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San Jose Earthquakes

Earthquakes Launch "Get Earthquakes Fit" Fitness Program

April 27, 2009 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
San Jose Earthquakes News Release


SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the team has collaborated with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) and a focus group of teachers and educators to create the "Get Earthquakes Fit" fitness program. This program is part of the Earthquakes community efforts to promote healthy lifestyles and the importance of being active for children.

The program kicks off Tuesday, April 28 with visits by Joe Cannon and Shea Salinas to two San Jose schools in the Evergreen School District, Laurelwood Elementary School and Norwood Elementary School. Other players will be visiting more schools during the upcoming weeks in Santa Clara and San Jose.

"Get Earthquakes Fit" is a five-week program working with third and fourth graders that supports the SCCOE'S fit for learning™ initiative. fit for learning™ was launched in 2005 in cooperation with Healthy Silicon Valley, Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara County Public Health Department, and the Lucille Packard Foundation to combat childhood obesity. The goals of the fit for learning™ initiative are to improve the wellness of our County's K-6 schoolchildren through increased physical activity and healthy nutritional choices within the school environment. The "Get Earthquakes Fit" fitness program complements these goals by instructing and supporting teachers to use ten fun activities to encourage students to make physical activity a regular part of their day.

"At a time when school districts across the country are being forced to make difficult decisions about the place for physical activity in their curricula we at the Earthquakes wanted to demonstrate our support for the notion that physical fitness is a key contributor to ‘academic fitness'," said Earthquakes head athletic trainer Bruce Morgan. "With childhood obesity increasing at alarming rates it was our hope to become part of a larger team that had as its primary goal the development of a love for a lifestyle that embraces physical activity."

This pilot program for the Earthquakes will involve a Quakes player making an appearance at an elementary school and introducing the program to the children. For the next five weeks the students will spend 20 minutes a day with their teacher participating in the various physical fitness activities. The exercises were originally created by Earthquakes head athletic trainer Bruce Morgan.

"We know that as students' fitness improves, so does their performance in the classroom," said Charles Weis, Ph.D., the Santa Clara County superintendent of schools. "Anything we can do to enhance student fitness is a benefit to student learning--and ultimately, to the entire community."

Following the completion of five weeks, an Earthquakes player will return to the school to congratulate the children on their hard work and hear feedback from the children on how they feel after the five weeks. All participants in the program will receive an autographed player card from the player at the second appearance.

The core values of the program state that the activities are non-competitive, designed to be low-tech and that the activity is its own reward. These values were created to encourage the students to be active without the pressures of competing and to help teach children the joys benefits of physical activity.

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