Heloise Lorimer School students are channelling their inner Ethan Hunt this February.
The elementary school in King’s View Heights is putting its students to the test this month with a Mission Impossible-style gym circuit.
Students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 are tasked with completing the course with different levels of obstacles and challenges as if training to join the Impossible Missions Force.
There are five levels with three or four obstacles and the kids are given different challenges in order to make it easier or harder based on their skill level.
“One class goes in at a time and if you and I were partners, you would do the course as you're training to become part of a secret spy agency and I'm your training officer. I’d watch you and make sure you're doing it right,” explained Adam Pratt, the phys. ed. specialist at Heloise Lorimer school.
Mission Impossible helps kids work on good risky play, Pratt said, as the course is a good environment for kids to try different maneuvers and learn new skills.
“I'm a firm believer that if kids try these risky things and learn them while they're young, then they're actually much safer in the long run,” Pratt said. “They're building that confidence and balancing and climbing skills that help them transition into active adulthood.”
Pratt said the students “lose their mind” with excitement over the annual Mission Impossible challenge, and he often gets good feedback from parents who say it’s all their kids will talk about when they come home from school after doing the course.
The obstacle course currently takes up half the Heloise Lorimer gym and is largely comprised of gymnastics equipment like hurdles, agility ladders, mats, and balance boards.
Pratt noted the gymnastics equipment is usually borrowed from R.J. Hawkey Elementary School – one of Airdrie’s oldest schools and one of the few that still owns gymnastics equipment.
Last year, Heloise Lorimer School couldn’t set up the Mission Impossible course due to COVID-19 sanitation protocols, but the regulations this school year allowed Pratt to bring back the beloved activity.
The course will be set up for three weeks, providing enough time for kids to master new spy moves like balancing on beams, jumping from one obstacle to another, or rope climbing – just in case they ever need to climb a rope into a helicopter, like Tom Cruise.
“They're learning to take safe smart risks and develop confidence and learn fundamental movement skills that transition into other sports and activities they might want to do later,” Pratt said. “If you can't balance, it's hard to ski or do yoga or skateboard or anything like that.”
