Before joining our team in September 2019, Saad Binsefran was a student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Construction Management & Operations. During his senior year, he was working with the Saudi Students Association at SIUC to launch an initiative called 150 Minutes.
The purpose of this initiative is to raise college student’s awareness of the recommended physical activity guidelines to achieve a healthy lifestyle, i.e., adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week and should perform muscle-strengthening exercises on two or more days each week for 15 minutes. Additionally, this initiative aims to develop inclusive activities and exercises that are tailored to college students’ lifestyles to help them achieve their physical activity goals.
The initiative was launched as part of the Sports for All Challenge sponsored by the Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA). 150 Minutes attracted more than 250 students from 15 universities and institutions in Saudi Arabia and the United States. At the final stages of the competition, Saad’s team was selected as one of the top three winning finalists and was invited to present their message at the competition finale in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saad travelled to Saudi Arabia to support his team by presenting with his colleagues and helping to spread their message to the community. The final presentations were held in Riyadh, the Capital of Saudi Arabia, on January 29th, 2020 where the SFA President Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud attended and judged the final presentations.
The 150 Minutes team came in second in the SFA Challenge winning a prize of 5000 US dollars. A few weeks later, Prince Khaled requested the 150 Minutes team to draft a proposal to start a nationwide program in Saudi Arabia sponsored by the SFA which will continue to deliver the initiative’s message and target more age groups such as children and seniors. Also, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud contacted 150 Minutes team leader Mohammed Alobaidaa and complimented the idea of the initiative and arranged a meeting with the team in Washington, DC which had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Two weeks ago, the Saudi Students Association at SIUC ranked 4th among the best Saudi Students Clubs in the United States by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission which is a first-time accomplishment for the Association since 2007.
Supporting Material:
DeAnna Price, the SIU track and field star who became the first woman to win gold in the hammer throw at the IAAF World Championships in 2019 in Qatar even got on board by filming a video promoting the initiative. https://youtu.be/WOUpqZU7ENk
Saudi Students Association arranged an in-campus 5K as part of the initiative’s activities https://youtu.be/rFnNT2z9rXM