Be Physically Active
Every Day
Lynn Swann, Chairman of the President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, spoke at the
National Press Club in Washington, DC, on January 15,
2003.
I thank the National Press
Club for inviting me here today and members of the media
for attending.
I also want to recognize all of you
from health and physical activity organizations, who
have taken time to come here today.
Some of you may remember me as a
wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, or even further
back to my days as a Trojan at USC.
Or you might recognize me from my
25 years as an ABC broadcaster.
But I would guess none of you remember
me as the third and youngest son of Willie and Mildred
Swann from Blount County, Tennessee, where I was born.
My mom, Mildred, always wanted a
girl.
So when I was born, she named me
Lynn. She sent me to dancing school.
By the time I got around to playing
sports, I had become a good dancer. But it took a lot
of time, effort, practice and support from many sources
to make me a good athlete. You'd be amazed at what kids
can do when they try.
I am honored to be appointed by President
Bush to serve as Chairman of his President's Council
on Physical Fitness and Sports. The other council members
and I are very excited about the work that we are doing
and we hope to be able to make a profound impact on
the health and fitness of Americans.
And I remember one day, talking to
the head football coach at the University of Texas in
Austin. And he told me that Governor Bush worked out
at their facility. What impressed him was the governor's
diligence and commitment to physical fitness.
His public and personal commitment
to physical fitness and exercise is something that has
stuck with me throughout the past several years.
And it's something that helped me
in my decision to accept this responsibility.
There couldn't be a better president
to be working for as Chairman of the President's Council
on Physical Fitness and Sports.
President Bush doesn't just play
lip service to physical activity; he plays sweat service.
His activities-running and working
out-are an integral part of his everyday life.
When it comes to exercise, President
Bush is not asking us to do what he says . . .he's only
asking us to do a little bit of what he does.
President Bush and Secretary Thompson
have a vision of a healthier United States, an America
where people are empowered to make healthy choices.
- In brief, they want each one of
us to:
- Be physically active every day.
- Eat a nutritious diet
- Get preventive screenings, and
- Avoid risky behaviors.
I want to help them achieve that
vision of an active, healthy America.
As a parent, I'm proud of my two
boys; they're five and six. They do karate and can do
more sit-ups than most adults who are in shape.
But as Chairman of the President's
Council, I feel like I have a lot more than two children
to worry about, probably closer to 100 million. I'm
worried about our children's health.
American elementary school children
are now being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high
blood pressure. Once thought of as only adult diseases,
they have trickled into our homes and schools. We are
not giving enough attention to our children's daily
nutrition and physical activity.
In the past two decades the proportion
of children and teens in America who are overweight
or obese has tripled. Nine million kids are carrying
excess weight, with millions more at serious risk.
Television and computer games have
taken the place of physical activity for many American
children. And kids are playing more football on their
PlayStation then they are on their playground.
If the trend continues, this generation
of school children may be the first in modern times
to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
It's time for change. Not since the
founding of the President's Council on Physical Fitness
and Sports in 1956 has there been such a great need
for leaders take a stand on the nation's health.
Last year, Secretary Tommy Thompson
stood at this podium and told you, "A Little Prevention
Won't Kill You."
He said, "we spend millions
of dollars on treatment and it's time for America to
put on a preventive wellness campaign."
Did you know that we spend $117 billion
a year on medical costs related to overweight and obesity
. . . And an additional $100 billion on the costs associated
with type 2 diabetes?
Think of the loss of productivity,
the pain and suffering caused by obesity, diabetes,
and stress! What if we had that $200 billion available
for other things?
What would our schools look like
if we had billions more for them?
What would our transportation system
look like if we had additional billions of dollars for
roads and public transit?
How about our parks and recreation
facilities? Or our national defense?
In January 1961, newly elected President
John F. Kennedy summoned the nation he was about to
lead and said "
.ask not what your country
can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."
He invoked this American spirit at
a time when our nation faced a great crisis: a growing
threat from the Cold War.
Today, our battle against obesity
is another major threat to our well being as a nation.
That fight is costing America much
more than the $200 billion I mentioned earlier. It also
costs 300,000 lives each year.
Every day, almost 1,000 Americans
die because they chose a sedentary lifestyle and a poor
diet.
The government can't buy us a healthier
nation. It's not a law that Congress can pass. It's
a change in the lifestyle and culture of each individual
citizen, of our families.
As the President says, "Better
health is an individual responsibility and an important
national goal."
So back to the question, "What
can you do for your country now?"
The answer is, take care of yourself
and your family: start moving every day; eat a healthy
diet; get screened for high blood pressure and diabetes;
and don't expose yourself to high risk situations and
behaviors.
We on the council are going around
the country to spread the President's vision of a healthier
U.S, announced last summer when he introduced the new
Council members. He gave us the charge to take the lead
in helping Americans be physically active every day.
At the President's Council, we want
to give Americans more than a just mandate to be active
. . .We want to offer tools to get Americans moving
today.
Some of you may remember taking the
presidential fitness test while you were in school or
heard your child talking about it.
If you passed the test you got an
award like this-a presidential patch. (hold up a Presidential
fitness patch).
Or did you have trouble with the pull-ups?
The program has evolved so that all
kids who take the test receive recognition, not just
the ones with the best performance.
Today our President's Challenge is
much more than a test. It's a tool to help all Americans
become active now and stay active for a lifetime.
I am taking this opportunity today
to announce to the nation for the first time the new
awards of the President's Challenge program, the "Presidential
Active Lifestyle Awards."
