By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of the classic American television show Leave it to Beaver. One thing I’ve noticed is that Wally and the Beaver are always doing something involving exercise.
In this day and age of technology where many kids are almost glued to some form of device (albeit a phone, laptop, game system, etc.), it is hard to think that just several decades ago, they would have been outside playing sports, running, fishing, climbing trees or running away from dogs.
According to Let’s Move, an initiative of First Lady Michelle Obama, American Indian children are at the greatest risk of obesity. “Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled. Obesity is more than two times more common among American Indian/Alaska Native children (31 percent) than among white (16 percent) or Asian (13 percent) children. This rate is higher than any other racial or ethnic group studied.”
Diet is always a contributing factor, but so is inactivity. It makes me happy when I drive down Acquoni Road and see children playing basketball or skating at the Cherokee Skate Park. I wish every basketball court and athletic field on the reservation was filled to the brim each day.
That isn’t the case, but it could be.
Children on the Cherokee Indian Reservation have a bevy of athletic and exercise opportunities available to them. There are organized sports going on just about year-long, and the Cherokee Life Center is an outstanding exercise facility complete with weights, exercise machines, an inside track and a swimming pool.
You don’t have to be a great basketball player or be able to jump hurdles on the track team to be in shape. Riding a skateboard is great exercise. So is walking on a trail or swimming in the pool or river.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, former governor of California and a 7-time Mr. Olympia bodybuilding champion, once said, “Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body.”
In other words, just get moving and keep moving…and, have fun doing it just like Wally and the Beaver did so many years ago.
Sporting must-sees for April 24-26
You can probably catch some NBA playoff games this weekend on TNT, but again this week, the real action will be on the pitch in Barclay’s Premier League. Chelsea (#1) will take on Arsenal (#2) on Sunday, April 26 at 11am on NBC OLN.
