Parents worry that today's children aren't getting enough exercise, spending more time playing video games and less time playing outdoors.
But throughout the metro area, there are efforts to spark kids' interest in physical fitness.
They include running programs in Littleton and Parker and a before-school program in Arvada that encourages students to play sports.
Kaiser Permanente offers options for Colorado schools that want to encourage exercise, via its Thriving Schools Initiative, which offers grants of up to $200,000 to fund physical or nutritional education programs. At North Arvada Middle School, the program funds a zero-hour class beginning at 7:30 a.m. daily in which students play a friendly game of basketball or handball, tracking activity with pedometers, with a goal of at least 3,000 steps.
At Damon Runyon Elementary School in Littleton, physical education teacher Jason Hill has been working for 10 years to get and keep kids interested in running.
His Runyon Running Club gathers weekly during the fall and spring at the school's track, with about 80 students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.
Parent Adrian Jordan, whose son Tariq is a second-grader at Runyon and takes part in the club, said it helps to have something else to do besides sitting in front of a computer.
"It's not good for a kid to be staring at a screen for hours," he said.
Though many parents or educators may be worried that today's children may not be as active as in generations past, Hill said they may just need encouragement.
"I think they're active with adults' help," he said. "There's not a lot of kids coming down here playing soccer or shooting hoops without it being a scheduled practice."
Many Runyon parents are into running, which helps, Hill said. "There are a lot of triathletes and distance runners here."
Hill runs 5Ks and used to trail run when he lived in western Colorado. He ran one half-marathon before sustaining an ACL and meniscus tear in his knee.
His son took part in the club during his elementary school years and now runs track at Euclid Middle School in Littleton.
"Many kids from here are now doing track there," he said.
Kids Running America is a Parker-based nonprofit organization that encourages running among children throughout the Denver metro area. The group uses an "incremental marathon" approach, with the kids logging mileage over eight to 12 weeks.
They run the final mile at Washington Park in Denver on Oct. 23, completing either a marathon of 26.2 miles or an ultra-marathon of 100 miles.
"Our main goal is to get kids out and active," spokeswoman Rachel Levi said.
Though Colorado consistently ranks as the state with the lowest level of adult obesity, childhood obesity is on the rise, she said. In 2015, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment said approximately 25 percent of kids 5 to 11 in the state are overweight or obese.
Kids Running America is in about 40 schools throughout the area, and about 550 kids are taking part this fall, Levi said. She serves as a team mentor at Northridge Elementary School in Highlands Ranch, where 70 kids are in the club.
"It's really fun to see these kids and their love of running," she said.
Making exercise fun is key to keeping kids interested in it, according to the Roadrunners Club of Americaa national association of running organizations.
To that end, Hill's running club at Runyon isn't just about running in circles. The kids warm up with an interval run and then play a running-focused game, like tag. The kids then take part in two "fun runs" per year, with those in third, fourth and fifth grades running one mile and younger kids running half a mile. The one in the spring is a cross country course.
"It's fun," Hill said, "to get them a taste of jumping over rocks and running through trees."
from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Keeping-kids-active,236735
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