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Community Corner

Fun, Food and Fitness Take Center Stage

Mystics-Inova 'Get Movin' Family Fun Day' combats childhood obesity while promoting fitness

“Get Movin’ Family Fun Day” had the ProJet Aviation hangar rocking on Saturday, Sept. 24. Hundreds of families came from the entire Northern Virginia and southern Maryland area to test the thesis that “Healthy exercise and healthy food can be fun.”

Rod Williams, Inova Health System vice president for community affairs, welcomed the crowd from the Disney Radio stage with those words.

“Developing healthy communities is what we are doing,” Williams said. “Inova has been working with the Mystics for more than a year and this is the first step in how we want to go into these communities and promote education, fitness and nutrition. We believe we have the right partner [in the Washington Mystics].”

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Inova Health System and the Washington Mystics co-sponsored the event, and brought in Radio Disney to up the tempo. Also on deck were rock climbing, hoops, face painting, ground-level games and cooking demonstrations from Inova and Market Salamander chefs.

Sheila Johnson shared that in her 50s, she had stopped exercising. One day, she got a look at herself in a mirror and didn’t like what she saw. Then she bought the Washington Mystics women’s basketball team who she now attends training camp with while participating in warm ups. On Saturday, Johnson shared her role models with the entire community. 

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“They have really been an inspiration to me," she said. "It’s very hard to keep up with them. I never realized the power of these women, but they are very fun to warm up with.”

The Mystics and Inova teamed up earlier this year to cooperate across the region in promoting fitness, healthy life styles, and nutrition and to combat childhood obesity.

Leesburg Mayor Kristen Umstattd helped greet the throngs that attended and said she was “thrilled” that the Mystics-Inova venture had chosen Leesburg to kick off the partnership.

“What’s really nice about this event,” Umstattd said, “is that Radio Disney has partnered with the Northern Virginia Coalition for Healthy Kids to try to boost healthy eating and healthy exercise for kids, to try to combat childhood obesity.”

With the combined health-power of Sheila Johnson and Inova, Umstattd said, “there’s a great coalition developing here in Northern Virginia to combat childhood obesity.”

Sandy Thompson, co-chair of the Coalition for Healthy Children, a four-year old grass roots enterprise dedicating to decreasing rates of childhood obesity, handed out her “95210” magnet: Healthy children will have nine hours of sleep a day, eat five serving of fruits and vegetables, spend no more than two hours in front of a screen, put in one hour of physical activity, and consume zero sugary snacks.

The coalition is reaching out to the business, school, recreation and faith communities, Thompson said, and is seeing some signs of success.

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