Latest CA PE report

Rec'd this from a colleague over at San Bernardino County Public Health, Pam Sampson!
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Good afternoon Fit 2Gether partners and LIAs,

Last one for the day. Thought you may be interested in the Health Policy Brief from UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. See summary below, and the policy brief attached or visit, http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/adolescentpepb.pdf. …Pam

FYI: CA recommends 200 minutes/every 10 days for elementary and 400 minutes/every 10 days for middle & high school, but NASPE recommends 150 minutes/week plus one 20 minute recess/day for elementary and 225 minutes/week for middle & high school.

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May 2011

Adolescent Physical Education and Physical Activity in California

Allison L. Diamant, Susan H. Babey and Joelle Wolstein

S UMMA R Y: In California, more than 1.3 million adolescents (38%) do not participate in physical education (PE) at school, and this rate increases dramatically with age, from just 5% at age 12 to 77% at age 17. In addition, only 19% of teens meet current physical activity recommendations. Participation in PE at school is associated with more overall physical activity. Policies that promote more opportunities for physical activity, including those that help schools meet or exceed current PE requirements, can contribute to greater levels of physical activity for adolescents.

Quick trip to San Diego!

3-30-11: Shortly after lunch, a friend, Megan, and I took a quick trip to San Diego to meet up with the large gathering of exergaming friends from around the world. They had just finished putting on one of the best exergaming workshops for all the PE folks at the AAHPERD annual conference that AM and were now relaxing at Lounge 6.

Before that, we visited Peter Newman's office to see some of his latest products. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pixs of our visit there so sorry about that!

Here are a few shots from our quick trip (got back after midnight last night!) yesterday....



Great seeing everyone, especially Brett from NZ! The next time I'll be seeing them is in Boston for Games for Health. Then, I'll be able to hang out with the gang longer!

Exergames in USA Today!

11-29-10: A good article on how exergames and active video games are being utilized more in schools. A good discussion on how it can be incorporated into the school day, the debate about exergames in PE, and best of all, quotes from exergaming colleagues from our Exergames Unlocked grant--Barbara Chamberlin, Bryan Haddock, and Emily Murphy!

I was especially glad to read a quote from a non-exergaming evangelist say exactly what we've been saying all along when exergaming is criticized:

"Charlene Burgeson, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a group of physical education professionals, says, "We need to meet kids where they are, and if active video games get them moving, then all the better.""

Yeah, Go Ms. Burgeson!!! I'm going to try and track down her e-mail and thank her for this quote. Love it!

Also love the other case studies on how exergaming has helped with tardiness and testing.

You can read the rest of the USA Today article here.