ATLANTA -- Fitness advocates have begged children for more than a decade to get away from the video games and get active. Well, with a little Hollywood technology and backing from the Atlanta Falcons, elementary and middle school students around metro Atlanta are now using a video game-like system to get in shape.
Tuesday, students from Centennial Place Elementary School demonstrated the HOPSPorts system to Falcons tight ends George Cooper and Dwayne Blakley and cheerleader Nicole D. at Centennial Place YMCA. The trio of Falcons broke a sweat to bass-heavy tunes and interactive instruction projected on a large screen -- the heart of technology that has been used to train celebrities and professional athletes.
According to the company's website, the HOPSports system "delivers 21st century physical education to millions of kids" with a unique brand of multimedia. The DVD-quality system has been provided to many Falcons Fitness Zones by the team.
"The system has about 800 lesson plans for kids ages 8 to 18," said Centennial Place Elementary health and physical education teacher Ami Finnegan. "It gets the kids moving as soon as they get into (class).
"I have the freedom to go around and give one-on-one feedback both positive and corrective to make sure they're doing all the skills correctly that they need. It also, when I'm teaching class by myself, takes me a while to get them organized. When I have the mats out I tell them to go to a mat and then we're started. The amount of time they're actually moving is increased (with the system)."
Blakley, Cooper and Nicole spent more than an hour running through interactive drills with students and answering questions about their career. The martial arts segment of the video in particular gave the professional athletes a workout.
"I was a little winded suprisingly," said Blakley, who said he used the YMCA to stay in shape in his native Missouri where he still has a club membership. "I've never done anything like that before and it was a little complicated at first. As I kept going I thought 'this is a good little workout.'"
Finnegan said the system also allows for more diverse lesson plans. HOPSports provides 30 mats, exercise balls, resistance bands and "hop" sticks for programs including golf, which would otherwise be impossible to teach within the confines of a metropolitan gymnasium. Teachers can also download updated videos and, in the case of Falcons Fitness Zones, instruct with Falcons themes.
Students jammed Tuesday to videos including Falcons cheerleaders and Freddie Falcon.
"I think the HOPSports system itself gets the kids motivated because they think it's a video game," Finnegan said. "Definitely having the players out here helps because (the kids') energy is way up when they have professional athletes in their presence."
