Sheridan Athletics aims to boost student wellness during the pandemic

Social distancing. Learning and working remotely. Limiting trips to the grocery store by ordering in. Whatever you’re doing to flatten the curve of COVID-19, you don’t have to do it all sitting down.

That’s the message that Sheridan’s Athletics and Recreation department is sharing with students, through a new initiative – 20-4-20 – that promotes fitness, healthy eating, and general wellness during the pandemic. The 10-week program includes 20 acts of outreach and supports both Sheridan’s student body and the greater community, including five area food banks.

“There’s a million studies on how being active promotes well-being and positivity in general, and it’s obviously much more challenging to stay active during these times,” says Scott Van Hende, Athletics Facility Coordinator at the Davis Campus. “We believe this campaign can help students, who tend to be very social beings and may be finding this pandemic more challenging than others.”

The program launched at the end of April with a donation drive to support five food banks in Halton and Peel. Over the 10-week campaign period, Sheridan’s Athletics department is streaming live or recorded exercise sessions on Tuesdays, and hosting informative or social events on Thursdays. Activities include boot camps, yoga classes, and stretching/mobility classes (via Facebook and Instagram), ESport tournaments, the launch of a Sheridan Run Club with an eight-week challenge, and information sessions about the Ontario College Athletics Association, which oversees college varsity sports in the province.

“It’s a full team effort,” says Van Hende. “Our department was already doing some of these things, and we just switched to a different delivery method – but we’ve also added some new initiatives to promote healthy living during the pandemic.”

As Sheridan campuses remain closed for the foreseeable future, Athletics and Recreation hopes to build on this 10-week initiative to continue outreach and support for students over the summer term.

Learn more about 20-4-20.