Articles by author: Brock University

• Brock Sports launches flag football league for Niagara youth

  Monday, April 24, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE : 20 April 2017 – R00082
   
  A new Brock University football league will help teach Niagara youths the X’s and O’s of the game, without the big hits.
   
  The Brock Sports Youth Flag Football League will run Mondays and Wednesday from May 29 to Aug. 9 on the University’s artificial turf Alumni Field.
   
  The league is part of the CFL Flag initiative, and is designed to be a fun environment for boys and girls between six and 15 years old who have either never played the game before or would like to keep playing under flag football rules.
   
  “Brock has decided to run a youth flag football league because there are no other leagues in the region,” said Megan Locker, Intramural and PALS Co-ordinator, Brock Sports. “It is also another way to introduce kids to Brock University and all it has to offer.”
   
  “We’re thrilled to partner with the CFL because their mandate matches our plan to extend our reach into the community and develop youth leagues,” said Brock Sports Director Neil Lumsden. “We have a great platform to build sport in the Niagara region and with the CFL at our side, flag football is a tremendous place to start.”
   
  The league will include one practice and one game each week between 6 and 8 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesday (no league on July 3 or Aug. 7).
   
  The cost is $125 per child and parking during league times is included in the price.
   
  Volunteer coaches and assistant coaches are also needed for the league. Coaches will be provided with training, as well as the equipment they need to run the practices and games.
   
  For more information on volunteering or registering a child in the league, contact Megan Locker at mlocker@brocku.ca

   
  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
   
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970
   
  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.
   
  – 30 –

  Categories: Media releases

• Earth Day: Brock experts emphasize the importance of getting outside

  Wednesday, April 19, 2017 | By Brock University

  EXPERT ADVISORY: 19 April 2017 – R00081

  From school playgrounds to parks to hockey in the streets, there are plenty of ways for kids to get outside, but the pull of technology often keeps them indoors.

  Earth Day 2017 will be held Saturday, April 22, and the focus in Canada this year is EarthPLAY, a program designed to bring outdoor, unstructured play back into children’s lives.

  Earth Day Canada says around 70 per cent of all Canadian children spend less than an hour a day outside, and their EarthPLAY initiative is both a fundraiser to build more outdoor adventure playgrounds, and an awareness campaign to get more young people outside.

  Brock University has two experts available to comment on Earth Day 2017 and the idea of getting more children playing outside.

  Debra Harwood is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education who leads a research team examining the experiences of children and educators in an outdoor learning and teaching environment.

  Launched last year, the Forest School, run through the Rosalind Blauer Centre for Child Care, is a program for junior kindergarten-aged children that immerses them in nature. They learn the basics of phonics, math, science and art while taking trips through the forests around Brock, and by learning in an outdoor classroom on campus.

  Harwood says it’s “fundamentally important” for kids to be spending time in nature.

  “In Niagara we have an ideal context for kids to be outside. It’s absolutely beautiful here and we have an abundance of nature,” she says. “The outdoors provokes their interest. It sets the foundations for formalized learning later in life.”

  Harwood says the Forest School program is one small step to counter-balance the pressure society puts on children that leads to them spending so much time inside.

  “I think we’ve organized children’s lives a bit too much and that’s kind of the idea of making the outdoors a bit more available,” she says. “If we look at children at this young age, they’re in formal learning settings for six or eight hours a day and that’s a long time to be closed off from nature.”

  Ryan Plummer is a professor at Brock and Director of the University’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC).

  “Going outside and cultivating a personal connection with the environment is an enriching opportunity, and offers a chance to enhance environmental consciousness,” says Plummer.

  “We need to be mindful of our relationship with the environment every day; and Earth Day serves as a powerful and widespread reminder of this crucial connection.”

  Based at Brock University, the ESRC pursues innovative and transdisciplinary research concerning the environment, sustainability and social-ecological resilience.

  Harwood and Plummer are both available for interviews leading up to Earth Day 2017.
  

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:
   
  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

  – 30 –
   

  Categories: Media releases