Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BAWSI and Bay Area Boot Camp Coach Latina Moms to Health for Life
Groundbreaking Salud por Vida Program to Pick Up at South Bay Schools in March

San Jose, CA/February 12, 2007 – Over the past twenty years, obesity rates have nearly tripled among adolescents. Today, eleven year olds are eleven pounds heavier than they were in 1973, and if we continue leading sedentary lifestyles, one-third of children born this year will become diabetic at some point in their lives.

To combat what is now referred to as “the obesity epidemic” among young people, Bay Area educators and policy-makers have established a series of school and community-based physical fitness programs.

But what happens when these kids go home? Who is making the decisions that determine the future of their health when they’re not playing midnight basketball?

Their mothers.

Enter Salud por Vida (Health for Life), a program established in the fall of 2006 by the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI), a South Bay nonprofit founded by Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and Former San Jose CyberRays General Manager Marlene Bjornsrud to create avenues for women athletes to promote health and wellness in the community.

Run in collaboration with Bay Area Boot Camp, Salud por Vida is an exercise and nutrition program targeting low-income Latina mothers.

According to BAWSI CEO Marlene Bjornsrud, the response to the kickoff session of Salud por Vida was so enthusiastic that participants wanted more, despite the fact that none of these women had ever in been involved in organized sports.

“Every single woman who came to the program was grateful, excited, and sad that it ended,” Bjornsrud said, “The Bay Area Boot Camp coaches made them feel very special and helped them discover a new-found love for exercise.”

Salud por Vida’s initial success attracted the attention of Kaiser-San Jose Area, which provided a grant that will allow BAWSI to continue the program at Washington, San Antonio and Goss Elementary Schools starting on March 12, 2007. The program will also benefit from the addition of a nutrition education component developed by Kaiser Health Educator Suzi Loew and taught in Spanish by BAWSI’s Susan Armenta.

Bay Area Boot Camp co-founder and COO Mary Beth Gonzales, who served as one of the coaches in the inaugural Salud por Vida session and will lead a rigorous routine of cardiovascular, resistance and strength training for program participants again in March, recognizes that reaching out to mothers is a crucial part of improving health among members of the Latino community.

“Moms are the main decision-makers when it comes to taking care of their families’ health,” Gonzales said, “These women aren’t just concerned about taking care of themselves, so when we give them the tools to make the right choices about exercise and healthy eating, we know those lessons are going to have a ripple effect.”

ABOUT ALAVIE FITNESS:

Founded in 2004, AlaVie Fitness (formerly Bay Area Boot Camp) is a fitness organization dedicated to helping people achieve their wellness goals and to making a genuine contribution to community health. Since launching its first camp for women in San Francisco, the company has added locations in San Mateo, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Campbell, and Walnut Creek, along with evening and co-ed camps, personal training, physical therapy, and massage services.

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