10 minute read
Minimising sports injuries
Almost one-third of all childhood injuries occur during sports activities. As we roll into the warmer months this means kids are returning to the fields.
Joe Dale, sports expert and founder of VPS Medicine, offered guidance on how to minimise the risk of sports injuries.
Don’t skip the warm ups – stretch
The vast majority of minor sportsrelated injuries I’ve encountered could be avoided with regular and sensible warm-up regimes. This should involve dynamic stretching, which will allow the joints to become lubricated, as well as allow the tendon, muscle and ligament around the joints to get used to being stretched.
Strengthen the right muscles
Spraining the ankle ligaments and hamstrings are both very common sporting injuries, but can often be prevented by strengthening the appropriate muscles. Hence, it’s vital to spend some time in the gym strengthening the muscles that you’ll be using - the stronger your muscles are, the more easily they can protect the surrounding joint.
Build up slowly, know your limits
If someone hasn’t exercised for a long time, take it easy to begin with. Even if they’ve kept fit in other ways, each sport is unique in the way it uses the joints and muscles - so build up slowly and try taking it gently for the first couple of sessions to allow the body to adapt.
Don’t forget to warm down
After completing any sporting activity, a warm-down is vital to help get rid of the waste products built up during exercise. Without a proper warm-down, the waste products such as lactic acid can linger in the muscles and lead to serious DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).
Sometimes it’s good to be alone – but not always. Sharing a burden can help reduce the load.
Who can you talk to? Speaking to a Vitae counsellor doesn’t cost a cent.
Call 0508 664 981 to make an appointment or book online @ www.vitae.co.nz Relationships in the Workplace
Developing positive relationships in the workplace is critical for career success.
By understanding yourself and getting to know your colleagues, you can build lasting work relationships. Being part of a cooperative team built on trust and effective communication will improve your job satisfaction.
Good workplace relationships are built upon:
• Getting to know your colleagues and management. • Open communication is crucial for building trust with others. • Understanding and valuing your co-workers means you will be valued too. • Sharing knowledge, information and ideas with colleagues helps build effective teams. • Teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills are crucial to working well together. • When everyone does their fair share of work and gives credit where it is due, the workplace flourishes.
Here are some helpful tips:
• Understand your strengths and weaknesses. As self-awareness helps us become more accepting of others. • Identify your needs in relation to your job and what others need from you. • Ask questions and listen to your colleagues to find out what’s important to them. • Be aware of your tone and body language as well as the words you say. Keep your tone even and arms relaxed rather than crossed. • Pay attention to those around you and notice if someone needs assistance. • Remember to ask for help yourself.
Speak to management or a trusted colleague if you are experiencing difficulties. • Everyone needs to feel their work is appreciated. Acknowledge the work of others and you will be acknowledged too. • Be positive. Positivity is contagious.
Bringing a love of trees to your school
The forest sector of New Zealand has recognised that our activities can often be hard to see and hard to understand. We want students around New Zealand to learn how a sustainable forest sector works, where trees are grown, how they are replanted, and what happens to the wood. Trees have covered the New Zealand landscape for millions of years, but now only 30% of our indigenous forests remain with much cleared for agriculture. Currently there is very little harvesting of our precious native forests and they make up much of our conservation reserves across New Zealand. Pine forests cover only 7% of our land mass, but are our 3rd largest export earner. Pine makes up 90% of our harvested crop and is in much demand by countries such as China, Korea and India for packaging, pallets, framing for houses and paper making. 40% of all timber grown in New Zealand is processed here to supply our housing needs, paper, cardboard, and increasingly biofuels as our economy moves away from fossil fuels. The forest sector is a growing and vibrant economy and we want to showcase our workplaces and the new technology that is driving this success. All harvested crops in New Zealand are replanted. Seedlings are grown in nurseries around the country and planted by hand. This massive task means there are 40,000 people employed directly by the forest sector. This number is growing by the year as many wood products are increasing in popularity and replacing steel, concrete and plastics. Plantation forests are full of employees carrying out many tasks needed to care for the trees and plan the harvest, along with replanting. Much is invested in road building, soil and water maintenance, environmental impacts, and quality and measurement of the trees. Two school engagement programmes aim to bring this knowledge to schools around New Zealand, and it all starts with one thing: love of trees.
primary schools secondary schools
Wood is Good
Wood is Good is an industry led primary school engagement programme that links through the eight Wood Councils of New Zealand to bring log trucks, local foresters, wood themed prizes books and games, and a love of trees to school students around New Zealand. Now entering its third year, the team from Wood is Good has visited many schools around New Zealand to talk all things wood and forestry while bringing a loaded log truck to the school, along with log truck safety, story reading, tree games and drone flying. This FREE and organised programme can be booked by contacting the National Program Coordinator. Do you know what a forester does?
