It’s hard to join the neighbourhood pick-up basketball or soccer game when you don’t know how to dribble. A program run by UWindsor students aimed at developing basic skills in kids to encourage them to engage in exercise throughout their lives.

Physically Empowered and Active Kids, or PEAK, taught children aged eight to 12 to move their bodies through fun activities and sports. It ran eight weeks in the fall and completed its winter course Saturday.

Fourth-year kinesiology and health studies student Emily Chauvin conceived of the idea during a study abroad trip to Costa Rica in April 2023.

“We helped students at the Universidad National Costa Rica run a similar program, although theirs was more sport-oriented,” she says. “I was already thinking ahead to my undergraduate thesis and decided to explore how we could adapt this to Windsor.”

She conducted an independent study into financing and marketing aspects of the program and wrote a business plan in the summer of 2024.

“I wanted to make sure it was free for kids to participate,” says Chauvin. “We have appropriate facilities in the Toldo Lancer Centre and access to summer camp equipment. To run the activities, we could hire students with coaching experience in kinesiology and education.”

Dean of human kinetics Linda Rohr secured Aspire Strategic Funding from the Office of the Provost to get the program up and running.

The student team recruited kids in low-income areas on the city’s west side, postering schools and libraries, and attracted 35 registrants.

“The idea is to promote physical literacy,” Chauvin says. “They need motor competencies in running, jumping, throwing, and catching to get more comfortable with different movements and gain confidence in their ability to be active.”

The students also collected data to analyze and refine the program in what Chauvin characterizes as “a crazy few months.”

“It has taken a true team effort to make this program a success,” she says. “I have found it a really good learning experience that gave me a taste of the business side of things, from working with people to recruiting participants.”