Now, for the first time since the
Council began in 1966, adult Americans can join kids
and participate in the President's Challenge awards.
The Presidential Active Lifestyle
Awards are for everyone: children, teens, adults at
home and at work, seniors, and people with disabilities
and health conditions.
On your table, you'll find these brochures
and activity logs (hold up the Presidential Active Lifestyle
Awards brochure).
- If you're an adult and you're active
30 minutes a day 5 days a week, this is your award
(hold up patch and certificate).
- There is an award for children
for 60 minutes a day.
- Every activity counts: walking
the dog, sweeping the floor, taking the stairs, washing
the car, raking leaves, playing tag with your kids,
biking, swimming, playing sports, walking with a pedometer.
- After 6 weeks, you send in the
log to the program office.
The benefits of regular physical activity
are widely known. Not only do you live longer. But your
immune system improves and your productivity increases.
To businesses this means fewer sick
days and more product at the end of the day.
The General Mills Corporation is already
joining us and will use the President's Challenge for
their employee fitness program. We want other businesses
to take the President's Challenge for employee health
and fitness.
Communities can participate too.
My hometown of Blount County, Tennessee,
has one of the highest stroke rates in the nation. They
also have alarming rates of coronary disease, type 2
diabetes, and obesity.
But the poor health of Blount County
isn't unique. It is a microcosm of a nation in physical
peril - something I have seen first-hand as I travel
across this country.
When people want to improve and make
a serious commitment to be more physically active, you
will begin to see marked improvements and a healthier
community. That's already happening in Blount County.
Blount County is taking the President's
Challenge for their community wellness program. They
are using the Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards to
motivate their citizens to take small initial steps
that offer big rewards for health.
And I'm looking forward to going back
to Blount County in April to recognize their success
in helping their people begin to be physically active
every day.
At the President's Council we strive
to support President Bush the HealthierUS Initiative
in any way that we can.
So we are enhancing the President's
Challenge.
Increasingly, Americans obtain information,
especially health information, from the web.
We now have health and fitness experts
working with web developers to create an interactive
web site for the President's Challenge.
It will allow Americans of all ages
and abilities to keep track of their activities and
work towards Presidential awards on line.
The new President's Challenge web
site will be fun and scientifically sound.
And the interactive Challenge web
site will be available free of charge.
The new President's Challenge web
site will be a powerful tool for families, schools,
organizations, businesses, hospitals and health care
providers, senior activity centers-anyone and everyone
who wants to be active or to motivate other people to
be physically active every day.
Our programs will continue to be offered
in paper form for those who do not use the web.
When the new President's Challenge
interactive web site is complete, we'll launch it nationally.
But you don't have to wait for our
Web site.
All Americans can start taking the
President's Challenge today. Pick up the activity log
and start moving now.
I challenge the journalists here to
begin recording your physical activity today.
Make a commitment to be physically
active at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week for
the next six weeks. And even in that short amount of
time, you'll notice results.
You'll feel better and you'll look
better, you'll be more active and more productive. All
from taking a few simple steps.
Some of you may be thinking, "It's
easy for you, Lynn Swann, to come up here and talk to
us about physical fitness-- you're a former professional
athlete. A hall of fame football player with Super Bowl
rings."
In addition to my obligation, as Chairman
of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports,
to help all Americans improve their health, I'm also
a parent, a community member, and a friend. Friends
can help their friends get fit.
A few years ago I was talking to my
attorney, a good friend.
I told him that I was going to fire
him. Not because he was a bad lawyer or didn't represent
me well.
But I was afraid he was going to die.
You see, he weighed over 350 pounds and was only 5'6".
I said I was going to fire him because
I didn't want to be worried about my finances when he
died an early death because he didn't take care of himself.
If I fired him I'd be able to mourn
the death of a good friend without wondering where all
of my contracts and contacts were.
I think at that moment it "clicked"
for him. He started to walk, eat healthier and lose
weight.
And it wasn't easy. In the beginning
he could barely walk 20 minutes. But he stuck to it.
It took him a long time to drop his
weight. But he made it a commitment and eventually saw
the results he was looking for.
You have to remember, it's taken you
a lifetime to gain your weight, and it's going to take
a life-change to get rid of it.
But today, my friend, who weighed
350 pounds, is down to 165 and now runs marathons as
a hobby. All it took to get him started was a wake-up
call from a friend.
Everyone can use help. I want to tell
you a story about a little boy from Tennessee. Growing
up he became a pretty good dancer, but he wasn't a particularly
good athlete when he first started playing sports.
He had parents that encouraged him
to be a good student, a reliable member of the community,
and imbued within him a strong sense of faith.
They encouraged him to play sports
and helped make opportunities for him to learn and improve.
His school, church and community backed him.
That young boy from Tennessee soon
learned to play football on the playground and improved
through hard work and practice in the youth leagues
and high school and college, and he eventually made
it to the NFL.
What I learned from sports is this:
I didn't know what I was capable of until I tried.
Now I know that not everyone can be
a professional athlete. And I consider myself very blessed
and very fortunate to have had success on the gridiron.
But when kids and adults begin to
be physically active, to play sports, to walk, run,
swim or bike, they will be surprised at the things that
they are good at.
Of course, some people just aren't
good athletes, but even they will be surprised at what
they can accomplish and what they can succeed at.
All you have
to do is begin. All you have to do is keep trying. Small
steps bring big rewards. Together, step-by-step, day-by-day,
we can build a healthier U.S.
Thank you.
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