Add Action

A frequent demand is to integrate health in the regular school curriculum from early on. ADD ACTION is a first step in this direction. Our students organize a variety of activities in schools to counteract the trend to overweight among children and adolescents.

Six per cent of German children are obese, i.e. seriously overweight, another 15 per cent are overweight as per body mass index. “We blame fast food and convenience food on one hand, and insufficient exercise on the other,” so Timo Deba’s explanation of why he founded the Add Action group. 34 students visit schools and try to motivate kids to exercise and eat healthier food. “We offer new and exciting games, both in the school gym and outside. Having no big budget nor special training, what we can teach them is that exercise can be great fun.”

Add Action started at a Witten grammar school but changed over to a Bochum secondary school. Beach volley ball, climbing, tennis, rugby, but also play acting, sensory perception courses and self-defense are some of the sports the kids may choose from. Many children do not get sufficient opportunity for exercise, neither in school sports nor at home. So the great majority of children start out from the same – low – level; they all have to learn how to do it.

“We plan to prepare meals with the kids very soon. Healthy food can be delicious, and cooking together is great fun. We hope to involve not only the kids in Add Action but their parents as well.” Deba addresses one of the core problems: excess weight affects the entire family, and in rare cases only one of the children. Genetic predisposition and hormonal balance disorders may be excluded in 99 per cent of all cases. The majority of obese children is overweight for social, not medical reasons. “We know from statistics that obese individuals have more problems with partners or on the job. Often they are isolated as children and learn how to occupy themselves alone. And this is how the vicious circle starts: watching TV and stuffing themselves with food.”

Exercise comes coupled with thinking about food: when does who eat what? We must create an awareness for eating out of boredom. “Overweight people eat too much. In other words, they take in too many calories compared to energy consumption. This sounds trivial but is new to many children, seeing their parents’ habits at home.”

The third pillar of the initiative is bolstering self-confidence.  “We offer group games that may only be won through the combined reaction speed and dexterity of the entire team. We show that everybody has skills and talents to be appreciated and respected. Comments like “I felt so insecure” or “it is weird to depend on others one hundred per cent” reveal that children actually feel what they are supposed to feel in these games. Each lession ends with a feedback session. Comments range from “that was cool” to “but let’s play football again next week, shall we?’ So the plan works out.

In regular meetings at the secondary school, the Add Action team found that youngsters did not show much respect, neither for schoolmates nor for teachers. Convinced that verbal appeals are not enough, Ulla Spitzer and Annika Welte looked for an athletic context to illustrate the importance of values like respect. A punching bag was purchased with financial support from the Dirk Novitzki Foundation, and fellow student Volker Grams now coaches small groups during each Add Action session. Children learn to straighten up, perform exact movements and put their trust in an opponent. They also release excess energy. Ulla Spitzer is pleased that the punching bag is a success: “They clearly have fun, and even do press-ups at home to become stronger quickly. At the start of each lesson they are eager to demonstrate how many they can do. And most important: they have learnt to reflect on a situation that is about respect.”

Contact:
Timo Deba

More informations:
www.addaction.de