Time To Get Out And Play

Get Healthy Santaquin Week Getting People Moving

The Santaquin recreation department has kicked off its annual Get Healthy Santaquin Week again in an effort to encourage kids and adults alike to ‘Get Out and Play’.

From Jan 3 through Jan 7 people all over Santaquin are getting the chance to get fit, get active, and try out some of Santaquin’s recreational activities for free.

Leisure Services Director for Santaquin, Kevin Schmidt, says the week is a perfect time for Santaquin’s young and old to “get off the couch.”

“Get Healthy Santaquin Week is our chance to get people moving in Santaquin,” said Schmidt.  “We’re trying to get people to get out, get healthy.”

A full range of winter and summer recreation activities are available free of charge this week, says Schmidt, participants only need to come in and sign-up or pre-register online. Schmidt says their popular aerobics, tumbling, and dance classes are available, as are their Zumba, Ripped, pre-school, and sports classes.

“We offer a lot of wonderful programs and we want to expose people to them,” said Schmidt.

Santaquin recreation department is trying to do their part in combating the growing obesity problem in the United States. At a time when more and more people are giving up physical activities for social media, video/pc gaming, and other entertainment options, Schmidt says children are becoming victims of the bad habits of their parents.

“It’s really important that we get fit, I’m one of those people that’s concerned about children’s obesity,” said Schmidt. “We as adults… we have more self-control over our habits and whether we want to be obese or not,  but with kids a lot of it has to do with poor choices that we as adults put in front of them.”

Obesity rates in the U.S. are at record highs and continue to increase. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years and more than one in three children and adolescents are overweight or obese. The 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that adolescents get at least 60 minutes of aerobic physical activity a day. Currently only 18 percent of high school age adolescents are meeting that recommendation.

“Kids aren’t getting outside, they’re not playing as much sports,” said Schmidt. “This (Get Healthy Santaquin Week ) is to expose them to things that maybe they normally wouldn’t do.”

The event goes til Saturday and Schmidt says many of the classes fill up. “Some of our classes can get pretty big this week,” he said.

He encourages people of all ages to come participate. “It’s fun, it’s just a fun thing to do,” said Schmidt.