University News Last updated 02 June 2015
Schools should put martial arts on the PE curriculum as part of tearing up outdated approaches to sport in schools, according to four-time world kickboxing champion, Kash 'The Flash' Gill.
Gill, the first UK Asian to be a world champion in a contact sport, said bringing sports education into the 21st century was crucial if schools are to do a better job of tackling childhood obesity.
Speaking ahead of a Birmingham City University event where he will feature alongside a host of other successful men to hail from the second city, Gill said: "Schools have continued to run the same sports programme for many years, and now it's time for a much needed change.
"When I was at school, sport was always on the menu. This is no longer the case. We need to ensure that children from a young age are being encouraged to play sport and get active. Martial arts needs to be part of a new approach to PE in schools – as well as improving fitness, it helps children with balance and hand eye coordination.
"Figures published in recent years show that only one in five boys actually meet the recommended levels of physical activity, with the number even less for girls."
According to figures published by the Health Survey in England in 2013, 30 per cent of boys and 29 per cent of girls between the ages of two and 15 were classed as either overweight or obese.
In a bid to promote the importance of the issue, Gill is currently working on his own sports model, including martial arts, which he hopes to encourage local schools to take up.
Gill's achievement in becoming world kickboxing champion four times has never been beaten, while his tough upbringing in inner city Handsworth was the subject of a biography published in 2012.
Gill will join a panel of other Birmingham personalities, including celebrity chef and restauranteur Glynn Purnell, on Thursday 11 June as they discuss what they love about Birmingham, where it could do better and how it is perceived by others.
The event is free to attend.