Austintown school sets fitness goals

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

Austintown Middle School is leading the pack in new health and physical-fitness goals for district children.

About two years ago Paul Farr, AMS health and fitness instructor, began implementing a program called Fitness Gram into the physical-education curriculum. The program partners with the National Football League’s Play 60 program.

Farr said through the program, students are taught to measure their own body mass index and also to use handheld devices that measure body fat.

“The body-fat assessment provides a better look at your overall body composition because BMI doesn’t account for muscle mass,” he said. “This is an awareness thing so that every kid can become fitness- oriented.”

Farr said aside from personal assessments, the kids are able to put fitness into action by learning to do basic exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups and running.

Farr said he uses fitness standards based on age and gender to ensure fairness and the best result for each individual child.

“A girl between 12 and 14 should be able to do seven regular push-ups; one every three seconds, for example,” he said.

One of the kids’ favorite activities involves running around the football field to collect random items Farr brings from home.

“These kids are running with a “Hello Kitty” microwave and laughing and having fun, but they’re working really hard,” he said. “For the most part, it’s fun for them.”

Now that the program is taking off at AMS, Barb Kliner, district grant coordinator, said she’s secured money the district will use to implement the program at every grade level.

The grant, through the Ohio Department of Education and Ohio Department of Health, is $10,000 to start with an additional $5,000 to come in 2013, Kliner said.

The district used the money to purchase the assessment tools for each grade level and also for wellness-training programs for staff, she said.

“By this fall, we’ll be ready to use this program in kindergarten through grade 12,” Kliner said. “There’s a lot of emphasis placed on the childhood-obesity problem, so we’re working on ways to help them make healthier choices in their lives.”

Farr said the grant will enable physical-education staff to track every student’s physical health from the year they enter school to graduation.

“This grant really helped for every grade to take part in the program,” he said. “Now we can track their health from K through 12. ... It gives us insight into how our kids are developing through the school years.”

Though Farr said physical fitness and body image is always a sensitive subject for children and teens, the program is meant to teach students to be healthy— and not point out flaws.

“We’re not pointing the finger; we’re saying ‘let’s get you moving’ and ‘let’s get you active,’” he said. “If we never addressed any sensitive issue where would we be? If you can’t teach someone how to take care of themselves what can you teach them?”

Farr knows, however, that not every kid is built the same or as athletically inclined as another, and he said that’s OK.

“Not every kid is going to fit into that healthy fitness zone according to these standards,” he said. “The thing is, usually you can find an area where they’re good at something, and that’s a building block.”

Since implementing the program, Farr said he’s seen a difference in many students, and they’ve seen a difference in themselves.

“When you can test them in the beginning and test them in the end and there’s a noticeable difference, they can see that they did get better,” he said. “I don’t care how fast you can run, because it’s just showing the effort. You’ve got to build that type of atmosphere around the kids.”