Get Physical

Program seeks to get kids moving

It’s a fact, changing sedentary lifestyles can be a challenge.

This summer however, a Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health (JPHCOPH) professor has a new game for Bulloch County youth that will get them moving and keep them healthy.

Moya Alfonso is introducing a new physical activity program called the VERB Summer Scorecard (VSS) which targets “tweens” ages 8 to 13 after receiving a $20,000 grant from the Georgia Health Foundation.

Over the past three decades, childhood obesity among U.S. youth has increased by 23 percent, leading to illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. To combat this growing epidemic, the VSS was introduced nationally, and is modeled after a social marketing campaign introduced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The VSS encourages tweens to put away the video games and spend more time with friends participating in activities such as swimming, running, yoga, martial arts or skateboarding. Instead of directly focusing on exercise, the VSS promotes activities that tweens can do with few time or place restrictions, and youth are encouraged to select new activities they would enjoy.

The premise of the program is fun: after completing an exercise, youth record their activity on an interactive online scorecard. Tweens receive points for each activity and are eligible to enter drawings for prizes such as an iPod, sport bike, Wii Fit, scooters and more, which are donated by area businesses.

Alfonso, the former co-director of Methods and Evaluation for the Florida Prevention Research Center, recently published findings detailing the effectiveness of the VSS, which was documented over a three-year period in Lexington, Ky. Her study found that physical activity increased, and providing youth with free and low-cost activities in Lexington helped to prevent the middle school drop off in physical activity, particularly among tween girls.

Alfonso plans to adopt the same strategy with her lead community partner, the Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County. They have created a coalition of community leaders, volunteers, JPHCOPH faculty and graduate students to develop and implement the program in Bulloch County from May through August 2012. Alfonso estimates that 300 youth will be served in the first year of the program.

Alfonso is also partnering with Department of Health and Kinesiology professors Ashley Walker and Gavin Colquitt, who have researched issues impacting childhood health. “This program is all about finding your ‘verb’ – or physical activity – and sticking with it. The overall focus is wellness and prevention, and for youth to try new physical activities,” she said.

—Mary Beth Spence