Pretoria – If you haven’t done anything outdoorsy and sporty in a while, Friday is the perfect day to get out there and do something fun and different.
Friday marks the Department of Sport and Recreation’s annual National Recreation Day, where every South African is encouraged to get their bodies moving.
South Africa, like many other countries, is facing several health challenges including obesity, cardiac disease, diabetes, an increase in inactive lifestyles and a loss of personal interaction.
National Recreation Day will be held at Tshwane’s Lucas Van Den Berg Stadium (Danville Sports Complex) in Pretoria at 7:30am.
This year’s programme boasts a multi-segmented schedule of active recreational activities targeted at the elderly, adults as well as kiddies, who can choose from a bouquet of entertaining recreational activities for the whole day.
Citizens can register to participate in the event for free by logging in to the department’s website www.srsa.gov.za. Alternatively, citizens are urged to arrive well before 8am on Friday to register on site.
“We call on the public and private sector to develop National Recreation Day’s schedule of activities for their employees and in turn provide time for their respective employees to participate in such activities on the 7th of October 21016 nationwide,” the department said.
Obesity has globally been ranked fifth as a risk factor for early death and years of life lived with disability or Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYS). Global research shows that by 2030, in the absence of interventions to address the impact of obesity, 50% of global citizens will be obese.
In South Africa, 3% of South African women over the age of 15 are obese, while 42% of urban women are obese.
“It is against this framework that the need to get an active citizenry campaign going to drive the South African population to increasingly embrace an active lifestyle has become mandatory,” the department said.
In December 2014, Cabinet declared the first Friday of each October as Annual Recreation Day. – SAnews.gov.za
