Onex launches sports Sundays for children

Health in Geneva –

Onex launches sports Sundays for children

A pilot project offers free activities on Sunday afternoons for 6-12 year olds. A first.

BotTalk

Why did you decide to launch OpenSundays?

The Municipality already offered sports activities in parks in summer or indoors on Sunday mornings for adults. Given the success of these offers, we decided to also create a program for children.

The idea is to encourage them to practice sport in a fun and non-competitive way. This is a first in Geneva. Only the municipality of Plan-les-Ouates has already launched a project of this type, but it is intended for 0-5 year olds accompanied by their parents.

Concretely, how will these activities take place?

Every Sunday, from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., the two gyms at the Onex-Parc school will be available to children. Several activities will be offered by a supervisory team, made up of adults and young coaches living in the region and trained specifically for this program. This allows some of them to have a first experience, including a certificate.

Participants will be able to come at the time they want and take part in the activity they want. For example, there could be badminton in one room and parkour in the other. We will also work with Onesian sports associations so that they can present their activities. For the first day, there will be karate. A snack will be offered every Sunday to the children.

Who is financing this project?

Entrance is free and does not require prior registration. The total annual budget for this pilot project is 46,000 francs. The Municipality takes care of around half, the Canton and the IdéeSport Foundation the rest, up to around a quarter each. I would like to point out that we mainly communicate with Onesians, but that it is open to all schoolchildren.

Why target 6-12 year olds and not 12-18 year olds, who are often more glued to their screens?

For now, we have targeted children to encourage them to get active during the weekend and discover different sports. By opting for this school – which is located in the center of the city – and by offering supervision, we hope to motivate parents to send their children there.

Furthermore, thanks to social workers from the Parks Prevention Unit Bus (BUPP), young people aged 12-25 already have access to gyms on Wednesday evenings from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (at the Cycle des Marais) and on Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. (at the Onex-Parc school).