Scott Lancaster is a man with a mission. He plans to fight obesity among children in the UAE. How is he planning to do this? "By tricking them into playing sport and outdoor activities," he says. As founder and president of Athletic Fitness, Inc; Trick it out Sports; and author of Fair Play: How to Make Organised Sports a Great Experience for Your Kids, Lancaster has 20 years' experience in developing youth sports programmes in soccer and football in the USA. His innovative approach to improve youth sports is set to be introduced by Fairmont Bab Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, through a fitness programme called ‘R U Ready'.
In an exclusive interview he tells Friday how he plans to bring a more family-friendly way of playing sports for children aged 5 to 17 to the UAE. Backed by more than 12 years' experience with the National Football League (NFL), USA, he has charted a youth sports philosophy for Abu Dhabi schools. He says that this will redefine the world of sport for youngsters.
What brings you to the UAE?
I came here to launch a programme called ‘R U Ready', which is in conjunction with a programme I have developed. It is called ‘Trick it Out Sports'. We provide a fully-fledged athletic programme for children staying at the hotel as well as for those youngsters who are members of the hotel's health club. ‘R U Ready' is also going to run across some schools in
Abu Dhabi through 90-minute workshops and half-day camps. This is a one-of-a-kind programme and most hotels don't draft such plans for children staying with them.
When children are on vacation in a hotel, isn't exercise the last thing on their minds?
That's the ‘trick' here. The programme is never presented as a workout. It is basically a set of sports and outdoor activities where we fool them into working out. Through this programme, we work on their major athletic movement skills, which also applies to fitness. So they get to work on their speed, agility, stamina, balance and coordination but never realise they are doing it. The whole idea is to make it a fun game. For instance, when I meet a group of children, I make them do drills and other boring running sessions from spot A to spot B.
After 15 minutes, they start hating me. I give them a quick break of five minutes and then change the game. I may then tell them that we will all play with a flying saucer.
They smile and happily run after it. This is where they get tricked! The drill that they were doing and this game is the same but by adding the flying saucer, I have just added a fun element which they enjoy.
It is very important to understand the relationship between movement skills and fitness. So many kids are not ‘body aware'. This means they do not know how to move their body in the correct manner. As a result, they lack balance, coordination and the essential elements of fitness in athletics.
Do you believe the UAE weather leads to a lot of children staying indoors most of the time rather than being active?
I agree the weather here is very hot and humid most of the time. But this is not an excuse to stay indoors and play video games. You will be surprised to learn that in America, some of the best athletes come from the warmest cities. The weather conditions in Florida or Atlanta are not always comfortable. But the kids in these states play regular outdoor sports. I think they get acclimatised to the soaring temperatures. On this topic, I would like to say this: if you are outdoors and it is very hot, you just need to be sure to stay hydrated and wear ample sunscreen. That's it. Remember, if the sport activity is full of fun, the kids will go out and play. All you have to do is to motivate them to step out of the house.
Which activities do you recommend for children in the UAE?
I am a big believer in action sports. I believe in using skateboards, surfboards, roller skates, etc. A child cannot go wrong with these. These sports do not require a coach or practice. A kid can learn or perform at their own convenience. In fact, more than picking up techniques from friends, they learn on their own. It is so self-motivating when they get to control their body's movements and learn from their mistakes. These experiences help them discover so many new things.
This is why I have gone back to organised sports like soccer, rugby, baseball, football and then mixed them with sports like skateboarding, snowboarding and surfboarding. This has been done in a way that the kids find appealing, and it makes sure they get individual attention.
I use the fundamentals of a particular sport, blend the basic movements and then add some of my own tricks to it. However, there are metrics involved so that kids can measure their own success. This way, they don't need anybody else to tell them how they are faring. In these times, when kids are obsessed with the ‘point' system and video gaming, it really makes sense to encourage them into accumulating their points and secretly, their skills.
For example, I take hand-held video games with me on the field as part of my programme. Along with me, kids start imitating the movements on the screen. This helps them coordinate mind and body, and it is a lot of fun. Actually, the muscle memory starts to work and you see them replicate the same scenes on the screen. The results are seen in the long run with an increase in their skills and body balance.
As a coach and as a father, I feel it is very important for us to teach our children that playing sport does not meaning winning at all costs. If it's all about the final score, the child has missed the point.
Some children are more inclined towards the arts and not sport. Do you create activities for them, too?
It is sad that sport has lost its creativity in these times. It could very well be one of the reasons why children with a creative bent of mind keep away from it. Regular sports activities are boxed in with infrastructure. Most of us forget that team sports are not for everybody whereas individual sports activities can be taken up by any child. If the approach is changed into inspiring a child to step out, explore, try new outdoor activities, it is akin to giving a child with an artistic bent of mind a canvas, colours and a set of brushes to paint with. When the creative child goes out, moves around and enjoys the outdoors, they will be more active. This will then help them become a better singer, artist or musician.
Can sport help heal mind, body and emotions among children aged 8-16?
I believe sport and fitness can teach a lot of things to children in this age group. It gets to push you to the limit and they learn to overcome adversity and unhappy situations. This is particularly helpful for kids who participate in competitions. It helps them overcome defeat and failure. Fitness programmes help develop stamina. Sport also immensely helps improve self-confidence. One of the saddest and biggest issues I have come across recently is that in the US, children are not encouraged to make mistakes. They are sometimes treated as robots. However, I belong to the school of thought that believes one should celebrate making mistakes. They make kids a lot more confident.
Do martial arts help calm aggressive children?
I think martial arts like judo, karate and kick-boxing are great ways to expend extra energy and gain overall balance.
But too much physical activity is also not recommended. As a parent, one must make sure a child indulges in a healthy mix of sports, but in moderation. Mind games such as chess, crosswords, Scrabble and Sudoku should also be attempted as these increase kids' mental agility. Very often, when taking part in field sports like soccer, one has to make a quick and correct assessment of the situation and playing brain games comes in handy. However, for students of mental arithmetic, art and drawing, it would be good to take part in outdoor sports to achieve the perfect balance. It all goes hand in hand.
How much exercise is too much for a child?
Kids are resilient beings. They can indulge in a lot of sports and last much longer than we imagine. Don't let your child stay involved
in just one form of exercise all year round. You don't want a lot of injuries happening repeatedly. In my opinion, the perfect combination of exercise is to ride a cycle, play tennis, soccer, badminton, word games and so on. If there is a healthy mix of moderate activities, the child can never go wrong.
A lot of my training is based on correcting posture and body balance. I think most of us have grown up with very poor posture and balance.
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To follow Scott Lancaster visit www.scottlancasteronsports.com
