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Page 1: Active RVA

PUBLISHED BY

awardsFITNESSPresented by

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Page 2: Active RVA

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Page 3: Active RVA

Get Fit RVA 1Photos courtesy Sports Backers and Jesse Peters

re you ready for a wakeup call?Even if you’re not, the Richmond Sports

Backers are sounding the alarm — to get ac-tive, get healthy, get smarter and live longer.

This was the message in mid-February when the Sports Backers handed out their � rst-ever

Active RVA Fitness Awards at a luncheon presented by Health Diag-nostic Laboratory Inc.

Launched in March 2012, the region-wide Active RVA initia-tive challenges residents of all ages to embrace � tness as a part of their everyday lifestyle. Driving the point home, the Sports Backers created the RVA Active Fitness Certi� cation to recognize schools and employers that e� ectively and innovatively promote healthy activities and habits in their daily environment.

Twenty-two schools and 38 companies received Active RVA Certi� cation plaques, and some were awarded for their exceptional e� orts to keep workers and students moving in a healthy direction.

At the awards luncheon, the Sports Backers also issued the region’s � rst “Fitness Scorecard” — a combined measure of eight di� erent data sets such as the percent of residents who are obese or are regularly active. The good news: Richmond passed comfort-

ably, but the C+ grade shows much room for improvement.Nationally known � tness expert JoAnne “Dr. Jo” Owens-Nauslar,

the event’s keynote speaker, says we’re not alone. Despite the wealth of science and medical research that have

come to bear in the current age, she says, people in general are still not as active as they could be. “We know more about staying well, but we are getting worse [with obesity].”

And it’s not all about looking good, Owens-Nauslar said. Data shows that students and employees think better and perform bet-ter when their bodies are moving.

She points to statistics of obesity among boys and girls in school — a healthy girl needs to walk 12,000 steps a day, while a healthy boy should travel 15,000 steps.

“What makes us move also makes us think,” she said, adding, “This is not about vanity. This is about community. When we have our energy back, we can take care of one another better.”

Getting that energy back means that each person needs to make a daily commitment to place a higher value on their life.

When people look in the mirror, she quips, they should say to themselves: “You sexy thing, don’t you ever die. There’s too much work and fun to be done.”

THE SHAPE OF RVAThe Richmond Sports Backers put a spotlight on active, healthy living in the region

a

JoAnne “Dr. Jo” Owens-Nauslar fi red up the fi tness

awards luncheon crowd.

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Page 4: Active RVA

2 Get Fit RVA Photos courtesy Sports Backers and Jesse Peters

STELLAR EFFORTS The Active RVA Fitness Awards spotlighted Chesterfield

County’s Bellwood Elementary School, a Title I school

where innovative programs are changing students’

health habits, and the Henrico County-based Snagajob,

which boasts an enthusiastically active workforce of

approximately 200 employees.

SNAGAJOBAt the online job-search company, the push for a healthy workplace is a top-down initiative.

“Our senior leadership team very much values � tness and wellness —and mental wellness,” says Betsy Kersey, whose title is Director of People.

Last year, when the online job-search company moved into a new Innsbrook o� ce, a key requirement was to have a space that included a gym and showers so that workers could include exercise in their 9-to-5 schedules.

The company’s sta� are casually referred to as “Snaggers,” and the Snagger-in-chief, founder Shawn Boyer, leads by example in the on-site gym. “It’s not uncommon to see him working out among other Snaggers,” Kersey says.

Fitness is such an intrinsic value for the company — they believe that physically active people are simply more creative and more e� ective at work — that Snagajob puts some of its bottom line into employees’ healthy pursuits inside and outside the o� ce.

Company bene� ts include a $35 monthly credit toward a local gym membership, a weekly group training session on site, occasional smoking-cessation programs, quarterly visits by nutritional counselors, a monthly visit from a massage therapist and, soon, even free health screenings at the o� ce.

What’s more, Snaggers who sign up for local road races get support from the mother ship. “We will split the entry fee with them,” Kersey says, adding, “It’s so unusual for us not to have some kind of group represent-ing us at almost every race.”

For avid cyclists, the o� ce includes a bike rack so the wheels are ready to roll when the lunch hour hits.

The company’s Culture Squad plans fun events such as the O� ce Olympics, which includes sports like o� ce-chair soccer and relay races. And when di� erent departments plan their teambuilding exercises, they are more than likely to take it outdoors — hiking, wall climbing or even Segway tours.

When it comes to hiring, Kersey says, Snagajob meets job recruits halfway, seeking people who demonstrate a good work-life balance. “We just tend to have healthy, active individuals.”

BELLWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLJust by the virtue of location, some school students � nd themselves with more hurdles to clear when it comes to learning a healthy lifestyle.

