Promoting Fitness with the ACTIVE2010 pause to PLAY Campaign

ACTIVE 2010 is a comprehensive strategy to increase participation in sport and physical activity throughout Ontario. The goal of ACTIVE2010 is to increase Ontario’s sport participation and physical activity rate so that by the year 2010, 55 per cent of Ontarians are physically active.

While ACTIVE2010’s goal is to encourage all Ontarians to increase their participation in sport and physical activity, particularly by removing the barrier to participation faced by low-income children, and disabled youth. Nearly six million Ontarians over the age of 12 are not active enough to maintain good health.

While most Ontarians recognize that participation in sport and physical activity is fun, enjoyable, and improves the quality of their life, 57 per cent of Canadian adults don’t do the suggested daily minimum amount of activity – just 30 minutes a day.

One key component of ACTIVE2010 is a promotion and education campaign directed to age groups with the greatest need and where the greatest impact can be made to increase physical activity: 10-14 year olds and 45-65 year olds. The first promotion campaign, directed to youth between 10-14 years of age, is called pause to PLAY. To encourage children and youth to make physical activity and sport participation a regular part of their daily lives, learn more at www.pausetoPLAY.ca.

Pause to PLAY will use a mix of advertising featuring sports considered attractive to youth to increase awareness of the benefits of physical activity and to motivate young people to put their computers on pause and to play a sport. The pause to PLAY campaign begins November 1, 2004. An adults to walk campaign will begin in the spring of 2005.

ACTIVE2010 aims to increase physical activity and sport participation throughout Ontario so that by the year 2010, 55% of Ontarians are physically active. The strategy has two components: the Ontario Sport Action Plan and the Ontario Physical Activity Plan. Find out more at www.ACTIVE2010.ca