The national wellbeing and movement Not-for-Profit, Bluearth Foundation has secured two dedicated and experienced professionals in Jan Cooper and Pierre Comis.
role she was with the WA Football Commission as their Female Football Manager whilst still
primary school teaching.
In that time, she led the increase in female AFL participation nationally from 16,000 to over
500,000 players. With State based colleagues she also developed the talent pathway
improving the professionalism of State Women’s Leagues through to initiating State and
National High-Performance Academies and national competitions in schoolgirls, AFLW 18s
through to AFLW. Jan now works for the West Coast Eagles Football Club as the Player Wellbeing and Pathways Manager and helped get their first AFLW team prepared for 2020.
Jan said, “I wanted to join the Board of Bluearth because I am passionate about Australians being physically active. Young people should be provided as many opportunities as possible to enjoy movement and connection with others through physical activity. During my final years as an educator I noted the decline in families being active and the increase in sedentary behaviors of young people meaning they lose the sense of challenging their bodies and minds through movement“.
He is currently Head of Schools and Participation at Special Olympics Australia, having previously worked for several National Sporting Organisations and at Sport Australia. He was instrumental in delivery of the Active After-school Communities program, the Sporting Schools program and in championing the physical literacy agenda in this country.
Pierre has driven the connection between the sport, health and education sectors to help tackle our inactivity crisis. He remains passionate about developing more physically literate Australian children and making daily physical activity the norm, both at school and in the family home.
“I felt a strong calling and passion for continuing to play a leadership role and thus ensuring a physical literacy approach continued to inform and underpin any effort to address Australia’s inactivity crisis, particularly in children. The Bluearth board allows me to pursue this agenda while enabling me to contribute strategically to the growth and improved impact of an organisation equally passionate in seeking to improve levels of physical literacy and physical activity within Australia“, he said.
Bluearth are leading the way on physical literacy within Australian schools during COVID-19 with a wide range of online and face-to-face lessons and resources that address the four key areas. Bluearth Foundation and their programs touched over 13,000 school children in 2019 and developed 680 leaders via the Active Leaders Program.