King goes extra mile to help kids keep fit

Tottenham Hotspur ambassador Ledley King joined schoolchildren from Rowland Hill Nursey and Children’s Centre in Tottenham to celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Daily Mile, a keep-fit initiative aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of young people. 

Children from the school, based in White Hart Lane, were able to decide for themselves how they completed their mile and could opt to walk, jog, run, or even cycle in the school’s on-site adventure playground. 

After taking part in a warm-up led by the former Spurs captain, the children completed their mile of choice before being congratulated by Ledley at the finish line and handed commemorative stickers to mark their achievement. 

The Daily Mile was first developed by Elaine Wyllie MBE when she was a primary school headteacher in Scotland in 2012. Ten years later, three million children across 14,000 schools are now regularly completing 15 minutes of daily exercise.

Over 250,000 young people in 16 different countries across the world took part this week to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the campaign.

Speaking after the event, Ledley said: “The Daily Mile is a fantastic initiative, and it was great to join local school children to celebrate the tenth anniversary. Keeping active is important for people of all ages so it was fantastic to see the enthusiasm from the children who seemed to have great fun taking part!” 

Sian McDermott, headteacher at Rowland Hills Nursery and Children’s Centre, said: “We were delighted to welcome Ledley to the school. It was wonderful to see children enjoying themselves with their friends and staying active too. Initiatives like these are a great way at introducing physical exercise at a young age and promoting life-long wellbeing.”