Carlton vice-captain Andrew Carrazzo visited the Reservoir Views Primary School on Monday to encourage children to get active for a good cause. 

Carrazzo is an ambassador for the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and its Step-a-thon campaign. 

The campaign aims to teach kids that every step counts. From 1-7 September, primary school students across Australia will count their steps to raise money for child health research.

As a professional athlete, Carrazzo knows the importance of living an active lifestyle, while as a father to three young girls he also knows just how important the work of MCRI is. 

"We had a tough time with my kids after they were born and spending a few weeks in hospital,” Carrazzo said. 

"In relative terms, there were a lot of other parents and families out there who were doing it much harder than we were with their kids suffering in hospital, so it’s a small piece of help that I can offer to them to try to raise some awareness for it. 

"We did a tour of the Children’s Hospital and the research lab a few weeks ago and it was just an incredible day. I can’t even begin to speak to the work that they do – it is just incredible.” 

To find out more about Step-a-thon visit http://stepathon.org.au