Special Olympics Yukon celebrated its first ever Active Start Program Wednesday evening, with a representative from sponsor Yukon Energy presenting certificates of achievement to the participants.

The Active Start program has been going on for 10 weeks for children aged four to seven with an intellectual disability to help introduce them to the Special Olympics.

"The best part of this is that it introduces these kids that are younger to the Special Olympics family,” said Natasha Jaczek, program director for Special Olympics Yukon.

The program gives children the skills they need to get involved with the Special Olympics once they are old enough and to start a healthy, active lifestyle.

Three children and their parents have taken part in the program that has spanned two and a half months.

Kids can get involved in Special Olympics once they are eight years old, but the Active Start program helps them bridge into that easier by teaching them basic motor skills that can help them later on in sport.

"It's learning basic motor skills rather than learning to play soccer,” said Jaczek.

The kids begin with basic skills like kicking, and then move on to learn how to kick a ball to someone, Jaczek said.

"We teach them basically how to work together as a team,” said Cheri Lang, the Active Start leader.

The program started out with basic walking and running exercises, followed by balance techniques and went on to jumping, catching and throwing, striking and kicking.

The hope is that parents will pick up on the program and keep teaching their children as they grow up, to continue to improve on what they've learned.

Not only does the time spent learning the skills help children prepare for a life in sports, it helps them get valuable social interactions with the other participants and their families as well.

The program is the first of its kind in the Yukon, and Jaczek said they hope to branch out in the coming years after the success of the first one. Special Olympics hopes to have a few more programs running at a time next year, with the ultimate goal being to have a program in one or more of the communities.

Active Start can accomodate up to five kids, with three being the minimum.

"The more kids there are, the more you get out of them,” said Jaczek.

The program will finish up after Christmas for the three children already involved, and Jaczek hopes they will be able to interest more parents to get their children involved in the new year.

Janet Patterson, communications supervisor for Yukon Energy Corporation presented the three participants with certificates of achievement last night.

To get your child involved in a future running of the program, or for more information contact Jaczek at 668-6511.