A Jesmond school teacher has launched a sports course this week providing a range of different activities for children aged three to five in their new sports course starting on November 7th.

The course, called Active Stars, aims to give children in the Jesmond area the opportunity to participate in a range of sporting activities, from ‘Mario Kart bumper cars’ to ‘pirate football’.

Research conducted by Joe Baker, a PhD student at the School of Physical and Health Education at Queen’s University in Canada suggests that sport diversification within children can be more beneficial for a child’s sporting development as opposed to “early specialization” within sports. Active Stars look to put this research into practice.

“We still have this really terrible gender stereotype, boys that might be keen on gymnastics or netball and girls who want to play rugby. I know this still exists in schools,” said head coach Stephen Wood.

“We have a boys’ PE curriculum and a girls’ PE curriculum, I don’t get that,” he added.

As well as highlighting the importance of giving children diverse opportunities within sport regardless of gender or ability, Wood also said it was important to focus on the mental health and well-being of those taking part in the courses, regardless of the age of participants.

The Active Stars sessions run for one hour and began on Sunday November 7th, running for seven weeks every Sunday leading up to Christmas.

Further information is available via the Active Stars website or by contacting directly at activestarscoaching@gmail.com