Saw this article pop up on Science Daily and the title truly peaked my interest! I (Dr. Craig Evans) was once a HPED major at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania not so very long ago and became highly disenchanted with the idea of HPED. HPED stands for Health and Physical Education. If you catch me on a slow day we can discuss the problems facing all specialties in education, like, but not limited to Music, Health and Physical Education, Art, Wood Shop, Technology, and many others. So before I go off on a tangent, lets get to the basis of this study! NFL PLAY 60 has been around for years now and no one has actually checked to see how it has been performing. Luckily the University of Vermont has published the following review of data and things are looking up for the 1000 schools that adopted the program!
The following information comes from the University of Vermont review:
NFL initiative to promote fitness and health among youth improved both aerobic capacity and body mass index among a majority of the 100,000 students who participated in the program.
Date:
January 17, 2017
Source:
University of Vermont
Summary:
The National Football League (NFL) Foundation has invested heavily in its NFL PLAY 60 initiative to promote fitness and health among youth over the past decade. Its impact on childhood fitness and obesity levels, however, has lacked scientific evaluation — until now.
Overall, schools that implemented the programs had better health and fitness profiles than schools that chose not choose to implement them or only did so partially. Students from the schools that did not implement the programs remained at almost the same level of aerobic capacity and weight status. The study also showed that schools that implemented the programming for four years tended to have greater fitness improvements compared to schools that participated for just two or three years. Approximately 500 schools were involved in the study at varying levels.
“Our research shows that NFL PLAY 60 programs actually work in reality based on data collected over the past four-to-five years,” says Bai, adding that the NFL plans to provide additional funding for five schools in each of the its 32 host cities that agree to fully implement the program. “It’s rare to see such a large-scale program involving around 1,000 schools over multiple years. It’s different from conventional intervention programs in that teachers and staff along with parents and community members are the key players in promoting healthy eating and a physically active environment for kids. The program cannot be sustained over time without those motivated and hardworking teachers. We are eager to see how this additional funding and support might help local teachers and their students.”
Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170117135920.htm
