HEALTH & FITNESS

The All-Stars integrate a health and fitness component into our comprehensive program five days a week. Every participant in the All-Stars program is required to complete 150 minutes (Elementary) or 225 minutes (Middle School) of physical activity each week. Additionally, every participant is also required to complete 60 minutes per week of nutritional education. To insure we are meeting the fitness goals we have set for our participants, we administer FitnessGram fitness tests and knowledge-testing surveys throughout the year.  There are for the Health & Fitness component:three primary goals

1.     Physical Activity Completion: per California state law, all students participating in an after-school program must complete weekly physical activity sessions.  The All-Stars understand the importance of students living healthier lifestyles and raising their awareness regarding the obesity epidemic.  Two days a week, students participate in structured play activities, exposing them to new outlets for physical activity.  Another two days a week, students participate is skill-based physical education classes.  In order to assist with students completing their four physical activity sessions each week, the All-Stars insures the following:

1. Physical Activity Equipment – all students are provided with the materials and supplies needed to participate in physical activity.
2. Environment – All students have access to the essential playing fields necessary for physical activity.
3. Supervision & Support – Each physical activity session is supervised to a maximum ratio of 20:1 student to instructor.
4. Variety of Sessions – All students are provided with the opportunity to participate in different activities.

2.     Nutritional Education: Students will receive health and nutrition education through the Fit for Learning curriculum, which ties a nutritional education program with appropriate physical activities. The curriculum is designed to promote a healthier lifestyle for students and their families. All-Stars also distribute daily snacks to students, which also reinforce the message of healthy eating. Students participate in this curriculum one day a week.

3.     Fundamental Life skills: In designing the comprehensive nature of our health and fitness component, All-Stars insures that lesson plans routinely provide students the opportunity to demonstrate the following 21^st Century Life & Career Skills:

1. Teamwork/Social Competencies
2. Self-esteem
3. Self-regulation
4. Resistance Skills
5. Planning & Decision-making

Health & Fitness Coordinator: to enhance our staff’s ability to execute the Health & Fitness program, All-Stars trains and places a Health & Fitness Coordinator at each site. This position has three main objectives:

1. Coordinators will attend 16 hours of mandatory Health & Fitness trainings, designed & facilitated by the Fitness Program Manager.
2. Coordinators execute the one-day curriculum implementation at their program site.
3. Coordinators oversee the implementation of the four-day physical activity curriculum at their site.

Fitness Coordinators are site staff members, who have agreed to take on this additional responsibility at their site.  To compensate them for this extra effort, each Coordinator is paid an annual stipend at the end of the year. 

Please contact Efren Caliva at ecaliva@bayallstars.org with any questions.

THE ALL-STARS SPORTS LEAGUE

The genesis of the After-School All-Stars was a free, competitive sports program for under-served middle school students.  While the organization has matured along with the growing needs of districts for their after-school programs to provide direct assistance to raising student achievement, we are proud to continue programs that echo our original organizational mission.

Starting in 2010, The Bay Area After-School All-Stars will support and manage The All-Stars Sports League.  In addition to remaining free-of-charge to all ASAS participants, this league will expand on previous sports programs we have offered by combining all of our districts into one, unified league.  Not only will this be more cost effective than our past arrangements, it will provide our students with the opportunity to compete against students in other school districts. This league will offer five sports (either coed or with separate boys and girls teams for each middle school) with seasons throughout the year: 

1. Soccer
2. Flag Football
3. Wrestling
4. Softball
5. Basketball

Program Integration
Each individual sport operates on a 6-8 week schedule, including a try-outs week and a tournament week.  Teams will play up to 2 games each week.  During non-game program days, practice occurs during the health & fitness hour.  On game days, should travel be necessary, student athletes receive snack time and participate in the academic hour of program and are then excused from the program to travel to the competition site.  Students wishing to participate in a sport must fully engage in program during the season, and must maintain a 2.0 GPA in order to compete.

All-Stars partners with local colleges and recruits collegiate athletes to lead on-site sports skills clinics.  Not only do these clinics help our students gain greater proficiency in the sport, but time spent with the collegiate athlete offers another opportunity for the program to provide positive role models for the students. 

In addition to collegiate athletes instructing the students, All-Stars trains and places a coach for each sport at each program site.  In addition to monthly in-house trainings from our Sports Program staff, our coaches receive regular training from The Positive Coaching Alliance, and in doing so, become more adept at creating a positive learning environment and reinforcing life skills that are transferable from the competition field to the classroom and beyond.

Culminating Tournament
For each sport, the Director of Sports Programs designs a championship tournament most conducive to the sport and to available resources.  These tournaments are generally held on the weekends, but may also be held on Friday evenings.  All-Stars is currently partnering with local colleges to host these tournaments using collegiate facilities.  Not only will these partnerships provide the sports program with state-of-the-art facilities, the tournaments will provide yet another opportunity to expose our students to the benefits of attending college and setting that as a personal goal.

League Expansion
As currently designed, The All-Stars Sports League facilitates participation of all After-School All-Stars middle schools, each of which will elect which sports they will field a team for.   However, All-Stars is open to the invitation of other ASES-funded schools to participate in the league as well as a limited number of non-ASES-funded schools as well.  Non-All-Stars schools wishing to participate in the league should contact the Director of Sports Programs, who can provide them with the buy-in costs to field a team of 20 players for each sport.

Please contact James Jimenez at jjimenez@bayallstars.org with any questions.