Buton-Fairfax is one of a growing
number of elementary school students in Chester involved in the Chester Upland
Soccer for Success program, an after-school youth development program that uses
soccer as a tool to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles for
underserved students. Student participants and parents gathered at Stetser
Elementary School on Wednesday for the Second Annual Soccer for Success Sweet
Potato Dinner.
The program, which is operated by
Widener University through a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Soccer Foundation,
started last year at three schools in Chester with 300 participants. So far
this year, the program is at seven schools in Chester and Upland with more than
400 participants.
Brent Jacquette, head men’s soccer
coach at Widener University and coordinator of the program, said that he is
seeing the benefits of the program in only its second year. “The data we’ve
collected has shown positive evidence that the physical activity and nutrition
is making a difference,” Jacquette said.
Of the students participating in the
program during the 2012-13 year, 72 percent improved or maintained their BMI
(body mass index) percentile, 57 percent improved or maintained their aerobic
capacity, and 68 percent decreased or maintained waist circumference, Jacquette
said.
The nutrition aspect of the program
was the focus of Wednesday’s event, with participants and their parents
partaking in a healthy dinner of shepherd’s pie with sweet potatoes, salad and
sweet potato cookies. The meal was prepared by Aramark food service and served
by brothers of the Alpha Tao Omega fraternity at Widener. A representative from
Crozer-Chester Medical Center, a partner in the Soccer for Success program, was
on hand with information for parents on healthy lifestyles.
The sweet potatoes used in the meal
were harvested less than two weeks ago from the garden Soccer for Success
participants planted last May. Stetser students delivered 70 pounds of sweet
potatoes to the Aramark kitchen at Widener on Monday where the children were
given a tour of the kitchen and treated to lunch.
Janet Baldwin, principal of Stetser
Elementary School, said the benefits of Soccer for Success go well beyond the
physical activity and nutrition lessons that the children receive through the
program. She sees increases school attendance by students involved in the
program, and more self confidence.
“It has also provides kids with a
safe place to be after school,” Baldwin said. “That’s a really big piece,
especially in Chester.”
For more information on the Chester
Upland Soccer for Success program, visit http://chesteruplandsoccerforsuccess.org.
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