ChronicleSave the kids (and Jacques-Bourdon Park)!

Laurent was a physical educator at the Saint-Charles pavilion at Des Ormeaux elementary school, in the Duvernay district of Laval. He has been teaching there for ten years. This pavilion accommodates kindergarten students and approximately 210 students in 5th and 6th grades. At school and in the neighborhood, most people call him Mr. Lawrence .

He became popular in this community because he never compromised on his work. For example, the gymnasium of his school, built in the late 1950s, is very small. The area is almost bigger than a badminton court.

Instead of complaining about it, Mr. Laurent has set up a volleyball program that ends each year in a tournament where between 90% and 95% of students in the 5th and th -6 grades are voluntarily participating. The volleyball court is so small that, in the year of their inception in volleyball, Mr. Laurent gives 5th grade students the right to use the walls in play sequences. He found a way to make his local disability a learning tool.

Mr. Laurent is a lively, even hyperactive man. Any guy in my softball league will tell you that. But he seems to be more at work. In the winter, after snowstorms, he uses a small tractor to make large piles in the backyard of the school so the kids can slide down on them. He didn’t need to. But he considers it important that his students benefit from playful areas.

Such involvement, we admit, is not uncommon.

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To combat the disadvantages of the small gymnasium in the St-Charles pavilion, Laurent Daoust and his groups of students are also among the biggest users of Jacques-Bourdon Park, located just behind the school.

Jacques-Bourdon Park is also located in the middle of an island surrounded by a municipal library, two schools and three daycare centers. In addition to being a central element of the district, this park is clearly part of the daily lives of children, young and old, who attend these five institutions.

Designed about sixty years ago, the park has not betrayed its age. She needs a lot of love. It currently consists of a swimming pool and a wading pool, games for children and two small baseball fields.

However, the space is large and functional enough for students to run, play soccer, play baseball, volleyball and many other activities.

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Ten days ago, therefore, Laurent Daoust told me that he was particularly concerned about the health and physical condition of his students.

Every year since he came to Saint-Charles, Mr. Laurent submits his students to the shuttle test to measure their physical condition and their cardio-respiratory capacities. This test is quite simple: all you have to do is cross, round trip, a distance of 20 meters followed by a sound signal that the rate is gradually increasing. The more the number of stages you cross, the more in shape you are.

However, as the years go by, the results that students are able to do on the shuttle test decrease even more.

When I started taking the shuttle test in 2014, it was amazing how my students took two or three steps further than they do now. Very clear. The difference is significant. I talk about this with colleagues from other schools and it seems like a general situation.

Are there still fit children? Yes. But in the past, let’s say that in a group of 26 students, there were 2 or 3 who were really out of shape. There are about fifteen in average physical condition and the other five or six are in good condition. But there, I would say that there are 80% of students who are not in good shape. There is a big gap between the strongest and the other group he says.

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What Laurent Daoust says is not the result of his imagination.

Thousands of students in Quebec have undergone the shuttle test for educational purposes since the early 1980s. And some researchers have noticed that the performance and physical condition of our children have dropped sharply in over the years.

In an interesting master’s thesis in experimental medicine (Laval University) written in 2014, Renée-Claude Guy already mentioned that children’s results are in freefall compared to those combined in the study by Léger et al. . This last study, which often serves as a point of reference for researchers, was done in 1982.

For example, an 11.5-year-old male and female who were in the 50th percentile in 1982 crossed the 6.8 and 4.9 levels respectively. In 2014, boys of the same age crossed only 4 levels. And women, only 3.25.

It was dramatic.

I remind you, these statistics date from 2014. And Mr. Laurent notes that in his school, the performance of his students has not improved much since 2014.

The outcome of the pandemic, he said, was particularly troubling.

When his students finally began re -entering his classes, most could no longer sit in indian over a minute because he was hurt too much. In the trunk flexibility test (sitting on the floor with legs outstretched and trunk outstretched towards feet) an alarming number of children were barely able to bend their trunks to touch the lower part of their knees! Some even had to lie on their shoulders to do so.

In other words, we are in the presence of a passionate and dedicated physical education teacher who is concerned, and realize that the two hours of lessons he or she offers each week are clearly not enough to combat this stressful trend. . To compensate, she recommends exercises to be done at home and she tries in every way to teach her students the extreme importance of being active and developing healthy living habits.

At this point, I think my duty is to try to let my students know that the current situation is serious. Sometimes I wonder if kids in this generation won’t start suffering from heart problems at the age of thirty rather than their 50s or 60s. he said, troubled.

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The straw that broke on the back of the camel of concern for Mr. Laurent happened on the 12th of April. He is still confused.

That day, in an information session (which is still available online (New window)), Ville de Laval announced its intentions regarding the redevelopment of the important Jacques-Bourdon Park. And in summary, instead of modernizing and diversifying the sports facilities there, the City decided to get rid of them! Take out the swimming pool and romper. Exit two baseball fields.

The change of the park’s vocation will coincide with a major renovation of the Germaine-Guèvremont municipal library, which is also adjacent to the park. And the intention of the Laval administration is very clear. He decided to make Jacques-Bourdon Park a beautiful and spacious yard for the library. We wanted to make the park a place where meditation activities would be a privilege.

Parc Jacques-Bourdon will therefore no longer have a sporting vocation. City officials indicated that conventional games for toddlers will remain in place due to the presence of several daycare centers and kindergartens nearby. There will also be extensive water games that will obviously only be used by very young children. He said a mound will be built for the children to slide in in the winter and will serve as an auditorium in the summer season.

Finally, a grassy area, which is relatively moderate in size, can be used as a multipurpose sports area, it is explained.

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During the question session following this very friendly presentation by the representatives of the City of Laval, however, we clearly felt strong opposition from the citizens. Most of the interventions are related to the importance of caring for the swimming pool and maintaining sports facilities for the district population.

I was impressed with the attachment of the citizens to this old-fashioned park and their understanding of the strategic importance of this space, given its proximity to schools.

Our children learned to swim in this pool , a citizen’s argument. (I’m paraphrasing the interventions here, because they’re pretty long)

You tell us that water games will be available longer than the swimming pool, but these games will only be used by children aged 0-5 years. The other community will be defeated please another.

We will fight to keep our pool! announcement of a man in his sixties.

A few years ago, the City stopped installing a skating rink in the winter. And there, you told us that the swimming pool, the romper and the baseball field were leaving underlined a lady who was worried about the lack of infrastructure to give young people a taste of the movement.

With each intervention, City representatives have always lovingly defended their project to redevelop Jacques-Bourdon Park. This change of vocation, they explained, is part of a major strategic plan for the City.

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It’s about outlook on life.

Building a park with a contemplative vocation would probably seem like a good idea in town hall offices. But because of the disturbing trend that was emerging in his little gymnasium, Mr. was convinced. Laurent that this is not really the time to lose sports facilities.

It was an important moment in the history of the district that was played out. There are so many things that tell us that we adults need to do more for children to move.

50 years ago, kids were playing outside and everything was simple. Our duty today is to ensure that the adults of tomorrow are competent, balanced, and healthy. If we’re going to resist the timeless buffet of children’s entertainment in their homes, on their phones or tablets, we need to give them something really interesting outside. These children should have inviting sports facilities in their living environment. he says.

Representatives of the City of Laval accepted the comments of the citizens, in writing, until April 26. They explained that the comments will be reviewed and they will be used to improve the concept presented. The concept will be completed in the summer.

Professionals in Ville de Laval had better sharpen their pencils before presenting their final version of Jacques-Bourdon Park. Because the citizens of the neighborhood seem to be out of contemplative mode.