Bellwood Elementary is a Title I school — meaning that many of its students come from low-income households and receive federally funded meals to make up for shortfalls elsewhere.

Amy Bartilotti, Bellwood’s Community in Schools coordinator, points out that its location near Je� erson Davis Highway puts the school squarely in the middle of a “food desert,” where full-scale grocery stores and other food vendors are non-existent. Such circumstances also may hinder the students from developing healthy exercise habits.

Luckily, Bellwood has found remedies to these challenges, working with several key partners to establish in-school programs and communi-ty-outreach projects that teach � tness and nutrition to students and their families. Programs such as Greater Richmond Fit4Kids and grants from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have given the school a variety of tools to provide nutritional education and exercise coaching.

“It’s an all-encompassing approach,” Bartilotti says, “and it really has cre-ated this paradigm shift in school culture.”

In the classroom, the Bellwood students experience a combination of physical activity and academic instruction, following research and innova-tive models that link students’ � tness levels with learning, and even test scores. Games like the old favorite Twister combine movement with math lessons. Stability balls take the place of chairs, forcing students to stay at-tentive to sit upright, a somewhat passive task that strangely focuses their minds on learning.

“Body movement increases the body’s ability to retain information,” Barti-lotti says, citing current research. “It increases the level of engagement, too.”

Recess coaches give students structure during playtime by introduc-ing games that combine physical pro� ciency with social interaction and con� ict-resolution lessons.

After-school nutritional counseling sessions includes the students’ fami-lies so that � tness � nds a place at home. “Data suggests that the healthier the parents are, the healthier the students are,” says Bartilotti.

Standard activities like Monday Miles get the kids running or walking on a weekly basis. And the school community joins in an annual 5K race that engages families as they train for the event.

“Your not just a� ecting kids,” Bartilotti says, “but you’re a� ecting their parents as well, giving them a blueprint to stay healthy.

Bellwood Elementary School teachers and administrators were recognized for their outstanding eff orts to integrate

health and fi tness into school culture.

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Page 5: Active RVA

Get Fit RVA 3Photos courtesy Sports Backers and Jesse Peters

ACTIVE RVA CERTIFIED COMPANIESAdams, Jenkins and Cheatham

Advanced Wellness Centre

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals, Inc.

Bon Secours Richmond Health System

The Brink’s Company

CapTech

CarLotz, Inc.

CarMax

CBRE Richmond

Chester� eld County Government and School Employees

Chippenham and Johnston-Willis Hospitals

City of Richmond Government and School Employees

County of Prince George Government

Dominion Payroll Services

Dominion Resources

Dynex Capital

Elephant Auto Insurance

Free Agents Marketing

The Frontier Project, LLC

General Electric

Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc.

Heritage Wealth Advisors

Independent Container Line

James River Genco

James River Insurance Company, Inc.

KBS, Inc.

KSA Interiors

NaturalRunningStore.com

Partnership for Nonpro� t Excellence

RCM & D

Rutherfoord, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC

SnagAJob

SuperValu, Inc.

Timmons Group

University of Richmond

Virginia Commonwealth University

Wells Fargo

AWARD WINNERSActive RVA Certi� ed Schools and Companies

ACTIVE RVA CERTIFIED SCHOOLSBellwood Elementary School

Bettie Weaver Elementary School

Bon Air Elementary School

Carver Middle School

Chickahominy Middle School

Collegiate School

C.E. Curtis Elementary School

Elizabeth Davis Middle School

Jackson Davis Elementary School

Enon Elementary School

Manchester Middle School

Midlothian Middle School

Millwood School

G. H. Reid Elementary School

Rivers Edge Elementary School

Robious Middle School

Salem Church Elementary School

Salem Middle School

Elizabeth Scott Elementary School

Spring Run Elementary School

Swift Creek Elementary School

Woolridge Elementary School

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4 Get Fit RVA Photos courtesy Sports Backers and Jesse Peters

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1)Sports Backers executive director Jon Lugbill

welcomes more than 240 people to the first-ever

Active RVA Fitness Awards Luncheon. 2)Manches-

ter Middle School accepts its Active RVA Certifica-

tion. 3)Thirty-eight companies and 22 schools

were awarded Active RVA Certification at the

luncheon. 4)Host Greg McQuade of WTVR CBS 6

5)KBS Inc. celebrates its Active RVA Certification.

6)Sports Backer staff member Ray Patterson (left)

and board member Earl Cox of The Martin Agency

7)Paul Spicer(left) and Dennis Ryan of HDL Inc.

8)Tonya Mallory, CEO and co-founder of HDL Inc.

Photo Gallery

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Page 7: Active RVA

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