The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

One of my fondest memories of physi­cal education in el­ementary school was Hoops for Heart day. It was a field day of activities unlike sports - which seemed to me like the choreographed taunting from coordinated class­mates. I could actually feel good about participating in the jump-roping, hula-hoop­ing, high-energy festivities.

Encouraging children to be active can help inspire beneficial life-long hab­its. Plus, the annual local program is a lot of fun for students.

With hula hoops and jump ropes around the Waits­burg gym, students moved through stations with their classmates to give each ac­tivity a try.

During the Jump for Heart activities in the gym, young students were so excited they could barely contain them­selves to one activity. They hurried back at each station as if they couldn't physically take in all of the fun around them.

Helping kids draw the connection between activity and the sheer ecstasy drawn across their faces is power­ful. When we encourage students that keeping active is essential to a happy life, we encourage them to stay active and healthy for their entire life.

The American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Ed­ucation, Recreation and Dance(AAHPERD) part­nered to bring Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart to people and schools across the country. They are educational fund develop­ment programs co-spon­sored by AAHPERD and the AHA to promote physical education and teach chil­dren about heart disease and stroke while raising money for cardiovascular disease research, stroke research and health education, according to AAHPERD.org.

Hoops for Heart was started in 1989 by two physi­cal education teachers from the Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico, according to the site.

Top: Isaac Conover makes a face as he focuses on jumping rope. Classmate Laura Hill turns the rope.

Many students may not retain the information these annual programs seek to teach. It is, after all, about some pretty big and heavy issues. But students do re­member the excitement of finding out how many hula hoops they can spin at once and how many times through "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear" they could jump before the rope hit their ankles.

Instead of walking away from the programs with pamphlets of information they can barely comprehend, these bright-eyed, impres­sionable students take away some great life skills. They work on waiting their turn and communicating with their peers. They learn that sometimes it takes a few tries before you master something others might accomplish on their first try.

These programs and oth­ers like it are really excellent tools we should support in the schools and at home. And we shouldn't stop with encouraging children to keep active. While office jump- rope breaks might not be very practical, being active is something we all need to keep in mind.

And maybe if we are good about keeping active, the youngsters in our com­munity will follow suit.