USTA Reflects on 10 & Under Tennis Initiative and Broader Campaign to Combat Physical Inactivity Among America’s Youth

Marking the one-year anniversary of the USTA’s public commitment to help shine a spotlight on the crisis of physical inactivity among America’s youth by aligning with A Partnership for a Healthier America, tennis’ governing body, the USTA, held a press event and youth tennis exhibition on Sept. 1 to show that an early positive experience in sports helps to create a lifelong commitment to an active lifestyle.

Coinciding with the start of Childhood Obesity Awareness Month and with week two of the 2013 U.S. Open looming, the USTA gathered leading health and fitness experts at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center for a discussion on this epidemic and to underscore the organization’s commitment and leadership position through 10 and Under Tennis, the single largest initiative in the history of the organization. Among the participants were fitness expert and star of NBC’s The Biggest Loser, Bob Harper, University of Texas professor and physical activity expert, Bill Kohl, along with the USTA’s Chief Medical Officer, Alexis Chiang Colvin and Chief Marketing Officer Sue Hunt.

The presentation and panel discussion began with some sobering statistics, including the fact that for the first time in history, the current generation of children is expected to live five years less than their parents. Several of the panel participants referred to this crisis as a pandemic, citing research indicating that developed economies such as the United States have reduced physical activity levels by as much as 32 percent in fewer than two generations.

“When I see kids losing five years, the one thing I think about is we have the power to change our own destiny,” noted fitness and health expert Bob Harper. “I think it starts at home. It starts with our parents. Our parents have got to become involved. We have to get our parents getting our kids to be more active, but they need to be more active.”

Despite the grim statistics presented, the panel remained optimistic about the challenges ahead, pointing to an ever growing web of partnerships intended to create a broader network to fight this complex national problem. The USTA’s Chief Marketing Officer Hunt noted that the movement has gained significant momentum in the past year and now consists of twenty national governing bodies and partners that include the NCAA, Aspen Institute, the Clinton Foundation, a Partnership For a Healthy America, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move and the American Academy of Pediatrics. University of Texas professor Bill Kohl, an expert on the development of physical activity national guidelines for chronic disease prevention, voiced his concern but expressed support for initiatives such as the USTA’s 10 and Under Tennis by stating, “when the public health world can engage in youth sports such as youth tennis and other kinds of things to help design programs, design initiatives that make physical activity more accessible to more people more times, and to enhance early childhood experiences, positive experiences, that helps kids remain physically active.”

Emphasizing that the USTA’s age appropriate format is a youth sport model where children are guided into becoming lifelong athletes, Chief Medical Officer Chiang Colvin said she hoped the model is one that can be effective for other sports committed to getting children active. "Kids are not little adults. They’re different from adults physically, emotionally, physiologically and emotionally. Sports should be tailored for our child, not for a little adult. Play is the work of children. We know the primary reason kids are going to play sports is because it’s fun. If a child has fun playing sports, they’ll continue to do so.”

Credit all photos to Jen Pottheiser

Panelists discuss childhood obesity and ways to combat the epidemic during the U.S. Open

Bob Harper, USTA’s Chief Medical Officer Alexis Chiang Colvin, USTA’s Chief Marketing Officer Sue Hunt and University of Texas professor and physical activity expert Bill Kohl get active on the courts with some kids during the 2013 U.S. Open