ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) – Rockingham County supervisor Joel Hensley and school board member Hilary Irons have announced the launch of a new student fitness initiative, “Rockingham Moves.” The 30-day pilot program aims to help students build healthy habits through daily physical activity outside of school.
Joel Hensley, District 5 representative on the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors and creator of this program, said introducing fitness activities to kids at a younger age can help them understand consistency early on, which can help them live a more positive lifestyle.
“I thought about this idea over the summer. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, actually, and was trying to figure out how to encourage kids to move more and to be more active and take physical fitness more seriously,” Hensley said. “There’s a recent study that came out that said that kids nowadays are not getting the daily movement that they should be getting.”
Hensley said serving on the board of supervisors is something he takes pride in and that he wants to use it in a way that will make a difference in the community.
“I’ve never taken this role to be just land use … and I think that I have an opportunity, and I have a passion for this, to encourage students to continue to move and be more physically active but not do it in a way where they’re trying to reach a certain standard,” Hensley said. “They’re trying to reframe how they view physical fitness and view it as a lifelong journey, not just a standard that they have to reach.”
This program is different, Hensley said, because it promotes fitness beyond their classes and not just when students are with P.E. teachers at school.
“If they’re not getting that physical activity at home, they’re getting it at school. … A lot of times when they come home, first thing they want to do, maybe, is go to video games or a tablet …So we’re trying to encourage them to build those habits on their own, not to have someone they’re telling them to,” he said.
The program is entirely voluntary, Hensley said, and “it’s really teaching kids how to take control over their own health and wellness from a very early age.” That way, he said, when kids become adults and have more responsibilities, they can maintain consistent fitness habits that will have long-term benefits for their health.
“That’s going to reduce any kind of diseases that are associated with that, such as diabetes, and that’s going to help kids in the long run and hopefully give them long and happy lives,” Hensley said. “But also, there’s a mental health factor, too. People who move more, people who are physically active more, report being happier. Those endorphins are kicking in, and so we want kids to be healthier, but also happier as well.”
Hensley said he hopes that this is something that can be expanded in the future in many different areas, such as a “Mud Run” challenge and involving nonprofit organizations and more.
“We hope to do this three times throughout the regular school year, and we might adjust whether it’s a physical activity or we might adjust it to maybe be a sleep and meditation kind of activity too,” Hensley said. “There’s different directions we can go in with it, but the P.E. teachers in Rockingham County and RCPS responded very positively to it, and so that was encouraging to us.”
Hensley said that in his personal experience, sports helped him as a teenager, adding that kids don’t have to be competitive to be athletic or enjoy activities that help with mental and physical health. That’s what he said he hopes this new program will do for kids in Rockingham County.
“If you didn’t make the basketball team or the football team, that’s OK. You can still be athletic and build those habits and make that a foundation in your life, so I want to try to help kids to see that it benefits you at the end of the day,” Hensley said. “Being in this position gives me an opportunity to take some of my life experiences and to share that with people and hopefully encourage people in some ways.”
The program is expected to begin the first week in April, RCPS P.E. teachers will distribute forms to students to take home.
The Rockingham Moves pilot program will provide three options of physical activity to participate in. Students will need to track their daily activity over a 30-day period, with three participation levels:
Movement Starter – 20 minutes of activity per dayHabit Builder – 40 minutes per dayFitness Leader – 60 minutes per day
For questions, contact Director of Physical Fitness Sheldon Rice at srice@rockingham.k12.va.us or reach out to Joel Hensley.
RCPS plans for ‘Rockingham Moves’ pilot program to promote student fitness, healthy habits
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