To compound the lack of physical activity in the lives of today’s youth, television and video games have taken over as adolescents’ main source of entertainment and recreation.  In a 1998 study, the National Institute on Media and the Family concluded that the average youth living in the U.S. watches television 25 hours a week and plays video games an additional seven hours.
 

Orlando Sharks head Coach Jake Dancy hates to see statistics like these and encourages kids to get involved in sports and outdoor activities for more reasons than one.  “It’s hard to watch kids sit in front of a TV all day for fun.  If they could only realize the good times they can have and the friends they can make out on a soccer field instead of in front of a TV, they would be a lot better off both physically and socially.”

Being an overweight child isn’t the most dangerous part about kids not taking care of themselves physically; the real scare is carrying the bad habits and excess body fat into adulthood where it has the potential to increase chances of diabetes and heart disease. Connie Liakos Evers, in her book How to Teach Nutrition to Kids, alludes to the fact that 70% of overweight teens will remain obese into adulthood.

To Sharks Coach Dancy, the solution is as easy as parents setting simple boundaries for their kids.  "I have a two year old son and you can bet that when he gets to be five he's going to be racing around on soccer fields during the summer, not parked in front of a TV watching Hannah Montana and eating Cheetos," says Dancy with a chuckle.  "I understand if your child has a favorite TV show, because mine does, but how about watching it after they've spent the afternoon outside playing with their friends?  There has to be a balance like anything else."

In order to help parents get their children off of their couches and outside this summer, Jake Dancy and players from his Orlando Sharks are holding close to 30 soccer camps around Central Florida in Orange, Seminole, Lake, and Osceola counties.  Designed to help improve youths’ soccer skills, the camps will also provide something missing all too often in kid’s lives today: good old fashioned outdoor fun.  Camp dates and times are as follows:

R.D. Keene Park - June 16-20; June 23-27
NW Recreation Center - June 16-20; *July 7-11
Austin Tindall - June 16-20; Aug. 11-15
St Luke's - June 23-27; July 14-18
Hancock Park - June 30-July 2; July 28-Aug. 1
Sylvan Lake - June 30-July 2; **Aug. 4-8
Thunder Field - July 7-13; Aug. 4-8
Central Winds - July 7-11; Aug. 11-15
Red Bug Lake Park - July 28-Aug. 1; **Aug. 11-15
Barber Park - Aug. 4-8; ***Aug. 11-15
Hickory Point - July 21-25; Aug. 4-8

All times are 9a.m. - 12p.m. unless otherwise noted
* 5:30p.m. - 8:30p.m.
**9a.m. - 4p.m. 
***4:30p.m. - 7:30p.m.   

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