Physical and mental wellbeing is key to a child's learning.
And players of this year's inaugural AFL Women's competition, including teachers, are inspiring young girls into sport.
Fourteen Victorian school teachers were among the pioneering women footballers to don their team's colours each week.
They and the other elite sportswomen of the AFL Women's competition triggered an enormous spike in the participation numbers.
A 56 per cent increase in female community club teams boosted the total female participation by 19 per cent to 380,041. Overall participation across all levels of the game jumped 12.5 per cent to a record 1,404,176.
Shae Audley, a Year 1 teacher at Laurimar Primary School in Doreen, in Melbourne's north, played for Carlton.
Shae is a firm believer in maintaining a healthy mind and healthy body.
"If I am not doing exercise or eating healthily, my mood just drops," she said.
Fellow Victorian teacher and Western Bulldogs player Kate Tyndall agrees.
Kate teaches at Travancore School. Based at the Royal Children's Hospital, she works with young people aged from 12 to 18 who are dealing with mental health issues.
"In recent years we are starting to understand how important wellbeing is and the connection between body and mind," Kate said.
"Happy people feel good, are more productive and have better results. I encourage students to be as active as they can be."
For more information and to learn more about the range of activities on offer, see: Education Week
As featured in Leader Newspapers on 8 May, 2017.