WEST ORANGE, NJ — Fifth-grade students in Lisa Asman’s physical education class at Gregory Elementary School participated in a districtwide fitness combine initiative on March 9 that continues to foster West Orange School District’s partnership with the National Football League and the innovative “Fuel Up to Play 60” health and fitness program.
The school district began its partnership with the NFL in September 2015, when former Giants player Keshawn Jennings visited Gregory Elementary School. In the spring of 2016, middle school students visited the Jets training facility in Florham Park and this year selected students will attend a special event hosted by the Giants at South Street Seaport.
Partnership with the NFL requires following the “Fuel Up to Play 60” playbook containing sports and nutrition initiatives that the WOSD has already begun to implement thanks to grant monies received from the NFL. With the help of Kevin Alvine, physical education and health supervisor for the West Orange schools, physical education teachers at all schools developed age-appropriate fitness combine programs for students. Fitness combines are part of the daily training and tryout regimes of professional football players that test endurance, power, strength, balance and agility.
“Fitness combine parallels what the athletes do in the NFL,” Alvine said in a press release.
The first fitness combine was designed last year by physical education teachers at Edison Middle School.
“The program has really caught on this year in our physical education department,” Alvine said. “And much of the equipment that we purchased with our ‘Fuel Up to Play 60’ grant is used as well.”
Photos Courtesy of WOSD
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