Get Essex Kids Active in 2012 – Fight Obesity and Improve Health

young girl in karate uniform practising a punch

young girl in karate uniform practising a punchGetting children, and adults, more active is one way to tackle the obesity problems. Essex is becoming fatter, more children are now overweight and obesity rates are increasing.

Studies have shown that inactivity is not the cause of obesity, the real cause is poor diet and overeating. But, overeating is often the result of lack of self esteem – emotional eating. Sports and exercise can help to improve self esteem as well as improving confidence and other social skills.

Across Essex there are a wide range of activities for children and often only a few parents take advantage of what is on offer. Here are our favourite children’s sports and activities classes and clubs in Essex (if you run a club that provides a great service, get in contact!).

Martial Arts Clubs in Essex

Martial arts are one of the more traditional activities for children. There are many clubs that teach karate, judo, kung-fu and fencing to children, and all of these provide a fantastic way to provide structure and goals to a child’s fitness. Almost all martial arts have a grading system which helps to motivate kids.

5 Elements Martial Arts Acedemy in Basildon is one of Essex’s newest martial arts clubs and has been running for a few years now and is growing fast . It now runs 3 children’s martial arts classes that combine kung-fu, kickboxing and fun games to provide children from the age of 3 through to 13 with a well structured syllabus and grading system.

The SD School of Martial Arts in Colchester provides a wide range of clubs similar to the 5 Elements. They even do “Little Monkeys” which is from crawling to 18 months, Little Grasshoppers 18 months to 3 year olds then Little Dragons and Kid Kick. They also do a pre-school dance and play session called Dinky Boppers.

The Martial Arts Centre in Braintree provides more children’s clubs with a karate theme.

Gymnastics Clubs in Essex

Gymnastics provides children with excellent fitness and exercise skills from an early age. The skills learn in gym class can be taken onto the football pitch, athletics track or martial arts dojo.

Chelmsford Gymnastics Club has been running for many years and teaches from pre-school onwards.

The South Essex Gymnastics Club in Basildon was in the news for having some success at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Colchester Gymnastics Club caters for all ages, from toddlers through to adults. It has been operating since 1977.

These are just 3 popular gymnastics clubs in Essex, there are many across the county, search Google for more clubs.

Dance Clubs in Essex

Dance is becoming a popular activity for kids. For younger children it is more about fun play that real dance, but it provides a great foundation for moving on to specific styles.

Chelmsford Dance Centre is a well established dance studio in Great Baddow, just outside Chelmsford. They do classes for children 18 months – 4 Years, 4 – 8 Years and 8 – 16 Years. See their timetable for more information.

The Valentine School of Dance in Colchester provides ballet classes for children as well as jazz, tap and modern dance.

These are just some examples of the types of exercise that kids can do to stay active. Although exercise alone will not beat obesity, it does help to teach children how to stay active. It also provides an interesting pastime and this in itself helps to reduce eating through boredom. Increased self esteem helps to reduce emotional eating too.

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