BATON ROUGE – Members of the LSU men’s basketball team and staff recently participated in a program entitled “Instilling Healthy Habits Into The Future Lives of All Children” at Freeman-Matthews Head Start in Baton Rouge.
The sponsoring group was the La Capitale Chapter of the Links, Inc., in partnership with the Pennington Bio Medical Research Center. The focus of the event, according to LA Health and Rehab Executive Director Soundra J. Temple, was “the reduction of Childhood Obesity. We believe that teaching children to make healthy choices at an early age is essential to our overall goal of reducing childhood obesity.”
One of the keys to the event was to involve the parents in the educational process as well because they are a component in the success of the endeavor.
LSU basketball strength and conditioning coordinator Juan Pablo Reggiardo was among those on hand to discuss nutrition with not only the kids but their parents as well. Reggiardo gave families his expertise on nutrition that he passes on to the LSU basketball team as well as easy exercises to do on a regular basis for healthy living.
Joining the kids in learning the exercises and discussing how exercise and nutrition play a vital role in their success were LSU players Storm Warren, Eddie Ludwig and Aaron Dotson. Also on hand was Executive Assistant to Head Coach Trent Johnson, Nick Robinson.
Students from Southern University’s Early Childhood Education program also took part in the event and LSU team partner Cox Communications was also helpful in the planning of the program.