Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) students can enhance their athletic and academic skills through the Division's Sport for Life program. Open to junior high students at Clover Bar Junior High, the full-year program combines sports, wellness and life skills to encourage healthy, active lifestyles. "It's fun to get out of the classroom once in a while and go on cool field trips," says Keegan Wildeman-Bitz, a Grade 9 student attending Clover Bar's Sport for Life program. "Sport for Life teaches us how to work together as a team and helps us stay active."
Sport for Life students have the opportunity to participate in various activities focused on physical activity and well-being.
The program is based on the Canadian Sport for Life model, a national initiative focused on improving the quality of sport, physical literacy and wellness among children in Canada. Clover Bar's Sport for Life program challenges every student to excel in sports, and provides them with knowledge and tools they can apply toward their own well-being. The program's goal: For all learners to develop a lifelong active and healthy lifestyle.
"Our Sport for Life Program at Clover Bar is designed to build strong, confident and capable movers -- whether students see themselves as athletes or not," says Kerri Blush, a Sport for Life teacher and co-ordinator at Clover Bar. "The program helps develop fundamental movement skills that are the essential building blocks for helping young people excel in life."
Year-long, students enrolled in the Sport for Life program explore a variety of athletic and recreational activities while also learning regular core subjects. Activities include well-known sports such as baseball and curling, as well as those they may not have previous exposure to, including martial arts, indoor climbing, fencing, gymnastics and speed skating. Program participants also take part in various field trips that challenge them to grow their skills and knowledge in sports and physical wellness.
In addition to physical wellness, the program teaches students the knowledge and skills needed to develop habits and attitudes that support an active and healthy lifestyle. The Sport for Life curriculum includes topics in physical education, health, nutrition, personal development, sports injuries, psychology, and career and technology foundations related to the sports and wellness sector.
New and returning students can apply to the Sport for Life program during the registration process, which opens in February 2026. For more information and specific registration dates, see the EIPS Guide to Registration 2026-27.
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