Hawks team up with CPS to Fight Child Obesity

By Paul M. Banks 

 With over an estimated one-third of American adults defined as obese, something corrective must clearly be done. Educating the next generation is one way to help fight off this epidemic. On Thursday, the Blackhawks announced a major initiative towards fighting childhood obesity: a partnership with Nettelhorst, a Chicago Public School. The campaign began this Thursday, Oct. 30, when Chicago Blackhawks team president John McDonough served as ‘Principal for a Day’ at the school. McDonough toured the facilities and classrooms and interacted with the students. “It’s a privilege for me to be able to visit with the students of The Nettelhorst School and help launch such a special partnership,” he said.

Chicago Blackhawks Charities donated $200,000 and various team sports equipment to Nettelhorst, and will additionally create a fitness center, floor hockey court, and inter-school floor hockey league for area schools in the future. McDonough elaborated on the importance of nutrition and a healthy lifestyle: “It really makes for a good student, and for somebody who’s going to be achieving a lot of things in life.”

The program’s goal is to instill a sense of leadership, self-esteem and self-confidence driven by active individual fitness and team sports experiences. “We admire the Blackhawks’ thought-leadership and proactive mindset in creating a partnership with Nettelhorst to offset the hardships created by decreasing government funding,” School Principal Cindy Wulbert said.
McDonough has participated in 12 ‘Principal for a Day,’ programs, which were created for community leaders to involve themselves and their organizations or associations in continued support throughout the year at their school. For adults, numerous local recreational sport and social leagues offer commercial winter floor hockey leagues, a very productive means for burning calories during the colder months.

I also participated in “Principal for a Day” yesterday too. Representing the Chicago 2016 Channel, I reported on Olympic Boxer and former WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz returning to his alma mater, Carl Von Linne School.

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