Clemson-based US Play Coalition steps forward to support First Lady’s Let’s Move Campaign
February 17, 2010
CLEMSON, SC – February 17, 2010 – The US Play Coalition, a partnership to promote the value of play throughout life, has been among the first to step forward in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s fight against childhood obesity through her Let’s Move campaign. The coalition also volunteered to assist the new Task Force on Childhood Obesity.
Clemson University visiting scholar and former National Park Service director Fran Mainella — co-chair of the US Play Coalition — said, “Let’s Move captures the importance of play in everyone’s lives and recognizes along with the US Play Coalition that play is anything but frivolous and can be a key factor in addressing childhood obesity.”
The Let’s Move campaign promotes nutritional education as well as improvements in school lunches, access to healthy foods and increased opportunities for physical activity, including play. Both the US Play Coalition and the Let’s Move campaign advocate that “children need 60 minutes of active and vigorous play every day” and encourage parents to “make family time play time.”
Joe Frost, professor emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin and a key member of the US Play Coalition, said play deprivation has resulted in “a growing crisis that threatens children’s health, fitness and development.”
“As free, outdoor play declines,” he said, “fitness levels decline, waistlines expand and a host of health problems follow.” These health problems include not only obesity, but also “heart disease, rickets and a spiraling upturn in emotional and social disorders.”
For more information on the value of play in the fight against childhood obesity go to http://usPLAYcoalition.clemson.edu. For more on the Let’s Move campaign go to www.LetsMove.gov.
