By Kiev Chesney
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony joined in the festivities yesterday morning at the National Stadium at Providence where his ministry had organized a celebration in observance of International Challenge Day.
Although he was not attired in active sportswear, Minster Anthony was not afraid to ‘sweat out’ in his formal attire among the gathering of over 300 students from 20 schools who participated in the opening fitness workout conducted by Lavern Fraser-Thomas.
Whether it was doing knee-lifts, touching his toes, or waist rotation, Anthony did it just as easy as the teenagers around him, while some of the other sports administrators encountered some problems along the way.
After he had caught his breath, Anthony told Stabroek Sport that he was very pleased that Guyana was able to join with countries all over the world for the second year in observing International Challenge Day.
“This activity is very useful because it helps to raise awareness of physical fitness and encourages persons to get involved in some sort of physical activity,” he said.
“Activities such as this one are important because it has been proven that if persons are involved in some sort of exercise or physical activity for 30 minutes a day it will significantly improve a person’s health not to mention keeping them from getting fat,” he noted.
He stressed the importance of ensuring that sports play an integral role in the school system, stating that a healthy body would lead to a healthy mind.
He mentioned too that his ministry would be working closely with the Ministry of Education to strengthen the sports programmes in schools to help produce more balanced individuals in society.
Some of the participating schools included Peter’s Hall Primary, East Bank Demerara Special Needs School, Craig Primary School, Eccles Primary School, Agricola Primary School and Houston Community High School.
