Local CYFAR Program Spotlight

Power Up Club, Morris County, Kansas

From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at elementary schools is in Morris County, Kansas, you will find 100 children engaged in vigorous exercise – throwing balls, jumping rope, playing tag – joined by teens who seem to be enjoying themselves just as much.  Although the children are having fun and their parents are receiving high-quality child care for $3 per day, the program is aimed particularly at the teens.

The program, called Power Up, was named by the teens themselves and is in its fourth year of operation. It was born from an existing child-care program, which morphed into a teen health program when the CATCH curriculum came along. CATCH – Coordinated Approach to Child Health – trains teens to lead children in fun games that encourage vigorous exercise. Unlike competitive sports, in which skill levels determine success, and each player spends a certain amount of time waiting for a turn, these games include all players all the time.

The CATCH curriculum has the blessing of the National Institute of Health and the Centers for Disease Control, and can be used for in-school or after-school programs. It has become popular across the country, and is required for physical education classes in a few states. Morris Countyuses the after-school curriculum. CATCH is based on the theory of process, not product, and that activity and intensity are more important than skills. It is not a weight-loss program.

Each teen leader is trained to lead small groups by joining in activities such as jumping rope, dancing or passing multiple balls around the room. The goal is to spend 30 minutes in fun, moderate to vigorous physical activity that begins the moment the younger children come through the door. Either the teens or the “littles”, as program leaders call the elementary schoolers, select a card from a box full of CATCH game cards and jump right in. “These games are easy to implement,” said State Project Director Elaine Johannes. “Teens don’t have time to prep or read through a three-ring notebook.” The games are designed to keep all of the participants constantly active, with no waiting for turns, or being “out”.

The 30-minute period includes a few minutes of warming up the muscles that will be used, 10-15 minutes of the day’s “Go Activity” and a five-minute cool-down. The day’s Go Activity might be basketball or soccer, or may include equipment such as a parachute, bean bags, balls or flying discs. The essential ingredient, however, is fun.

Integral to CATCH is the fact that the teens lead not only by participating, but by modeling healthy behaviors for younger children through eating healthfully and exercising vigorously. The modeling aspect is one that’s particularly suited to small towns such as Council Grove and Prairie Heights, where teens and children will meet in different contexts. Knowing that they are models, teens learn to incorporate these healthy behaviors into their daily lives.

There is a dietary side to the CATCH curriculum that is being used in in-school programs in Texas and Florida, but it wasn’t appropriate to the after-school program, Johannes said. Instead, program leaders follow a nutritious snack program funded by a CYFAR New Communities grant and devised by program leaders Ann Sparke and Amy Mayhill, both knowledgeable in dietary health. This separation of funding will help sustain the program, Johannes said. And for one hour per week iin two schools, a program assistant teaches nutritious food preparation to children, a fun cooking activity that is a collaboration the two with school district food service programs.

Johannes agreed, saying that outcomes have been good, although hard to measure in numbers. Once each quarter, teens are surveyed for their three-day physical activity recall. Body mass index measurements are also taken regularly, but have been unrevealing, because the teens – about one-third boys and the rest girls – are still growing. “We are learning more from focus groups – the quality of the attachment, the level of physical activity, the attachment to the community. And this filters into the families. We’ve heard kids say ‘Mom now walks to town because she knows I do this work,’” Johannes said.

“Teens are herd animals,” she said. “They watch how other groups watch them. We have found that teens are actually eating more healthfully now, because they know the “littles” are watching  them. This may not be relevant to urban populations, but in a small town, it’s enmeshed in everyday activities, like going to church or to the grocery store.” 

You may wish to consult:
Kansas: Morris County Community Project Overview

See previous Program Spotlight articles