Fuel Up to Play 60 Update

By Mary Nicholson

Approximately seventy-five Fuel Up to Play 60 Program Advisors and their guests braved the crazy Indiana spring storms to attend a training camp at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center on Tuesday, April 19th.  Despite the unpredictable weather outside, a calmer atmosphere (for the most part) awaited guests inside the Pavilion.

While waiting for the program to start, many of our Program Advisors took guided tours of the facility, visited with two of the Colts? Cheerleaders, and browsed a number of exhibits provided by both the Dairy Council and Fuel Up to Play 60 grant winning schools.  It was great to see the variety of ways that these schools have used their funding to help their students become more aware of the foods they eat and the importance of being physically active every day.

To start things off, Mike Prior, Colts Youth Football Commissioner and leader of the Colts Fitness Camps, introduced the group to his style of coaching by going taking us through the first part of one of his fitness camps.  Next up were the mischievous mascot of the Colts, Blue, and his voice of reason, Kat.  Always entertaining, Kat explained about a program available to middle schools ? Fuel Up to Play 60 Presented by Blue.

The main event of the evening began after dinner with a panel presentation from five program advisors who each explained and showed how they had implemented the Fuel Up to Play 60 program in their schools.  Roberta Sipe, Physical Education teacher from Rosa Parks Edison Elementary (Indianapolis) was the first presenter and gave great advice and told of the many no-cost resources she has found and used.  Alicia Harris, Assistant Principal at Greenbriar Elementary (Indianapolis), has done some amazing things preparing her students for ISTEP via Fuel Up to Play 60. Caren Walker, Family and Consumer Science teacher at Klondike Middle School (West Lafayette) showed us a different angle of Fuel Up to Play 60.  Students in her cooking classes produced videos of a number of different recipes.  From the Nicholson Elementary (Crawfordsville) team, Angie Frost, RD, Nutrition Educator, spoke of some of the activities used to kick off the Fuel Up to Play 60 program, including a Dairy Bingo game and ?Make Your Own Trail Mix? bar in the school?s cafeteria.  Angie also mentioned how they are tying in Fuel Up to Play 60 with other school wellness programs, such as USDA?s Healthier US School Challenge and the President?s Active Lifestyle Award.  Katie Louden, 5th grade teacher at Holy Cross (Indianapolis)  finished the presentations with an impressive use of both Fuel Up to Play 60 and Peyton Manning?s Project 18.  Both programs meshed well and really got kids and their families involved with leading healthy lifestyles.