Peterborough brothers launch ‘Virtual Olympic Games’ to get children active during mental health week

Ottavio (24) and his brother Dario Tanzillo (22) have recently started their own Youtube channel, Tanzii TV, where they posted short five minute exercise videos designed to get kids up and active.

Upon the announcement of the latest national lockdown, the brothers decided to start their own channel to help children get active and feel better within themselves, the same way exercise had helped them feel.

Sport has always been a big part of the brother’s lives, with both graduating from Loughborough University last year, where they were members of the swim team. They both now work as support workers at Hampton Vale Primary School, one of the schools backing their ‘Tanzii TV Virtual Olympic Games’ series.

The virtual olympics will include olympic themed workouts each day throughout next week (February 1-7) to coincide with Children’s Mental Health Week 2021.

They will be supported in this by a two-time Greek olympic swimmer, who trains at Loughborough, Andreas Vazaios. Most recently, Andreas won two gold medals, in the 200m butterfly and 200m medley, at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Glasgow in 2019.

Alongside this, a fundraising page in aid of children’s mental health charity Place2Be has been set up. The charity is dedicated to providing counselling and mental health support and training in UK schools.

Dario said: “This is something we are so passionate about and think it is important that we show children how fun exercise can be.

“Sport has always served us well and has helped us mentally. During lockdown, we really noticed our mental health suffering and had to remind ourselves to stay active and just want to do our bit to help others too.

Ottavio added: “We do weekley movement sessions and like to put out three workouts a week. The feedback so far from teachers and kids has been great and we want to work with as many schools as possible in the future.

“We also really just want to raise awareness of children’s mental health which is something that is really important at the moment.”

To find Ottavio and Dario’s videos, click here or to donate visit justgiving.com/fundraising/tanziitvvog.