It's a far cry from organized sports. The basketballs are too small and dribbling is forbidden. But the "teams" -- a "giggle" of girls from Bryant Intermediate School -- are having a blast.
The exercise is designed so that girls who are athletic don't have a big advantage over their less physically inclined peers. The whole point is not to foster competition but to get the girls up and moving.Up and moving is a strange concept to too many adolescents -- both boys and girls. In fact, as a nation, we're a pretty sedentary bunch despite ample scientific and medical research proving that regular exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, osteoporosis and a host of other ills including hypertension. Today's children and adolescents are not as physically fit as those of previous generations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.
Adolescent girls are the most sedentary of all.
And that's why the Utah Starzz and the University of Utah have teamed up to target them with a sports fitness program designed to get them excited about being active. Every week, girls at Bryant Intermediate School and Northwest Middle School are encouraged to participate in an after-school activity program.
"It's like an eighth-period class with less focus on sports skills and more focus on keeping active and having fun. We don't do a lot of drills. We just do fun fitness activities" that don't require much equipment, said Doris Watson, assistant professor of exercise and sports science at the U.
"Studies show that moderate levels of activity are as effective as rigorous exercise in preventing disease and lowering morbidity rates."
In other words, stop being couch potatoes.
The program, called "U Move with the Starzz," was born 18 months ago when the Starzz contacted Watson for ideas on community service projects they could embrace. Because of her "teacher background and the fact that I love the middle school age," Watson said, she proposed an after-school program to involve girls in "fun fitness activities." It's also considered a "service learning project" at the U., so university students help run the program.
Last year, 14 interns, a few Starzz players, Watson and some Bryant Intermediate School teachers launched the program, which now attracts about 40 girls at each school. The positive response, as well as grants from the U.'s Bennion Center and Larry H. Miller, made it possible to expand the program into Northwest Middle School and get some equipment.
Each week's activity begins with a series of warm-up exercises, a cooperative activity where the girls have to be a team to accomplish their task, and a noncompetitive round of some sport.
Twice a month, the U. students conduct break-out sessions where the girls learn about healthy eating habits and how to avoid self-destructive behaviors. The girls also get a monthly physical activity newsletter, which includes vouchers for discounts on fresh fruits and vegetables at local grocery stores, low-fat recipes and profiles of the Utah Starzz players.
The entire project is also an experiment of sorts. Besides hoping the program benefits the girls, Watson and the U. students want to learn whether the after-school physical activity from the program increases the girls' regular participation in moderate to vigorous physical activity outside of school.
Something has to be done to avert a serious fitness crisis, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which says that nearly half of American youths age 12-21 aren't "vigorously active" on a regular basis. The number of children who are classified as overweight has increased dramatically in the past two decades.
And about 14 percent of young people report no recent physical activity at all, with girls twice as likely to be inactive as boys in the same age group.
It's a problem that becomes a lifestyle, according to the CDC. Participation in all types of physical activity declines "strikingly" as age or grade in school increases. By high school, only one in five students is physically active for at least 20 minutes, five days a week.
But just as inactivity breeds more inactivity, Watson, the students and the Starzz are hoping to prove that if adolescent girls learn that they can have fun and feel energized just by getting moving, they'll carry that habit with them for a lifetime.