San Jose Earthquakes players Joe Cannon and Shea Salinas kicked off the "Get Earthquakes Fit" fitness program Tuesday at two schools in the Evergreen School District, Laurelwood Elementary School and Norwood Creek Elementary School.
Cannon spoke to a group of 100 students at Laurelwood about the importance of staying active and eating a balanced diet. He also emphasized how eating healthy foods and staying active can give you more energy and help you not just physically but also mentally.
Cannon then detailed the program to the children and reminded them that this program was not a competition, but just a way to have fun through exercise. The children will spend the next five weeks completing 20 minutes a day of exercise with their teachers. Cannon will then return to congratulate the children on completing the program and sign autographs. The Los Altos Hills resident promised that he would also spend the next five weeks exercising and eating a better diet. He finished the day by having three groups of children demonstrate three of the activities in the program, "Kangaroo, Cheetah, Turtle", "Don't Step on the Snake" and "Hot Coals and Taffy."
Salinas kicked off the program with another group of students at nearby Norwood Creek Elementary. The second-year midfielder discussed his eating habits as a youth and told the children that they needed to make smart food choices now because it will help them be better students, while giving them more energy. He also emphasized that getting enough sleep is important and would help them in the classroom on a daily basis.
Salinas and all the children practiced one of the activities in the program, "Kangaroo, Cheetah, Turtle." He completed his visit by telling the children to enjoy the five weeks of activities and he would be back at the end of that time to sign autographs and see how they enjoyed the program.
The "Get Earthquakes Fit" fitness program was created by the San Jose Earthquakes in collaboration with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) and a focus group of teachers and educators. This program is part of the Earthquakes community efforts to promote healthy lifestyles and the importance of being active for children.
"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.
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 and benefits of physical activity.
