For Immediate Release

From Fat to Fit: Mayor Morial Urges New Orleans Kids to Get in Shape!

Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini, President of the USCM, was on hand to emphasize the importance of reversing the decline in youth fitness and health levels. Together, the mayors led the students in stretching exercises, a warm-up jog and soccer drills at the school's field.

Noting studies that show kids today leading ever-more sedentary lives, the mayors said that kids have become not only "couch potatoes" but now also "keyboard potatoes" through the lure of TV, video games, computers and other distractions. Participation in physical education classes is dramatically down: only 25% of students attend physical education classes daily while about one in four do not get ANY physical education in school. The result is that about 25% of children are overweight or obese at a level that has risen 40% in the last 16 years.

Mayor Morial pledged to work to make the Mayors' OlympiKids for Fitness program available in all the elementary schools in New Orleans. Focused on running and walking, but encouraging other forms of exercise, the program aims to teach children to set fitness goals and to take responsibility for their lifestyle. Emphasizing participation and achievement, not competition, the program hopes to build life-long healthy habits by incorporating fun activities as well as multi-disciplinary learning.

The mayor challenged the kids to give up one hour of watching television each day - that's only seven of the over 20 hours a week kids spend watching television - and to dedicate that time to being active. "Take a walk with your parents or play tag with your friends," he said. In return, he promised his next step would be to contact the principals at the city's over 80 elementary schools so that the OlympiKids would reach the all New Orleans kids in the target age range.

As Mayor of the next U.S. city to host the Olympics Games, Mayor Corradini established the OlympiKids Program as a centerpiece of her Presidency of the Conference of Mayors. She pointed out that physically fit kids are not only healthier but they have higher self-esteem, stay in school, and have less incidences of teen pregnancy and drug use.

"We've launched this program in my city, Salt Lake City, and the kids there are really excited about it," she told the children. "I want to thank Mayor Morial and all of you here for making New Orleans the first city in the United States to join us."

Mayor Morial expressed his hope that by next fall, all kids in New Orleans would be engaging in regular exercise. "Unfortunately, we've become known as the "fattest" city in the United States," Mayor Morial said. "I'd like to see us become the fittest. To do that, we need to start with kids and we need to start now."

The United States Conference of Mayors

J. Thomas Cochran, Executive Director
1620 Eye Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Telephone (202) 293-7330, FAX (202) 293-2352

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