22 Feb 2015

Block 7 Fitness Park project fits well in the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture’s (MYSC) strategy for promoting national fitness and wellness, as derived from the National Sports and Recreation Policy and the National Development Plan 10.

Officially opening the gym on Thursday, February 19 the Minister of Sports, Youth and Culture (MYSC), Thapelo Olopeng said the gym would curb non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, obesity and cardiac complications which had become leading causes of mortality in the country.

It would also help promote physical training and fitness, particularly that physical training and fitness activities could serve as a means to direct the abundant energies of young people into socially acceptable activities.

“This will help reduce incidences of alcohol and drug abuse as well as juvenile delinquency,” said Minister Olopeng.

For his part, the brains behind the initiative, Leatile Sithole said it all started as a dream while he was exercising with his friends at a park in extension 11, using old swings as pull up bars.

“Unfortunately, the park was repaired and we had nowhere to exercise with my boys, then it hit me to start an outdoor gym, a friend of mine then supported the idea and gave me a YouTube link and here we are,” he said.

Though it took him approximately two years for this project to be on full swing, Mr Sithole said it was not an easy journey, but with the help of the sponsors, Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture (MYSC), National Development Bank, Symphony Health and Gaborone City Council it was possible.

He also added that he was propelled to start this project due to the accelerating obesity rates of Batswana especially adults living in Gaborone, also that it was a fundamental right for every Motswana to have a healthy lifestyle regardless of whether they could afford gym or not.

“Throughout this journey, a lot of people came and joined hands with us to make this possible, some are even volunteers, he added.

“Also, it amuses me to see the community interaction that the gym loyalists also dubbed as Lets Unite Outdoor Fitness Park have shown, they help each other and have become a support network for each other, said Mr  Sithole.

The gym, which in due course will be extended to other parts of Gaborone and country is free and open all day.
It offers a wide variety of fun exercises ranging from sprints, aerobics and every youth’s ideal work out calisthenics and gymnastics with a twist by the Dibatana Calisthenics.

Symphony Health too provided some fitness test that included a weigh in, cholesterol tests, blood sugar and blood pressure to promote a healthy living for the gym enthusiasts.

One of the faithful gym enthusiasts, Mr Keobakile Api, 28, who joined the gym on January 8, and to date he achieved a size 81kg from 86.5kg, had this to say,

As I was driving across the busy western by pass road one evening, I could not help but notice a fitness revolution, the young and old doing stretches, sprints and aerobics.

As curiosity struck, I decided to take a glance at the unfamiliar yet interesting group of people exercising in unusual swings like equipment.

An outdoor gym of its magnitude and stature is the first of its kind in Botswana. Block 7 fitness Park has really brought a fitness buzz to the residents of Gaborone. ENDS