Regent Park Focus

For our July 5th episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, we introduced our show with a discussion on the movie “Flubber” and how sports equipment enhances sport performance. Flubber is a movie about mad scientist Professor Philip Brainard and his insatiable need to create more and more scientific innovations. He’s engaged to Sara Reynolds, a part of the college faculty and they are trying to get married for the third time since the last two times he forgot because he was busy creating more inventions. He misses his third and final chance when he gets caught up creating “flubber” a polymer substance with free will and the capacity to multiple the energy that is given to it. So if you bounce it on the floor, it goes up and down repeatedly and rapidly given only one little toss. In between, he has to win back the heart of Sara, fight off his mortal enemy, and defend his creations against an evil parent and his bratty son. Some of the questions we asked the youth panel when it comes to t...

For this edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, we had our panel discussion that explored the topic of exercise. Not only is the weather better in Toronto that it would encourage people to celebrate the use of their bodies but exercise more than ever is an important and vital component to healthy living for youth. According to the latest study by Preventive Medicine, it analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination that tracked over 12,500 people aged 6 to 84 years to log how many of their waking hours they spent active and how many they spent sitting. It shows the older people are, the more inactive they becoming but shockingly the research shows that 19 year olds spend as much time being inactive and sedentary as 60 year olds. Considering that, it’s clear we need to get a move on when it comes to exercise! Some of the questions we asked our youth panelists were: What do you think accounts for youth being as inactive as seniors? What is pulling them away fro...

For our July 3rd edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we started our show with a series of pre-recorded interviews from youth participants to get their take on exercise. The interviews were conducted to try to understand how youth participants are dealing with their body’s changes and how they perceive the adequacy of their bodies. Especially in our modern times where most youth want to just hang out indoors and scroll through endless memes on social media, exercise seems to be something fundamental we must reclaim. We asked them five questions which were: How much exercise do you think you do a day? A week? Do you consider yourself physically fit/healthy? Why or why not? What ways do you want to improve your physical health? How do you think you can achieve this goal? Do you enjoy exercise? Why or why not? What kinds of exercise do you participate in? What are some you want to take up? We ended off this show with a song that celebrates the triumph of the human spiri...

For our June 21st episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, we chatted about the Disney classic “Air Bud” about how a furry friend wanders into the life of young Josh Framm and changes the community for the better. After losing his father, Josh and his mother and baby mother move to another town and Josh is lost and sad about the change. With a huge love of basketball, he finds he is unable to make the team and can’t fit into other teams like band. He stays on the basketball team as the waterboy, becoming an observer of the team and realizing the caretaker used to be a pro basketball player, he soon decides to try out after the influence of a stray dog that follows him around. Realizing Buddy is great with the basketball, Josh plays his new friend. This movie has been impactful when it comes to promoting health and sports among youngster but especially highlighting the therapeutic benefits of having a dog to restore one’s faith and emotional wellbeing. It’s Josh’ friendship with Buddy...

For our May 24th episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Travis chatted with us about the movie “A League of Our Own”. Set during the second world war, the movie showcases a feisty and indomitable league of female baseball players that were slated to play in the major leagues as men were shipped of to war. Filling in the void, the women prove themselves to be just as capable, just as talented, and just as dramatic. Tension flares between the two sisters who come to the league together, Dottie and Kit, with younger sister Kit resentful that she always lives in the shadows of her sister’s effortless excellence. Finally with an opportunity to prove herself, she does whatever it takes to remove herself from the limelight of her sister’s success. Employing women from different cultural backgrounds from the city to the country, and a dysfunctional but endearing former baseball player turned coach, the movie shows that women have a place in the history of major league sports. ...

