Heroes in sports and fitness with a twist

With the theme of heroism this month, I wanted to share something with our readers that comes from the heart and doesn’t require scientific backup or statistical data. I have many heroes in our industry, but when I thought about it, all of these heroes get paid to be just that.

Some to kick a ball, lift a weight, train an athlete or others to win an Olympic gold medal. It’s their job. Don’t get me wrong, the heroes I WAS going to write about are truly inspirational and have sometimes defied all odds to become victorious, but at the end of the day they are just extremely good at their job.

This article is about the unpaid heroes in fitness that inspire me the most on a daily basis – not just once a year in the grand final. These everyday heroes go unnoticed by everyone except just a few people that really matter.

These heroes to me are all the mothers, fathers and/or guardians who are full-time employees or business owners, full-time husbands or wives and very importantly fulltime parents. What makes them so special?

These parents are leading by example in many ways. Not just teaching their child to be a humble and kind person in our society but also how to be active, fit and healthy.

These extremely busy (who’s not busy these days?) parents find the time to go to the gym, go for a run, play sport, stretch, eat healthy, or all of the above.

These parents are MY heroes because they are finding time to show our future generation how to respect and look after their bodies without getting paid a cent.

Many of these parents attend our Fitness Centre and now their children want to come as well. Some of the parents I know are out playing touch football or racing in triathlons and their children are joining up because they want to be like Mum and Dad.

Let’s face it, it’s a tough ask to reverse the amount of overweight Australians, we are getting fatter and even lazier. The last article outlined the massive decline in activity levels and incline in obesity in this country.

Child obesity is getting even worse!

Parents play a massive part in deciding the health of our nation. I feel children absorb the behaviours and attitudes of whoever is raising them.

There’s a big difference between telling a child to be fit and healthy AND, them watching you BE fit and healthy. Who is going to listen to a broke financial advisor? Not me. If your child knows that you go to the gym to exercise it’s more likely they will think that’s just normal behaviour.

Cooking and eating fresh healthy meals – normal behaviour. If your child watches you scrolling for hours on social media while eating junk food they will think that’s normal behaviour.

Parents that I come in to contact with every week who are positively leading by example are my heroes. If they are reading this article, they know who they are.

A lot of these positive role models are also racing all over town to get their kids to training and competitions on the weekends. Making sure our future generation is accessing different sports and physical activities is also a big part of it.

Our community needs more of these parenting heroes!