Participaction
The Participaction physical fitness program started in Canadian schools in 1971 as a result of a 1969 government report on Canadian children's fitness and warnings about the country's future health. The program retired in 2001 due to budget cutbacks, but was revived in 2007. I never won any of the seductively colored, woven achievement badges modeled after Olympic medals. Those badges didn't lure me at all. They were zero motivation. Instead, all I ever got out of it was this lousy red and white plastic pin to show that I participated. My biggest memory is of doing chin-ups in elementary and middle school PE classes year after year. What was the point? It was useless. The participaction program catalyzed my lifelong animosity towards organized sports. Plus, I never liked the stupid-sounding word “participaction.” I understand the designers of the fitness program wanted to get the word “action” in the program’s name. But still …