01
14/1/09
15:10
Page 1
Sport and fitness for today’s youth
February 2009 £2.75
LazyTown creator in ‘bible’ plan By Nicola Hyde THE man credited with finally making kids’ fitness trendy is planning to launch a ‘bible’ to offer schools inspiration to get kids active and moving. Magnus Scheving – the creator of the global LazyTown TV phenomenon – is working with training company FitKid to draw up a package that will offer teachers and coaches an insight into the lessons learned in the 20 years he has spent developing the show. The show – broadcast in over 100 countries – sees super-hero Sportacus push LazyTown residents to get active. It has so far spawned a chart-topping single and live stage show – and now Magnus is working with FitKid to launch a 60-minute themed fitness session. In a rare interview, Magnus told Future Fitness: “I don’t believe that kids should exercise. They should do it through play but it is how you do it that is important. You need to give them games to play in a safe environment and figure out how to make them move. We are now working on a bible, a package that I hope is ready by 2010 that will
give people ideas.” LazyTown sessions will incorporate the music and dances in the show along with equipment such as parachutes, space hoppers and balls. But to Magnus, the challenge is coming up with the ideas that get the kids to start moving in the first place. He said: “Like our Bing Bang song, there is set choreography but we can incorporate games in there where the children have to spell out the words by doing different exercises, flying around like a bee for the letter ‘b’, running through a circuit to pick up the letters. There are lots of ideas you can use. We have to make schools like a LazyTown theme park – the children would not be standing in line they would be jumping or doing something while waiting. “An idea like LazyTown is one per cent genius and 99 per cent hard work and the most important thing I would say is that you have to be organised. I did an enormous amount of homework before I even started. I visited 50 countries, spoke to 500,000 kids and parents and a made sure I spoke to at least five to 50,000 kids a month.”
Experts look at video game benefit
Magnus Scheving takes the lead role in Lazy Town as Sportacus. He is in the UK piloting a new franchise of kids’ fitness classes and has just returned from a telethon in Mexico which was broadcast to 50million people.
SPORTS science experts at the University of Derby are embarking on research to see if video games could help tackle obesity. Dr Michael Duncan, senior lecturer in exercise physiology, is aiming to get primary schools involved in the study which will aim to see if young children can lose weight or improve their health by using the Nintendo Wii. He said: “There is a lot of discussion that video games are bad for your health and we hope this research will determine if playing on this equipment could actually have physical benefits for children.” Trials will see a six-week period where half of a participating school’s pupils will play on the Wii game during their lunch hour and half of them will take part in their normal lunch hour activities. They will wear a tri-axial accelerometer, a device which monitors energy use. The project has received £5,000 funding and spokesman, Kim Ramessa, added: “This research project was particularly creative in encouraging children to be active in a fun and engaging manner.”