Jazz Encourage Local Youth to Live Healthy

SALT LAKE CITY (January 22, 2015) – Utah Jazz forward Trevor Booker will host the first of 10 Jazz Fit clinics at 2 p.m. on Jan. 27 at Nibley Park School in Salt Lake City as part of an NBA health and wellness movement. In an effort to raise additional awareness about the importance of staying active, Jazz players are also wearing special red NBA FIT shooting shirts during home and away games through Jan. 29. The Utah Jazz, with support from presenting sponsor University of Utah Health Care, Fresh Market, and ICON Health & Fitness, will conduct nine additional Jazz Fit clinics in February as part of middle school physical education classes. The Jazz player development staff, Jazz Bear, America First Jazz Dancers and the Jazz Fit Stunt Team will engage the boys and girls in a variety of activities to get them excited about fitness and encourage them to live a healthy lifestyle. Students will each receive a sling bag containing a water bottle, Jazz yearbook and a “stat card” to track exercise statistics. A series of health tips are also printed on the card. Five basketballs will be donated to each participating school. NBA FIT Live Healthy Week presented by Kaiser Permanente on Jan. 21-29 involves all NBA and D-League teams, encouraging fans to team up with the NBA family to be active, eat healthy and play together. The league is launching the #NBAFIT Pledge Tracker to count the number of fans making their commitments to live well and encouraging them to post and tweet photos showing what they do to be NBA FIT. Schools across the country are invited to sign up as a “Let’s Move! Active School” (www.letsmoveschools.org), with the goal of ensuring 60 minutes of physical activity is the new norm. The program is designed to raise awareness of how physical activity improves academic performance while also working to increase the number of schools with physical activity and physical education policies, practices and environments. Utah celebrated Jazz Fit Night on Jan. 13 at EnergySolutions Arena, with contests and information that encouraged fans to live an active and healthy lifestyle. Game night activities included the distribution of 10,000 protein shaker bottles; operation of the Fresh Market fruit stand; and a University of Utah Health Care display advocating health and safety with activities on stationary bicycles. The Jazz Fit Stunt Team held an on-court strength contest with different fan sections winning fitness prizes.