World Monitor Mag, Industrial Overview WM_November_2018_WEB_Version | Page 62

SPORT
The other you
This year we began the large-scale republican sports campaign 'The
Other You', or as we call it 'the Challenge', which is primarily aimed at
popularizing and attracting Kazakhstanis to active mass sports. I am
proud to say that this initiative has been supported by a large number
of participants, and not only Kazakhstani people, the Challenge
covered more than 320,000 people.
Valikhan Ten
I believe that the topic of an active lifestyle
is relevant in our time. In connection with
the urbanization of the population and
technological progress, the problem of
physical inactivity rises, that is, people pay
less and less attention to physical activity,
in particular, the younger generation. We
go down from our apartment to the parking
on the elevator, sit in the car, drive out of
the garage, drive to the office, and again
at the parking lot we use the elevator – we
very rarely walk anywhere anymore. We do
not have the same physical activity that
was part of daily life in the homes of our
parents. And to make things even worse,
the younger generation is so involved in
technological progress and social networks
that even their live communication with
people is reduced to a minimum.
The task of the Republican Challenge is to
draw people's attention to this problem, and
most importantly give people the incentive
and motivation to go out for sports and,
moreover, to make sport a habit that
becomes a way of life.
When growing up, a person acquires
automatic habits, brought up by parents,
such as, brushing his/her teeth. At the
beginning of childhood, parents are forced
to brush their child’s teeth in the morning,
but often the child tries to come up with
various excuses not to do this because
he is lazy and uncomfortable. After some
time, he no longer resists, because he
psychologically understands that mom and
dad will make him upset if he doesn’t, and
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he doesn’t want to upset his parents. At
some point, there comes a period when the
child automatically goes to brush his teeth
without thinking whether he wants to or
not, that is, it has become a biological need,
and if a person does not brush his teeth, it
brings him some discomfort.
The same with the physical activity. For
a period of time, a motivational push is
needed, a mentor is needed, a guide in its
own way, which will help with getting started
with physical activity. Here, the challenge
‘The Other You’ is a guide to sports and
a healthy lifestyle. We give the tools, the
opportunity, motivate people to take the
first steps in the sport and support those
who are already actively engaged. After a
certain time, participants understand their
need for physical activity and turn it into
a habit. And at the next stage, it is already
becoming a chemical addiction, that is, a
person who does not exercise experiences
discomfort.
The First Republican Challenge ‘The Other
You’, which was initiated by our President
Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, received
a positive response because it was aimed
at promoting a healthy lifestyle among the
younger generation. It is noteworthy that
the priority number of participants that
were attracted to the Challenge ‘The Other
You’ turned out to be youth. Also, a large
number of our popular stars, businessmen,
cultural figures and athletes supported
this challenge as active participants.
The Challenge took 21 days total, during