By Gabriel Olawale

LAGOS —UPBEAT Recreational Centre has emphasized the importance of sports and active fun activities as critical components in child development.

Speaking in Lagos during the launching of its Games Programme where it hosted children from The Destiny Trust Foundation, Executive Director at Upbeat Recreational Centre, Moyo Ogunseinde, said that the Games Day programme is one in a couple of impact initiatives the facility has designed as part of its sustainability agenda to promote active fun for children.

“The aim of the programme is to expose disadvantaged and underrepresented children to various sporting activities that can promote a healthy lifestyle, providing them access to environment and resources they may not otherwise have access to.”

“This is inline with our mission to combat screen addiction in children, and in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 3 which seeks to ensure healthy lives for all ages.”

“During the programme, the children were engaged in various educational sessions about fitness and fun ways to exercise. The children gained access to the wide array of sporting games available at Upbeat including trampoline jumps, wall climbing, relay and sack races, amongst many other activities. The day ended at Beat Bites Restaurant within the Upbeat Centre where the children were fed to their fill with healthy meals and snacks.”

Upbeat Recreation Centre is Nigeria’s first purpose-built, community-based children, family, and group entertainment space that provides active, fitness and fun activities within a safe and controlled environment. Designed around the African culture of communality, and reimagining how fun can be infused into fitness and healthy living, Upbeat was established in 2017 and remains a delight for children – who make up over 65 percent of visitors each year.
The Centre features West Africa’s first trampoline park and houses several fun activities that reduce screen time and device addiction, providing a world class recreational environment that encourages the physical, mental and social development of children using sports and active fun.

The Destiny Trust foundation focuses on the wellbeing, education and empowerment of homeless children and other classes of young people in disadvantaged circumstances. They provide at-risk children a new start through their integrated initiatives which focus mainly on using education to create tangible empowerment and lifting children from extreme poverty and conditions that hold them back.

Learning Facilitator at The Destiny Trust, Kemi Magnus-Oyewole spoke on the importance of the visit to the children: “At The Destiny Trust, we believe that providing all-round care for the kids helps them better focus on learning and gaining skills. We not only provide education but also food, shelter, clothes and counselling when necessary. We were excited to get the invitation from Upbeat and the day was beyond our expectations.”