Saudi Gazette Dammam — The General Administration of Education in the Eastern Province has launched the first ever recreational club for girls in the region. The club, which comes under the King Abdullah Project for Development of Education, has opened in one of the girl's secondary schools in Dammam. The club provides a variety of recreational and sports programs for weight loss. It also includes a basketball court for girls, according to an Arabic daily. Mariam Al-Sheraim, the club's manager who is also headmistress of a secondary school, said the club provides a variety of programs aiming to address social problems with the help of the families. It also provides health and recreational programs. The club concentrates on sports programs, which includes basketball and other sports to help obese girls lose weight. The club, which has a capacity of 400 students, also helps students solve their social problems and to get rid of bad habits. Al-Sheraim said most of the secondary students, who are teenagers, suffer from family violence and that at this age girls commonly rebel against parents. The families should know how to deal with their daughters at this critical stage instead of beating them, because violence breeds more violence, she added. According to Al-Sheraim, physical exercise help the girls achieve energy balance. The club also provides treatment to them through the Nervous Language Programming (NLP), which is a system of techniques devoted to enabling people to control their nervous system and learn how to communicate more effectively both internally and with others. Al-Sheraim also added that the club's programs include an awareness program that focuses on obesity. The program enlightens students about the hazards of junk food, which is believed to be the major cause of obesity.
