Dear Montana Educator:
We invite you to join other schools across Montana by taking part in the Junior Governor’s Cup Training program. As a complement to your school’s balanced physical education curriculum, the Junior Governor’s Cup is an excellent way to encourage students to establish a physical exercise routine and increase their overall health and fitness.
The Junior Governor’s Cup Fitness Training Program is designed to be fun for everyone, gradually increase physical activity, provide useful fitness tips, and encourage a physically active, healthy lifestyle. We recommend that all students participating in the Junior Governor’s Cup program have the opportunity to train for an hour at least twice a week for a six-week period. A student tracking sheet is included with the materials so all students can track their progress on a daily basis.
Just a couple hours a week can motivate and prepare students to participate in the Governor’s Cup events in Helena or in a concluding event at your school. Following are suggestions for organizing your own school event.
Junior Governor’s Cup Training
Whether you plan your Junior Governor’s Cup Training Program as part of your class curriculum or as a before/after school voluntary program for students, the sky is the limit as far as ways to adapt the program to suit your needs! The suggestions offered here are from teachers and educators who have used the program and who created some exciting ways to appeal to the students and get them excited about physical activity and in particular, walking and running. We hope the basic tools and ideas provided will get you started with involving students and helping them Live Smart, Live Healthy!
The student Daily Tracking Sheet is designed to accommodate a six-week training program; however, you may modify the schedule as you choose. Students are instructed to enter a “B” in each shape for every day they have breakfast and an “X” in the shape for every 15 minutes of exercise they do on that day. Exercise can consist of absolutely ANY physical activity—biking, swimming, bowling, walking, running, soccer, etc. Encourage students to fill in their sheet for every 15 minutes they are active. If you like, you could offer an incentive for a given amount of total exercise time in a given week or for the entire program. We recommend keeping the sheets at school or with the program leader during the training.
Getting Started
The training program is designed to:
- Encourage students to make regular physical exercise a part of their lives,
- Provide students with a positive experience in improving their fitness, and
- Enable students to complete an event confidently and safely at their own pace.
Guidelines
The training program is designed for a six-week period, with two 45-minute sessions per week.
- Emphasize student participation and enjoyment rather than competition.
- Gradually increase training distance and running time.
- Always include warm-up and cool-down exercises (stretches) and insist on runner safety and courtesy during training sessions.
- Keep the program flexible enough for all students interested in participating, and
- Have students complete the tracking document so they can review their progress.
Sample Training Sessions
Each session with your students should be structured to include:
- Warming up with about five minutes of walking, jogging, and/or skipping,
- Stretching exercises,
- An activity such as a Whistle Run, Exercising to Music, “Mimic the Leader,” timed walk/runs gradually increasing in length, rubber band run/walk, etc. (See “Tried and True Tips” for some creative ideas!)
- End the session with a short, timed walk and cool-down stretching exercises.
Tried and True Tips for the Junior Governor’s Cup Training Program
The following ideas were gathered from teachers and administrators who came up with some very creative ways to enhance their Junior Governor’s Cup training programs.
- Each child puts their name in a box when they come to the training session. At the end of the session, 4 or 5 names are drawn for a door prize. (This encourages students to come to the program and to stay in the session each time.) Preferred prizes are items that promote physical play.
- It works well to do all the warm-ups and cool-downs to music, similar to an aerobics class to music. Students really enjoy this much more than stretching without music, and it creates an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation.
- One school plans for a practice where students are allowed to do sprints. Students take turns racing down the field, and then walk around the outside of the field before starting again.
- Display a map of some kind (Lewis and Clark’s Trail, Montana, United States, etc.) and then take an accumulative mileage of all the students at practice and chart it on the map at each practice. Students then see how far they run as a team.
- Twice during the 6-week training program, have the students run around the block or on a premeasured course. Calculate the distance for a one-mile course and arrange for students to receive a rubber band at certain intervals; for example, every half mile. Each time they pass the half-mile point they receive a rubber band and continue on the run to see how many bands they can get before the run is completed. Then give out certificates during the next training session with their mileage on the certificate.
- One school hosts a breakfast before the last training session at their school to honor all of the student participants.
- Ask Trivia questions related to Running/Health/Fitness. A suggestion would be to ask the question when you are finished with the day’s workout and offer a prize to the winner if you have set up a prize box.
- Give students a Popsicle stick each time they run by the point where the teacher/leader is standing. Continue for a certain amount of time and winners with the most sticks then get to choose from the prize box. If there are not enough prizes, you could do the rock/paper/scissors routine to see who wins.
- Invite older athletes or role models of some sort to participate in running activities with the students. This can be very inspiring.
- Invite knowledgeable resource people from outside the school environment to enhance the program.
