Kids spring to action

Get Movin’ was a simple concept: Give kids incentives as rewards for being active this summer for at least 20 minutes three times a week.

The free program, similar to a summer reading program, began in late June.

Children who met the goal got free passes for Everett’s Forest Park swimming pool, ice skating at the Everett Events Center and indoor climbing at Cascade Crags.

Those who met the challenge for four weeks each got a free ticket to an Everett Aquasox baseball game.

The program was sponsored by four area health care organizations and The Herald to improve children’s health and to battle obesity. The health organizations included Providence Everett Medical Center, Medalia Medical Group, The Everett Clinic and Providence General Foundation.

Ben Gitenstein, spokesman for the Washington chapter of the Coalition for a Healthy and Active America, called Get Movin’ a model for the state in promoting children’s fitness.

Former Gov. Booth Gardner helped found the national group because of his concern over the growing problem of childhood obesity.

More than 600 Snohomish County children and teenagers signed up for Get Movin’, including some who hadn’t been very active.

Here are the stories of some of those who met the Get Movin’ challenge.

Taylor Covert

Rhonda Covert was looking out at the family’s backyard pool.

“He just went off the diving board,” she said, trying to call her 12-year-old son, Taylor, out of the water.

“He will spend three to four hours out there if we’re home during the day. It’s constant.”

There was an “Ah, Mom, whatever” reluctance when she first asked Taylor about participating in the Get Movin’ program.

Taylor has struggled with his weight, Covert said, but when he went to Everett Mall in June to sign up for Get Movin’, he realized he wasn’t the only kid facing a weight issue.

Taylor, who will be a seventh-grader at Northshore Christian Academy, has participated in sports. But “give him a TV, and he’d sit there and watch,” his mother said.

“You hate to say it takes an incentive to get kids moving,” she said of Taylor’s participation in Get Movin’. “But that’s what it was – motivation.”

“Now he still watches TV, but not anywhere near as much.”

Although swimming is Taylor’s favorite activity, he has also spent the summer riding his bike, walking, running and working out with weights.

And he’s more knowledgeable about the importance of physical activity to his overall health.

“Now I do it more,” he said. “I don’t know why, I just do more stuff now.”

Covert said her son’s stamina and endurance have increased, he has gained self-confidence and he is thinking of trying out for football.

After completing the Get Movin’ minimum requirement of 20 minutes of exercise three times a week for four weeks, he hasn’t stopped, Covert said.

“He’s gotten a little taste of success, just feeling better and having more energy.”

Taylor’s resolve to work out more and eat healthier foods has had a ripple effect on the rest of the south Everett family as well, which includes brother Jason, 15, and father John Covert.

“I’m with Taylor, trying to lose weight,” his mother said.

“It’s gotten the rest of the family conscious of what we have in the house, what we’re putting in our mouths, and being active on a daily basis. …We don’t have as much junk food in the house any more. We try to stay away from chips and soda.

“We do a lot of swimming together, bike rides, walks as a family.”

Michael Carey

Michael Carey had a routine. He would come home from school and watch TV. He would often watch it during dinner, then watch some more afterward.

Although he has participated on baseball and soccer teams, “I would say Michael has not been an extremely active child,” his mother, Kathy Carey, said of her 9-year-old.

Get Movin’ helped change Michael’s patterns. “All of a sudden, he’s been out playing with the kids in the neighborhood a lot more than he used to,” she said. “He’s been running around outside from morning till dark.”

“I just got back from riding my scooter up and down the hill,” Michael said one afternoon last week. And during a recent trip to Texas, “I was in the pool every day.”

Sometimes, Michael runs with the family dog, Sasha, or walks with his mother, who had heart bypass surgery two years ago.

Some days when she didn’t feel like walking, it was Michael who gave her encouragement. “But, Mom, we have to,” he’d say.

One of his favorite activities is bouncing on his trampoline, sometimes jumping from a nearby swing set.

