CHILDHOOD OBESITY
Child’s play What can be done about the rising levels of childhood obesity around the world?
Kate Cracknell talks to the people behind a range of initiatives designed to promote physical activity among children – all with a strong focus on fun and play
HEALTHY HABITS
Kathleen Tullie – founder of the BOKS initiative, a before-school programme funded by Reebok – explains how getting kids active before class can set them up for both learning and life
“BOKS’ founding principle is that physical activity can improve classroom performance and behaviour”
When was BOKS founded, and why? BOKS (Build Our Kids’ Success) was founded in 2009 at one elementary school in Natick, Massachusetts, US – originally under the name Fit Kidz Get Up & Go, prior to Reebok’s involvement. The reason was quite simple. After 18
years in the corporate world of real estate fi nance, I tried my hand at being a stay-at- home mum, but I only lasted a few months. I read the book Spark by Harvard Medical School professor Dr John Ratey, which describes the profound effect exercise has on the mind, and I was hooked. I was inspired by the fact that physical
Kathleen Tullie, founder of BOKS
BOKS is now offered in over 1,000 schools in the US and around the world
activity, especially before school, can have an impact on both classroom
performance and behaviour. Yet the US school systems are sorely lacking in opportunities for our kids to be active: fewer than 4 per cent of elementary schools have daily PE, and only 57 per cent of schools have regular recess. It’s no wonder obesity rates are rising. I was already getting my kids and
others in the neighbourhood together for impromptu soccer matches and running races before the school bus arrived in the morning, and I wanted to see if I could activate other parents and their kids to get involved. I teamed up with two other mums – Jen Lawrence, a CrossFit enthusiast, and Cheri Levitz, who had a background as a lawyer – and we developed two 12-week curricula for the school year. Word started to spread in surrounding areas too, and I started getting calls from other parents wanting to start a programme at their schools.
So what is BOKS? BOKS is a free, before-school physical activity programme designed for elementary school kids aged 5–11, although we’ve recently developed a curriculum for middle schools too – grades 5 to 8 (ages 11–14). Its goal is to get kids moving in the
morning and their minds ready for a day of learning. It teaches motor skills, functional fi tness movements, and how to be part of a team and play with different ages. Its mission: to promote
62 Read Health Club Management online at
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