Palace players take to the stage for Super Movers ‘Eagle Swoop’
Palace players Patrick van Aanholt, Ciara Watling and Jordan Butler took to the stage alongside the young stars of the Super Movers ‘Eagle Swoop’ video, performing the high energy dance routine at a local primary school.
The routine is a collaboration between Palace for Life Foundation, the Premier League and the BBC as part of Super Movers, an initiative which brings stars from the worlds of football, music and television together in fun, free and easy-to-follow educational videos to capture children’s imaginations and help teachers get them moving throughout the day.
Palace left-back Patrick van Aanholt spent time with the children at their school, Oasis Academy Ryelands, as part of a special assembly led by the Premier League’s Jez Weeks to showcase the video.
van Aanholt said: “The video has been absolutely everywhere and that’s great for the kids. It’s always nice to have fun and stay healthy and the most important thing is that they’re enjoying themselves, it’s all about them. Looking around the room and seeing all those happy faces, it’s just great.”
The accompanying track was written and performed by local poet Darren Randon of Well Versed Ink, who explained the motivation behind the lyrics: “It’s all about living in the local area, I’ve been living around here for more than 20 years so I wanted to capture the spirit of that and of going to the games through a young person’s eyes; the lead up, the feeling of being in the stadium, the excitement.
“The children have been absolutely amazing, seeing them bringing it to life with their moves and singing along, it takes it up to a whole new level.”
Palace Ladies player Jordan Butler, who stars in the video, said: “It’s a great opportunity for us to get into the community and in particular to reach out to the girls and for us to show them that women can be professional footballers too.”
Her teammate, Ciara Watling, added: “I’m going to take it on next season, the Eagle Swoop is going to be our goal celebration!”
The Eagle Swoop will be a big part of Palace for Life’s Healthy Eagles campaign and will be shown at primary schools across south London, with children encouraged to join in.
Palace for Life Chief Executive Mike Summers explained: “Here in Croydon, 38% of 11-year-olds are above a healthy weight, so the whole idea is how we can address that and get children moving more and eating better.
“Super Movers is all about getting children more active, both in and out of the classroom, so from that the idea came about to create a Crystal Palace song and dance. It’s fantastic to now be here, encouraging all of the other children to dance and sing along and get up and moving with a smile on their face.”
Head of Sports Medicine at Crystal Palace FC, Dr Zafar Iqbal, attended the event, sharing advice with children on how they can achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Speaking afterwards, he said: “It’s really important that children do at least one hour of physical activity a day, and the advantage of that long term is that it can prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity and also certain cancers. It’s equally important that children have a balanced and healthy diet because they’re growing and expending lots of energy, so they need to make sure they take on the right kinds of food which are important for growth and brain function.”
Watch the video in full HERE and for more fun, free and easy to use Super Movers videos visit: www.bbc.co.uk/supermovers