RU's PEAK program gets kids moving

Parents know finding activities to keep children active in the winter can be challenging, but professors and students in Radford University's Department of Health and Human Performance (HHP) have a solution.

It's PEAK, HHP's long-running Physical Exercise Activity Kamp. Each semester, PEAK program instructors, made up of RU professors and students, provide children, ages 5-11, with Saturday morning activities that include cooperative game, individual and dual activities, team sports, individual motor skill progressions and other recreational activities.

PEAK runs from 9-11 a.m. on four consecutive Saturdays. The first session is Feb. 8 with subsequent dates being Feb. 15, 22 and March 1 at RU's Peters Hall gymnasium.

Registration begins at 8:45 a.m. on Feb. 8. The cost is $25 per child for all four weekends.

"Due to the combination of growing rates of childhood obesity and limited time constraints for physical activity in schools, the continuation of this healthy offering is more important than ever as we work with children and their families to promote improved health, fitness and motor skill acquisition," said HHP instructor Steve Shelton of PEAK, which began at RU in the late 1970s.

Many of the students who attend the weekend program have learned physical skills in their schools and seem to enjoy participating in PEAK and "becoming more physically literate," Shelton noted.

"The additional time allotted during PEAK weekends can afford students with the opportunity to enjoy and become attracted to many of the activities they are interested in playing and knowing more about," Shelton said. "It can even help them refine their physical skills and cognitive understanding of key concepts related to the numerous activities."

To learn more about PEAK, contact Shelton at sdshelton@radford.edu, Jon Poole at jpoole@radford.edu or Anna Devito at adevito@radford.edu.