Michael, whom Carey describes as “a little on the husky side,” has been teased in school about his weight.

So Carey told her son about Get Movin’. The format, like a summer reading program, grabbed his attention.

“Oh yeah,” he told her, “I’d love to do that.”

His summer of activity has produced results. “He’s looking slimmer,” Carey said.

“Just get moving,” Michael said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s healthy for you.”

However, keeping his activity level up might be harder once summer is over and Michael begins fourth grade at Marysville’s Allen Creek Elementary School.

“I’ll have homework … and I won’t have the whole day to go outside and play,” he said.

Carey said she will try to make sure he continues to stay active. “I’m going to try to (walk) when he gets out of school – to do it together.”

Christian DeBoer

Teddi McCallum said her grandson was “14 and getting pudgy” when he came to visit her and her husband in Everett for the summer.

Christian DeBoer said he doesn’t mind saying how much he weighed – about 189 pounds.

“We’re all quite concerned with his size,” his grandmother said. When she heard about Get Movin’, she asked Christian, “Would you be interested to see what this is about?”

They were at Everett Mall for the June 26 kickoff before sign-ups began. At the health fair held that day, Christian learned that because his mother, who died two years ago, had diabetes, it put him at risk for the disease.

“This all hit home to him,” his grandmother said, “how being overweight was a very bad thing for something that runs in the family.”

Christian went swimming every other day at Forest Park pool. He rode his bike up and down a hill and around a cul-de-sac, and worked out on his grandparents’ treadmill.

He said he hadn’t been that active before, but it only took a week to notice a difference.

“It gave me more energy,” he said.

“I had to drag him home,” McCallum said of how much he enjoyed swimming.

By the end of the six-week program, he had lost about 10 pounds.

What did he expect to happen when he returned to his Eastern Washington home in Twisp?

“It’s 100 degrees,” he said. “I’ll be swimming a lot.”

This school year, the eighth-grader plans on taking three quarters of physical education instead of two.

His advice to other kids: “Get up and get moving. It’s the only way.”

Justice Campbell

When she isn’t at Everett’s Forest Park swimming pool, Justice Campbell, 8, has been ice skating, roller skating, participating in golf camp or scrambling up the climbing wall at Cascade Crags.

Justice has exercised on and off before, but the Get Movin’ program got her more active.

“Now she just loves to go outside and roller skate all the time,” said her grandmother and legal guardian, Bonnie Williams.

That’s not all.

“Jump rope, hula hoop, skating – lots of things,” Justice added.

Williams has noticed that Justice, who will be a third-grader this year at Discovery Elementary School, now has more muscle and less fat.

The emphasis on exercise hasn’t just been with Justice. Williams has type 2 diabetes, and her doctor told her to go for half-hour walks every day to help keep the disease in check.

Justice “gets out and walks with me,” Williams said. Then she added with a smile, “She nags me. It’s much more fun to have somebody with you when you do it.”

Even though the Get Movin’ program is over, Justice said she plans to continue being active three times a week, “maybe even the whole week … all the things that I do in the summer.”

Derrinisha Richardson

Derrinisha Richardson’s smile says it all: She enjoys playing, whether it’s hula hooping, walking, roller skating, or throwing a frisbee in the park.

“She’s active – quite active,” said her grandmother, Amelia Richardson, of Everett, who takes care of Derrinisha.

Derrinisha, 6, will be a first-grader at Emerson Elementary School this fall. She often joins her grandmother on daily walks, suggested by Richardson’s doctor to help her battle high blood pressure.

Although Derrinisha didn’t need much encouragement to get active this summer, she said she enjoys the walks she and her grandmother often take to Everett Mall.

“If she was with you, you would have a blast,’” her grandmother chuckled.

The Get Movin’ program also allowed Derrinisha to try something new – the climbing wall at Cascade Crags.

“It was a little hard,” she said, “but fun.”

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.

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