s up to the parents to expose them to these kinds of activities and get them moving.”

While he commended the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture for the role they are playing, Dean said there needs to be more concentration on athletic classes where the students are taught the fundamental skills of fitness, not a sporting skill, but agility skills, flexibility and motion exercises.

Dean said he has submitted several proposals and will continue to push it now that he has seen the effects of the pandemic and he is willing to push the proposals again because there is a need for more fitness testing to be done in the schools to ensure that the students are better equipped for the future.

“We have to teach our kids about balance. It’s all about our body, soul and mind and putting God first because when everything else fails, he will be able to pull them through,” Dean said.

“They just have to be focused and disciplined because our body is the only temple that we have. It’s the only body that God has placed in us to deal with our mind and soul. If we are not taking care of our body, it will deteriorate. So this is something of utmost importance that needs to be addressed.”

Dean, therefore, is calling on the authorities to start random fitness testing in schools across the nation, like it was done in the past where awards are presented to the schools who can produce the most healthy kids.

Collectively, Dean said there are a number of health experts and gyms that are willing to assist in the development of such a programme and he said it’s a good time to get the programme started because there is a need to get the fitness testing done.