Kidi-Sportz

Kidi-Sportz offers a 3 in 1 Programme which allows for:

• Muscle Development
• Gymnastic Skills and
• Ball Skills
  

The most comprehensive programme and still lots of FUN, FUN, FUN!

Approved by the Sport Science Institute and an accredited play partner of Super Sport Let’s Play.

Playing contributes to muscle development, fitness and reasoning capacity of your child.  It teaches children how to plan, socially interact – weight your turn, share etc.  It lays the foundation for self-discipline and motivates.  The best advice you could give your child is to go and play. 

We had the opportunity to ride our bicycles to school, climb trees etc. But due to safety and staying in complexes our children is not that privileged.  Is it then better to let your child sit in front of the television?  NO, NO, NO!  That is the main cause of children with low muscle tone, ADD, sensory integration, obesity etc.  Children do not play enough – outside and inside.

So what does Kidi-Sportz do?
The programme offers your child 3 activities in 1 programme – Gymnastic Skills, Ball Skills and Muscle Development.  Last mentioned, being the most important for today’s children. 

Kidi-Sportz is designed to test age related milestones regularly. Instructors are able to evaluate the children ongoing and to identify potential challenges.  They are able to pay attention to these challenges by means of Kidi-Sportz and will immediately inform the parents and teacher.

The (play) sessions is presented once a week for 45 minutes and has an absolute maximum of 10 children or less per session.  Only one group at a time in a session.  With 17 lessons a lesson is only repeated after 17 weeks.  The elements focused on in a session are presented in a different manner ever week.

The Programme:
Kidi-Sportz pays special attention to the following below that could hinder development:

Low Muscle Tone
Hypotonia is a disorder that causes low muscle tone (the amount of tension or resistance to movement in a muscle), often involving reduced muscle strength. Hypotonia is not a specific medical disorder, but a potential manifestation of many different diseases and disorders that affect motor nerve control by the brain or muscle strength.
Difficulties:
They get tired easily and as a result has a poor academic performance and avoids doing activities.  The have poor joint stability, co-ordination, control of movement and have poor endurance.  They appear floppy or like a rag doll.

Dominance
Defined as the normal tendency for one side of the brain to be more important than the other in controlling certain functions.

By the age of six, the child should demonstrate dominance on the same side for his hand, foot, ear and eye. It is normal for a five-year-old child to sometimes use his non-dominant hand to perform a task that should be done with his dominant hand, but this should be the rare occasion.
Difficulties:

• Difficulty perceiving left and right sides of objects and letters
• Uncertainty about personal left and right body sides
• Difficulty making decisions
• Difficulty in accepting a change in rule or decision once it has been made
• Delayed language acquisition
• Difficulty comprehending instructions
• Problems with word finding
• Difficulty with organisational skills
• Diminished concept of consequences
• Poor gross and fine motor skills in general, in other words difficulties with kicking a ball, colouring in, cutting with scissors, drawing, etc.
• Writing patterns that are inconsistent and untidy
• Not crossing the midline
• Possible difficulties with writing and reading activities.

Gravitational Insecurity
Defined as an abnormal anxiety or distress that arises when the gravity receptors of the vestibular (balance) system are stimulated by head position or movement, especially when the child's feet are not on the ground.
Children with gravitational insecurity may exhibit limited participation in gross motor play; avoidance or fear of escalators, elevators, cars, or planes; or resistance to being off the ground. They become clumsy, and dislike activities This will result in them not taking part in a lot of normal children’s activities, in pre-school and going into primary school. As a result it will affect their self-confidence and self-esteem.
Difficulties:

• Crossing the midline
• Defined as the ability of the one side of the body to cross over to the other side by moving across the centre line of the body, thus the right hand can cross over the midline and pick up an object from the left side of the body.
• This can have severe effects with reading and writing activities, as well as affecting gross and fine motor skills.
   

Eye movements
The voluntary or involuntary movement of the eyes

• the method in which eye movement assimilates written language
• the method in which eye movement assimilates written musical language
  an information processing

Difficulties:
Fluent eye movements are important for a child to have fine or gross motor co-ordination, i.e. writing, manipulating small objects or catching a ball.

Sensory Integration
Defined as the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Vision (sight), audition (hearing), tactile stimulation (touch), olfaction (smell), and gestation (taste). Other sensory modalities exist e.g., balance and the sense of movement the sense of knowing one's position in space.
Difficulties:
These children become socially offensive. They start isolating themselves, which leads to low-self-esteem.  These children do not like being touched, and end up causing conflict as a result.  There is an inability to participate in group activities. They will often avoid a variety of activities and may react aggressively at times. They can be easily distracted and have difficulty with attention.

Bilateral integration
Defined as the communication between the right and left cerebral hemispheres, which allows the two sides of the body to move together in coordination with one another.
Difficulties:
They will struggle with reading and writing.  They could struggle with twisting their body around to look at something behind them.  They do not have dominance, have a problem with balance and do not have smooth eye tracking as they can’t cross the midline.  These and many more influences academic achievement and sport participation.

We have comprehensive lessons in the programme for 18 month -7 year olds, addressing the above problems, involving a variety of apparatus i.e.

• Gym balls  
• Beam
• Mini-trampoline 
• Hoops
• Bean bags  
• Sticks
• Ropes   
• Small balls
• Large balls  
• Cones
• Bats   
• Hockey sticks
   

From 18 months – 2year (turning 3)
Mommy/daddy and me sessions are offered.

Kidi-Sportz principle is one of encouragement, and positive re-enforcement. We do not let any child sit out any of the exercises, giving them as much assistance and encouragement as needed to complete the exercise.

Kidi-Sportz has had a number of Occupational Therapists in recommend the programme as an extension of their therapy with children, or as a maintenance programme for children they have worked with. We know that parents are always asking what more they can do to assist their children, and we would like OT’s to be able to recommend Kidi-Sportz as a programme that will visibly benefit children.

Let’s Play:
Kidi-Sportz is accredited by the Supersport “Let’s Play” campaign. The aim is to get children active, to avoid the high rate of obesity, diabetes and other illnesses caused by little or no physical activity. Supported by Sport and Recreation South Africa, with all programmes accredited, approved by the Sports Science Institute.

Let’s Play is a corporate social responsibility initiative developed by Supersport and partners in response to a National need: our children are becoming alarmingly inactive and obesity in children is on the increase. Children have forgotten (or have not been taught) how to play. Instead of heading outdoors for an afternoon of fun and activity, they stay indoors tied to television screens and interactive electronic games. As a result children are growing up without the benefits that regular activity offers: good health and fitness, physical skills (balance, agility, speed and co-ordination), increased immunity, nutritional awareness, improved body image, confidence and self-esteem, social skill development and the making of friends.

At Let's Play, our aim is to elevate awareness of our social situation and to introduce and encourage play, activity and sport in schools and at home. This is done through advanced media campaigns and close associations with organisations - our Play Partners - that target children and introduce activities to schools, homes and communities.

For more details contact:
kidisportz@mweb.co.za