KHI NEWS SERVICE
TOPEKA, May 3
Thousands of third-grade students will participate in physical fitness events on Friday during the “Kansas Kids Fitness and Safety Day.”
A total of 17,000 students are expected to participate in the event statewide. About 700 of those are expected at Cedar Crest in Topeka to run, jump, and warm up with the Washburn University basketball team all to raise awareness of the importance of physical activity and safety.
According to Safe Kids Kansas, one of the event”s sponsors, accidental injuries are the leading cause of death for Kansas children.
Emergency personnel know summer as “trauma season” since preventable injury deaths and serious injuries to children increase dramatically. Safe Kids Kansas seeks to educate parents and caregivers about potential risks to children and adults” role in preventing injuries.
The coalition also hopes to promote physical activity. According to the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey results conducted in Kansas, 13.3 percent of Kansas high school students are at risk of becoming overweight and 11.9 percent already are overweight. The same survey showed that only 41.3 percent of high school students participated in the recommended amount of 60 minutes physical activity per day on five or more days per week.
Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Roderick Bremby and former Harlem Globetrotter and current University of Kansas assistant women”s basketball coach Lynette Woodard will attend the event at Cedar Crest, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.