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NFL Players Show Exercise Can Be Fun

Tribune photo by JIM REED

DiMarco Burgess goes through the motions with the Bucs' Geno Hayes as part of a practice drill for students at Liberty Middle School.

By MARY SHEDDEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 21, 2009

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Lots of kids dream of making it to the NFL, and even those who don't can enjoy watching and playing football.

So, the league's popular players can make great motivators when it comes to showing youngsters how to have fun while staying fit.

At least that's the idea behind Play 60, an anti-obesity campaign created by the NFL and the American Heart Association.

Web sites, contests and in-school and after-school activities stamped with the NFL brand are being used to get kids thinking about moving more and eating better. Play 60 promotes exercise for a total of 60 minutes a day.

An estimated 9 million children in the United States were considered overweight in 2004, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

"We want to get them moving as much as possible," says Jessica Rosquette, a physical education teacher at Liberty Middle School, one of the area schools participating in the What Moves U Challenge, a Play 60 program sponsored locally by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last week, three Bucs visited the New Tampa campus to talk fitness and play with a seventh-grade gym class.

Play 60 programs have been around for several years, but the arrival of Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa is boosting the program's local prominence. More than 5,000 Tampa Bay area students in grades five to seven have taken part in What Moves U challenges this month.

Fifth-graders at Bay Point Elementary in St. Petersburg, for example, are playing "Workout Around the World." Instead of students sitting at their desks to answer geography questions, teacher Julie Ryczek has them stretch, twist, squat and toss a beach ball to one another as part of a country and continent naming game that lasts 15 minutes.

Physical education classes at Liberty Middle, in New Tampa, used the celebrity of the NFL to attract students to the What Moves U curriculum, which aims to lower obesity rates and the risk of heart disease.

Rosquette says students, including some who are unable to do a single push-up, were struck by what they learned and shared that they had family members affected by heart disease.

"That's what we're here for, to get them out of these habits now," Rosquette says of students heading for an unhealthy adulthood.

Play 60 isn't just about exercise. Professional athletes show how nutrition plays an important part in their success, says Buccaneers return man Clifton Smith, who volunteers with the program.

Smith, a rookie who was selected for this season's Pro Bowl, told Liberty Middle students that as a kid, he chowed down on Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and Eggo waffles for breakfast. But a serious injury in college and the demands of rehab taught him to ease off the junk and focus more on good nutrition.

"I was a knucklehead; I didn't listen," he says. "But I really couldn't let myself go."

A lot of kids who normally blow off exercise and nutrition might listen to professional athletes, says Ashley Wilson, a Liberty seventh-grader and avid softball player. She says she's a fan of any program that will get her nonathletic friends moving more.

"I don't know how you could have a life without working out," she says.

TIPS TO GET KIDS MOVING

Want to encourage your kids to work out a little more during their downtime? Try a few of these tips from the What Moves U Challenge, a Play 60 curriculum, created by the American Heart Association and the National Football League:

TV CHALLENGE: If students are watching TV at night, provide a "workout routine" conducive to commercial breaks (i.e. short two- to three-minute circuits such as push-ups, crunches, squats, etc.).

Here are some possibilities:

•Jump rope one minute.

•Do three sets of 12 triceps dips using a coffee table or chair.

•Do 15 squats holding a ball or book - lift the object into the air while jumping up from the squat.

•Stand next to the wall and try to tap the highest point on the wall you can by jumping up - repeat 15 times.

•Do three sets of push-ups -15 each set.

•Walk up and down the hallway doing lunges.

•Do 20 crunches, right elbow to left knee, left elbow to right knee. Do 3 sets.

REV UP READING: When doing reading homework, mix in some activities to help improve concentration, such as stretches before beginning and a break every 20 minutes.

WALK AND TALK: Students often need to talk with their parents about things at school - grades, an upcoming test, activities or events. Once a week, take a Walk-Talk with the family (and pets). Pick a different topic each week.

QUIZ ME: Help your students study. While being drilled on spelling words or vocabulary, they can also be doing physical activity drills. For example: For right answers, they do jumping jacks, for questions they still need work on, they do push-ups. They should vary the activity to keep it fun. The study buddy should join in, too.

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