Welcome to edition #4 of e-News. As we enter August the sleepless nights of July, watching Wimbledon and the Tour de France, have passed. Many of Australia's winter codes are deep in their seasons with fortunes rising and falling. It is of course much cooler and therefore more challenging to get outside and be active but you really can't beat that feeling of warmth and wellbeing when all around you is cold and wet.

And of course let's not forget what many regard as the pinnacle of sport, the Olympics, which we are counting down, beginning on 8/8/08.

This months 'Ultimate physical activity' looks at the Tour de France, we introduce 'Exploration' in our coaching and we have some exciting 'Recent News' involving Alcoa and Bluearth.

Finally, we fairwell our CEO David Simpson. After four years 'Simmo' has decided to move on.

And, as always we are interested in your feedback, let us know how we are going: enews@bluearth.org.

Enjoy
e-News

BLUEARTH AND ALCOA PARTNERSHIP

The Bluearth Team is pleased to announce our partnership with Alcoa Australia. As part of this relationship we are already rolling out the program in 10 primary schools in the Peel region of Western Australia with a recent launch in May.

Below is an excerpt from Alcoa's e-news letter. Read the full article here.

"In line with our commitment to partner with organisations which promote and encourage safe and healthy families, Alcoa is supporting the Bluearth program which has been running successfully in schools around Australia for many years thanks to the Bluearth Foundation. The program aims to give children the lifelong love of physical activity, which is becoming increasingly important as the obesity epidemic becomes a serious problem in our community."

"Alcoa's $70,000 partnership with the Bluearth Foundation will see the Bluearth program rolled out at ten schools in the Peel region. Students will be given the opportunity to explore their co-ordination, agility, speed, motor skills, stability, flexibility, cardiovascular adaptation and balance within a fun and supportive environment."

We, at Bluearth, applaud Alcoa for its community involvement and hope this is the beginning of a long and supportive relationship.

DAVID SIMPSON DEPARTS

David Simpson, Bluearth CEO, has retired after four years at the helm. During his time at Bluearth, he has guided us through many significant milestones including gaining DGR status, and our move to a national organisation.

In his words he was 'very grateful to lead a wonderful group of people in an endeavour of such significant social importance'.

He is embarking on the third act of his life and will be actively involved in mentoring and executive coaching.

We all wish David well in his future endeavours and hope to maintain a strong relationship with our founding CEO.

Simmo will surely be missed!

After requests from some schools we have decided to include a thought/idea/suggestion around physical activity and how we can incorporate it into our lifestyles. We are happy and would encourage schools to feel free to use this in their newsletters or dialogue with others in their school community.

Reflect for a moment how much incidental physical activity you and your family experience before work and school. How do you travel there? What are the possibilities?

Giving your body the opportunity to be active at the start of the day has countless physical and psychological benefits. From waking up the body and mind to increasing heat and starting to burn that metabolic furnace, not to mention the opportunity to be outside in the environment. The positive feeling seems to stay with you all day.

How can you add more activity to you and your family's mornings? Is it walking to school, taking the dogs around the block, riding to the shops for the paper? Do what works for you.

These are, after all, just habits we have formed and can form.

If you wish your school to receive reflection/suggestion directly please reply here:
enews@bluearth.org. Remember to include your school name.

After the success of current workshops there are still a couple remaining. Watch over coming editions for more dates to be released for the second half of the year.

Click on the 'register' button to download registration form, or speak to your coach to lock in your spot.

AREA	DATE & TIME	LOCATION ADDRESS
WANGARATTA	Thu 21st August 2008 9.30am - 3.00pm	Galen College Sports Stadium Phillipson Street, Wangaratta 3677
RIVERLAND	Thu 21st August 2008 4.30 pm - 6.30 pm	Barmera Primary School Rumbold Dev, Barmera, SA, 5345
SYDNEY	Fri 22nd August 2008 9.30 am - 3.00 pm	Anne Clark Netball Centre Church Street, Lidcombe
BENDIGO	Tue 26th August 2008 9.30 am - 3.00 pm	St. Francis of the Fields Primary School 46 Bulgher Street, Strathfieldsaye 3551
MELBOURNE	Wed 3rd September 2008 9.30 am - 3.00 pm	Albert Park Indoor Sports Centre, Pit Building 3 Aughtie Drive, Albert Park Melways 57 J6 or Tram 96 - Middle Park station
BRISBANE	Wed 10th September 2008 9.30 am - 3.00 pm	Salisbury Super Sports Cnr Evans and Toohey Rds, Salisbury
	To register for any of these workshops, please download and complete the enrolment form (pdf 82KB).

TOUR DE FRANCE

Italy has the Giro d'Italia, Spain the Vuelta espana but July in France signals the grandest tour of them all. Le tour de France.

The pinnacle of cycling, the Tour is the most prestigious race to compete, finish and ultimately succeed. Run over 3 weeks and around 3,500km annually it is arguably the toughest sporting event in the world. Fast flat sprints, gruelling mountain top passes, capacity time-trials and hair-raising descents combined with amazing scenery and spectacular camera work make this the worlds biggest annual sporting event.

Although it is professionals that slug is out, it is all held on public roads within and around France, a mecca for cycling. Many spectating riders choose to tackle the climbs in the days around when the tour actually passes through with some events tied in with the actual Tour.

Did you know? : The race organisers rotate the course each year from clockwise around France to anti-clockwise.

Submit your ultimate physical activity challenge: enews@bluearth.org

This month we look at an aspect of our approach that underpins many of our practices and reflects our philosophies.

Any equipment can be used here and with very little instruction (maybe something around space and independence). The aim of these activities is for students to explore their abilities and what can be achieved with, and without, various pieces of equipment. Ideally, students would have one piece of equipment each although you may have to adjust.

After what you think has been an appropriate amount of time to fully explore, you may like to point to more specific skills that you wish to focus on. You may like to ask for a few students to share what they have been working on for others to experience, or you may just use a questioning approach and ask 'what did they investigate?' through a discussion.

By not limiting what they can do, the possibilities become endless. Enjoy the time in and with your class.

BLUEARTH + STAFF = POTENTIAL

We are getting more and more schools asking if we can facilitate some movement education / discussion at staff meetings, curriculum days and even staff retreats. If this sounds like you, get in touch and we can tailor something to your needs.

Ask Bluearth to facilitate your next staff get together: enews@bluearth.org

If you like what you've read and have friends or colleagues you think would like to receive a copy of e-News, you can now use our new 'Forward to a Friend' facility to add them to our monthly distribution list. And of course we'll send them a copy of this issue too!

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FEEDBACK

Here at Bluearth we often receive stories from schools around how our program is progressing and significant experiences that students or staff may have had. We invite you to send these stories through and we'll publish them here. Pictures are welcome as well.

www.bluearth.org
enews@bluearth.org

Bluearth, Level 5, 1 Bowen Crescent
Melbourne VIC 3004, Australia