Broadstairs Skip2bfit founder John McCormack has been working with homeless street children in Goa who have been taken in by the Shanti Niketan School.
The school is run by the El Shaddai Charitable Trust which was set up to take children off the street and house and educate them.
Dad-of-four John, who ran 10k of the Goa marathon last year to raise funds for the charity, is back in the country and visited the school to host a free workshop and gift some Skip2bfit ropes.
The children took part in the 2 minute Skip2bfit challenge, which is ‘how many skips can you do in two minutes?’ using Skip2bfit adjustable counting skipping ropes to improve the children’s personal development.
The children are then encouraged to improve their skipping score, demonstrating that everybody can improve if they put the effort in. This can then be transferred into the classroom and everything they do in life, which is what Skip2Bfit is so passionate about.
The school will continue with the 6 week programme using the resources John has donated, helping to raise attainment levels in numeracy as well as improving children’s fitness levels.
Headteacher Julia Matthew said. “The children had a great time and really responded to John’s motivation and skipping skills. Skip2Bfit is such a fantastic idea to inspire our children and it was great seeing all the children trying to improve on their scores in the Skip2Bfit Challenge.
“This was a great experience for our children and now we can continue with the skipping thanks to the ropes John donated to our school.”
John added: “ The children were so well behaved and polite on the day and really responded to the challenge.
“When we gave the school all the ropes the children were coming up, shaking my hand and this really had an effect on me seeing these children being so grateful.
“I wanted to do something and decided to raise money for the school and set up a sponsorship run this Sunday.”
Anyone who would like to support the school can sponsor John at: https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/10k-goa-marathon-run
Any school across the UK that would like a fun day for the children can contact Skip2bfit on twitter or Instagram @skip2bfit, at www.skip2bfit.com e-mail on [email protected] or on 01843 603020.
Skip2Bfit challenge days can be seen on YouTube,