Champions of Health & Fitness 2010

Play Masters: Jamie Dukes, Rich Eisen, and Scott Hanson

If you want to tackle childhood obesity, call in the NFL. That's the idea behind Keep Gym in School (KGIS), a national initiative to encourage physical education in America's middle schools that was launched by the NFL Network and is spearheaded by on-air announcers Jamie Dukes, Rich Eisen, and Scott Hanson, along with pro-team players. Each year, the program gives four U.S. schools $50,000 grants to renovate their gymnasiums, update exercise equipment, and fund PE instructors. Middle schools in the same districts get lesson plans and exercises to boost students' speed, coordination, and endurance. In addition, schools nationwide compete to receive ten $1,000 grants for phys ed funding. To date, KGIS has encouraged nearly 120,000 kids to get fit.

The need couldn't be greater. More than 30 percent of school-age children are overweight or obese, according to new research. A big contributing factor: lack of physical activity. "Keep Gym in School is teaching kids to work exercise into their regular routines," Dukes says. "Our emphasis is on changing their overall lifestyles to active ones."

-- Patty Adams Martinez

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, March 2010.