JEDDAH, 12 July 2005 — A group of children between the age of 5 and 15, have joined a special sports program designed for overweight children at Kai fitness center in Jeddah. The program, according to the manager of the club Badr Al-Shibani, aims at weight reduction through sports. Only overweight children are eligible to join.
Fitness instructors and food specialists have joined forces to run the special training course.
“We face the difficulty of convincing children to stay away from junk food,” said Shibani. He added that most children when they see the instructor and his fit body, want to look like him; that encourages them to do more.
Muhammad Al-Amrani, fitness instructor, said the special program targets young children between the ages of 5 and 15 because their body is prone to gaining excess weight. “I have seen children who are under 14 and are already over 100 kilos. Our main job on this program is to prevent these children from reaching this stage. We put these children on a special program to reduce weight or stop their weight gain.”
He added that children accept the program because they all have the same problem. “Overweight children rarely go to health clubs because they feel shy and they are ashamed of their body. That’s what helped us design a program for these kids. As all the children in the program have weight problems, it creates an environment to reduce weight.”
He said that the program aims for children to lose one kilo per week. He said that it would be a huge success if a child lost 4 kilos per month.
One of the main goals for the program said Al-Amrani is to create self-confidence. Most of overweight children isolate themselves from society. “This is what we hope to do to shed shyness along with their weight.”
“The most important thing is the creation of trust between the instructor and the child. We treat them with respect, the same as adults. We try to be their friends to gain their trust.” He advised parents to encourage children to play sports — especially young children. “Sports take children away from trouble, crime and smoking. When they are used to sports at young age, it will become a habit and they will do it on their free time. Sport is the barrier between children and drugs.”