For this episode of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Travis walked us through a discussion on the Disney favourite “The Mighty Ducks”. About a group of kids in a local community who love to play hockey, they are the underdogs as they don’t find a lot of success in their team. Their last coach passed away and even when he was alive, he wasn't helping them out all that much. They since played for fun and never did anything serious. One day, a limousine pulls up where the kids are playing and stops all of them instantly. Out steps a man in a suit and a long trench coat, who tells them that his name is Gordon Bombay and he's the new coach. He's going through some issues at work and was told by his boss that he has to give back to the community and learn about teamwork- plus he hates kids. Through the interaction with the new coach and the untamed team, we see how both sides transform from the experience. Discussing the movie, we wonder if Gordon has what it takes...

For our May 3rd edition of Health Talks Youth Radio, host Travis introduced our show by discussing the movie we would explore, which is the new 2010 Karate Kid starring Jayden Smith, son of the famous Will Smith, and the famous martial artist Jacky Chan. Set in China, the movie explores how a young boy who recently lost his father travels with his mother to China after the economic downturn in Detroit makes it too difficult to live in their homeland. Upon arriving to China, young Dre (played by Jayden Smith) finds himself a target of a group of young bullies, facing racism and discrimination. Discovering a love of martial arts, he finds that his bullies practice is and soon employs the assistance of the maintenance worker in his building who has hidden talents in martial arts (played by Jackie Chan). In discovering his inner strength, Dre overcomes his inner demons and outer demons and wins the respect and regard of his adversaries and finds a new home in China. Discussing thi...

For our April 26th edition of Health Talks Radio, we had a panel discussion to talk about another youth, health and wellness related movie. This week we talked about the 2006 American romantic dance film Step Up, starring Channing Tatum as Tyler Gage and Jenna Dewan as Nora Clark. The film follows badboy Tyler and dancer Nora paired up in a dance recital that can determine both their futures. They must find a way to work together and set their differences aside. Their first practice was a rough one and ended earlier then expected. Nora watches curiously from a window as Tyler dances with his friends, mockingly incorporating a mixture of break-dance and the ballet moves he just recently observed. Our panel talked about the amazing way that two different worlds collided can create something even more phenomenal than alone. Tyler's friends the brothers Mac and Skinny have always had Tyler's back and he's always had theirs. But when he starts to develop a love for ...

For our April 19th edition of Health Talks Radio, our panel talked about the movie The Blindside with host Travis and panelists Beverly, Diamond, and Judy. What’s your blindside? Who watches your blindside? These are probably questions you were asking yourself when you heard that the lovely Sandra Bullock was starring in a film called The Blind Side. This heart warming family movie will really capture your soul because it teaches you that family is family no matter the colour of your skin or where you grew up. It’s not about where you're from, it’s about how big your heart is. Michael Oher is a 17-year-old boy who has been transferred from foster home to foster home back to back because of his mother’s drug addiction. Everytime he gets a new home he runs away to his dad’s house where he sleeps on the couch. One day, his father introduced him to the coach of the high school he was currently attending (Wingate Christian School) and the coach was instantly amazed. One stor...

For our April 10th edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, host Diamond sat down with the lovely and energetic Resident Babe, Stephanie Battieste who created the all-girls skateboarding group Babes Brigade. Stephanie was so excited to share all about her skateboarding group and what it does to bring new life to the skateboard scene. With a background in graphic design and fashion, Stephanie increasingly found more interest in skateboarding and started to post on social media when she would be out at the skate park, inviting and interested friends to come along. She subsequently developed a following that grew into Babes Brigade, a fun space for girls to gather and skateboard. When asked why she wanted to create Babes Brigade, Stephanie said that whenever she went to the skate park, she often saw other girls there intimidated to be one of the few girls there in the skate park. Having girls together creates confidence for them to gather around and really learn the tricks of skate an...

For this portion of Health Talks Radio, host Diamond talked about women in sports and asked our panel of all-women outnumbering the lone male questions about women in sports. Travis, our only male panelists, claims he was not at all intimidated and switched into accents to ease the tension. In discussing the barriers to making sports more accessible to girls and women, Diamond talked about the discrepancies in women and men and mentioned she learned that the WNBA has smaller basketballs for women in the league than that of the NBA. Playing devil’s advocate, Judy mentions that perhaps this would be justified since women tend to be generally biologically smaller but in the vein of equity, then the hoops should be lowered to accommodate biology as well, to which Diamond does not believe has been done, which highly suggests there is discrimination in making basketballs smaller for the WNBA. When talking about how sports helps men and women get healthy, we wonder if promoting sp...

