When I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes almost forty years ago, I was encouraged to attend a "diabetes education" class at a hospital in downtown Oakland. They described Type 1 diabetes, also known as "juvenile" diabetes as "insulin dependent". Type 2 diabetes, at the time, was categorized thusly: "over 40 and overweight."
Where am I going with this? Simple. At that time, Type 2 diabetes was almost never found in children, whereas now after 40 + years of "progress" which includes drive through fast food on every corner, this "over 40 and overweight" illness is reaching epidemic stages - at the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LEVEL!
What's wrong with this picture? Heck, these kids are the ones who'll have to be productive enough to run this planet someday. And what's missing, apart from the mega - calorie diets kids are being fed, is EXERCISE. Team sports aren't what they were when I was young. There's a reluctance among many kids to get involved in any activity that requires work of the physical kind. Playing baseball or soccer shouldn't be a video game experience. Kids should be encouraged by their parents to get out, run, play sports, develop a passion for being in shape.
When people are in shape, they feel better. They have more endurance, more ability to enjoy more slices of life on more levels. I enjoy rolling past a park on one of my wheelchair cruises around town and watching a soccer or football game, or kids learning that running can be a gas. How wonderful Livermore would feel if everybody took half their TV time and play a team sport or build stamina by running? The more those initiatives can be promoted by us all, the better off our younger set will be. Can our current programs support all who wish to play sports?
That's an idea I'd love to test. What local health care business might be encouraged to underwrite a soccer program that might expand the program to kids who normally might not participate? There's a wonderful infrastructure of devoted soccer families in Livermore, and LARPD can be a key to the expansion of their efforts as well as offering opportunities for the video game set to participate.
As for me - well, I'd really like to lead a Running Club for kids with whom I share that passion. It's all about fitness and challenge, things every kid will need to know at some point in their lives. How cool would it be to read that adult onset diabetes in 10 year olds is on the decline? I'd smile like a Cheshire Cat!
Team sports. Running. Rock Climbing. Finding your passion and developing skills. Becoming the most fit city in the Bay Area. Teach our kids that there is no failure - every game, every run, every climb is a learning experience. Success is simply the sum of all that learning paying off. If I don't make it to the summit of a mountain the first time, I'll explore what turned me back and correct it. Kids are like that, too....as parents and adults we share the responsibility of exposing our children to outside play, whether it's softball or hiking. I hope you share my passion for fitness - if not for you, then for your kids. Have a wonderful day, and...RACE YA!!!!!
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