Hula Hoopers ready for finals

Forty-eight students from 21 schools which entered the National Health Fund (NHF) Hula Hoopers competition will participate in the finals, which will be held today at the Old Library at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, starting at 1 p.m.

Rosemarie Lee, public information manager at the NHF, says there was enthusiastic participation from the schools that entered the inaugural competition, which was launched in the first week of April during Physical Activity Week 2010.

"The NHF is seeking, through the introduction of the Hula Hoopers competition, to expand the opportunities for children to become physically active. Physical activity for young people is important, because it will help to prevent the early development of chronic diseases which are affecting persons at a younger age."

At the final, the hula-hoop routine will be judged on degree of difficulty, use of body movement, rotation speed of hoop, choreography of routine, creativity with the hoop and fluidity of movement of the hoop.

Top prizes

Ten students will be competing in the three-five-year-old category while 36 students will be competing for the top prizes in the seven-12-year-old group. Competitors are vying for bicycles, sports gift vouchers and trophies for the top three schools. Schools from St Catherine, Kingston & St Andrew, St James, Trelawny, St Thomas, Hanover, St Ann, Manchester, St Elizabeth, entered the competition.

The NHF intends to make this an annual competition and looks forward to more schools entering the competition next year.