This Thursday, November 18, a sports activity concept supported by Ineos and OGC Nice was launched in a school in Nice.
It was already known that OGC Nice is very active for children, especially during this week dedicated to children’s rights.
Yesterday, a new project, the Daily Mile, was launched at the Terra Amata elementary school located near the Port of Nice.
The Daily Mile has a simple concept: to make students run or walk every day for 15 minutes (the equivalent of a mile) with the aim of making physical activity a habit for children and having a positive impact on their health.
To accompany this first launch in Nice and in France, numerous personalities were present at the Terra Amata School.
Two elected officials from the City Hall: Jean-Marc Giaume, Deputy for sports, and Anthony Borré, first deputy of Christian Estrosi.
Also present was the board of OGC Nice: the President of the Gym and Ineos, Jim Ratcliffe, the president of the club, Jean-Pierre Rivère, and even a player from the first team: the Austrian defender Flavius Daniliuc.
The latter ran with the children the 1.6 kilometers for 15 minutes before explaining the necessity of regular sports activity: “When I was little, it meant everything to me. To be able to run, let off steam, be outside… A project like this can only be good for their future and their health. If they start very early, they will be able to have this habit for the future”.
The leaders of OGC Nice also expressed the importance of children practicing sports or physical activities at school for their well-being and health:
“Sports and school, nothing is better. I find this initiative remarkable and it can be very inspiring for future generations of policy. I think that if one day in France we managed to put a little more sports in school and on a daily basis with facilities worthy of the name, it would be a somewhat heavy investment initially but greatly beneficial for the French and the French population…
Whatever sport one practices, it allows for an inner balance, to make efforts, I think children still have a lot of values to learn.” said Jean-Pierre Rivère.
Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of Ineos and the Gym, joined his president in expressing the positive impact on future generations: “Today, children are increasingly caught up with screens and may eat more than they should. It’s therefore very important to exercise and have it ingrained in their daily life from a young age because we see the long-term benefits.”
The English owner also returned to the story of this project, first launched in the United Kingdom in 2012. “The idea came from a Scottish school principal who found that her students were not exercising enough. The idea of doing a mile a day came to her, my brother Bob met her, and together they developed the Daily Mile”.
Today over 3 million children around the world participate in the Daily Mile. With this launch in France, this figure will continue to grow. In Nice alone, 73 schools will take part in this project.