In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his old high school in Richmond, California to get the basketball team in shape. With tough rules and academic discipline, he succeeds in setting the players on a winning streak. But when their grades start to suffer, Carter locks them out of the gym and shuts down their championship season. When he is criticized by the players and their parents, he sticks to his guns, determined that they excel in class as well as on the court. We had a discussion panel about the movie for Health Talks Youth Radio on March 5th which has a lot to do with with youth health. In those days, basketball was all those boys had so it was literally you're either in the gym or on the streets. Some points that we came across was that it was hard out there for the parents and the youth. Everybody had their own issues and dilemmas which didn't leave much room for "proper parenting". One can only imagin...

Does anybody remember the movie Space Jam? It’s about the Looney Tunes needing the help from the greatest basketball player alive, Michael Jordan. Bugs Bunny and the gang were visited by a group of little aliens who told them that they were sent from Moron Mountain to take them back to be the main attraction for their theme park. I think this movie created an interesting outlook on youth health. For example the scene where Michael stretches his hand all the way from half court to score the winning shot. Imagine the things going through a youth’s mind, wondering what it would be like if they could actually do that in a game. It can work out positively as well as negatively. But to keep on the positive side, seeing the best basketball player in the world achieve something like that says to our youth that they can do anything they put their mind to. Here’s a basic sum up of the questions asked: 1) The movie starts out with Michael Jordan as a kid practicing, and his dad gi...

For our Thursday, March 15th show of Health Talks Radio, we talked about the death defying sport known as Parkour. Parkour is a training discipline using movement developed from military obstacle course training. It’s the idea that the person wants to get from one point to another in a complex environment without assisting equipment, so they just use their bodies in the fastest and most efficient way possible. It includes running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, rolling and such- so movements that involve using your arms and legs all at once. It was developed from the military and gives it some aspects of a non-combative martial art. It can be practiced alone or with others and usually in urban spaces. What’s great about it is that it involves seeing the environment in a new way, imagining the potential for movement around the space. It was developed in France mostly by Raymond Belle and then his son and their group of friends during the 80's. It has since been...

I’m sure we all love talking about movies that inspire us to do better and be better. For our March 8th show, me and other youth members from Radio Regent took part in a panel discussion about a movie called Gridiron. Gridiron is about a counselor (The Rock) at a juvenile detention facility who decides to turn the young inmates in his charge into a football team to give them a sense of self-respect and social responsibility, but he faces opposition from high-school coaches who do not want their players facing criminals on the field. The outcome was pretty hilarious as well as interesting because we had more females than males on the panel. One of the questions asked was if you had a child that was in & out of jail or just giving trouble at home and was enrolled in the Gridiron challenge without say, how would you feel? One of the ladies said that they would question their parenting skills or themselves because as much as he gives trouble, would they really want to risk hi...

For our return show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio on January 9th, co-hosts Ahmed and Divine welcomed guest Amanda Neale-Robinson from Toronto Inner-City Rugby Foundation (TIRF). They talked about her role at TIRF, what it offers to youth and why Rugby is so important for team values and to help teach young people how to manage. Both Ahmed and Divine are part of their high school rugby team and talked about their experience as rugby players and what the sport means to them. Divine discussed his role in the team and how it gives him exercise in a fun way, and Ahmed talked about the multiple roles he plays on the team and how much fun he has found it to be. Amanda talked about the logistics of the sport, how there are different types of games such as 7’s and 15’s, called such because of the number of players on the field. She also talked about how it varies from other sports, because rugby is a sport where the person has to run with the ball. Some sports aren’t like that and ...