Healthy Kids Out of School

Working Together To Support Healthy Out-Of-School-Time Programs

Here at the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS), we believe that it is equally important to maintain a healthy body both on and off the field. Sports leagues and other out-of-school-time organizations can play a key role in promoting health and wellness programs that can impact not only the players, but coaches and families as well.

Recognizing this opportunity, NCYS has been working with some of the country's leading out-of-school-time organizations on an initiative called Healthy Kids Out Of School to create a set of unified guiding principles for healthy eating and physical activity in out-of-school-time (OST) programs.

In addition to NCYS, participating organizations include Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, the National 4-H Council, the National Council of La Raza, the National Council of Youth Sports, the National Urban League, Pop Warner, US Youth Soccer, and YMCA of the USA.

Together, leaders from these organizations helped Healthy Kids Out of School to develop three guiding principles for out-of-school time programs, they are:

  • Drink Right: Choose water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages.
  • Move More: Boost movement and physical activity in all programs.
  • Snack Smart: Fuel up on fruits and vegetables.

Healthy Kids Out of School has created a robust website, the Healthy Kids Hub, to connect staff and volunteers in OST programs with resources, tools, and training materials to help them implement the principles. Watch this brief video to learn more about how the Hub can connect your program with resources:




The creation of the three principles is just the first step. Healthy Kids Out of School is currently developing a robust web-based tool, the Healthy Kids Hub, to connect staff and volunteers in OST programs with resources, tools, and training materials to help implement the principles. The Hub will be available sometime early in 2013.

Aligning and implementing these nutrition and physical activity principles across organizations will provide greater consistency across out-of-school-time environments where children spend their time, ensuring that they have healthy environments in which to live, learn, and play.

CALL TO ACTION

Learn more about how you can adopt the principles and get connected with resources at: Healthy Kids Hub