• Vickie Humphries • woodisgoodnz@gmail.com • 021 114 5611 • www.woodisgood.co.nz • Melina Vlahos • woodcouncilforestry@gmail.com • 027 607 1600 • www.growmeforestry.co.nz
Grow Me
The Grow Me programme is also entering its third year to bring hands on experiences to secondary schools around New Zealand. Organised FREE “Forestry Big Day Out” bus trips take students to visit a range of worksites around the forest sector, visit a logging crew or a sawmill or a port operation. Local professionals can be organised to visit schools for presentations or to engage with individual classes on topics they might be working on. Maths, Geography, Computers, Biology find how you can use these subjects in forest sector careers. Students can be shown the pathways to entering the forest sector, degree options and scholarships, apprenticeships and training. Want to know more? Contact our Secondary Schools Engagement Coordinator.
We are very grateful for all your time and resources put into our school! We loved the visit, the prizes and the learning that was undertaken! The people who came were a privilege to have visit us! A huge thanks to you all.
Taonui School Feilding, August 2021
What some schools say...
Great exhibit and the students were buzzing after the visit. We have had parents tell the teachers that their child came home and discussed the blind spots, where they were and why they need to be avoided, so it’s great that the information is being spread to parents as well. Thanks very much for the visit. The kids really loved being in the cab of the truck with the driver. It was a multi layered approach out of the classroom, in the classroom and in the truck. Great resources were shared with us. The people involved with us were fun.
Repaint with EPOTEC NT EPOXY
Water skills for life
The warm weather is here and that means it’s time to dust off your boardies, drag out the old towels and head for the drink.
Advise on preparation and repair Supply of the most appropriate paint system Latest Epoxy and Acrylic technologies to suit your needs
Call our technical experts on 09 837 0897 x 3
or find your local EPOTEC Approved Applicator at www.cotec.co.nz
Spending time in, on and around our lakes, rivers, and oceans is engrained in our DNA. But, tragically for far too many kiwi whanau this summer will be the last for many of our treasured tamariki.
For as much as we love the water, we don’t have the skills and knowledge to enjoy it safely. Drowning is the number one cause of recreational death and the second highest cause of death as result of unintentional injury among young people aged 1-24 years. Only 27 percent of New Zealand schools provide a minimum acceptable combination of eight or more water-based lessons of 26–30 minutes’ duration per year. The minimum should in fact be 10 lessons of at least 30 minutes.
Faced with the reality that more children are leaving school without the necessary water safety skills, should we accept that more children will drown, or address the issue, starting in schools? The ways that our children enjoy the water has changed and we need to give them better practical skills to make sure no one loses their life unnecessarily. Which is why we redeveloped the Water Skills for Life program to set the national standard for aquatic education in New Zealand primary schools. It is linked into the national education curriculum and gives children the skills and knowledge they need to assess risks and make smart decisions around water. This programme has been designed by educators from across New Zealand with input from world leading experts in aquatic education. The focus is to achieve the end outcome of culture change for this age group. Water Skills for Life can be taught through four learning levels for students, starting out in Year 0 up to Year 8. Within each learning level we show you how you can work with your students across the seven competency areas, including overall water safety and awareness. For our precious children these are the formative and most important years when water safety can be embedded and a life-long stepchange achieved. It is the time when children are most receptive and sets them up for further learning and resilience throughout their lives. The Water Skills for Life programme helps build the capabilities of the swim teachers and schools to help them deliver water skills learning experiences for students across a broad and diverse range of abilities, ages, and cultures. We’re here to protect Aotearoa’s future. Learn more about what we’re doing and how you can protect your tamariki at:
www.waterskills.org.
Water Skills for Life is made up of seven competency areas that contains 27 core skills, establishing broad fundamental competencies for life-long water safety. It provides basic information about how to stay safe around water, how to recognise hazards and risk factors associated with water activities, how to avoid them and what actions should be taken if things go wrong.
