White House and Major Sports Leagues Unite to Promote Health and Fitness

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In a sig­nif­i­cant move to pro­mote phys­i­cal activ­i­ty and prop­er nutri­tion, the White House has announced unique part­ner­ships with all major Amer­i­can sports leagues, as report­ed by Saman­tha Walden­berg, CNN. This ini­tia­tive is part of the White House­’s Chal­lenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Com­mu­ni­ties, launched in March 2023. The over­ar­ch­ing aim is to erad­i­cate hunger and enhance healthy eat­ing and phys­i­cal activ­i­ty by 2030, along­side reduc­ing diet-relat­ed dis­eases.

Join­ing forces with the White House are the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, WNBA, MLS, PGA Tour, and NWSL, as well as var­i­ous play­ers’ unions. These orga­ni­za­tions have com­mit­ted to engag­ing chil­dren in activ­i­ties that pro­mote exer­cise and bet­ter nutri­tion.

Sec­ond gen­tle­man Dou­glas Emhoff high­light­ed the NFL’s com­mit­ment to this ini­tia­tive. The league will expand its PLAY 60 plat­form, which encour­ages kids to get 60 min­utes of phys­i­cal activ­i­ty each day. Since its launch in 2006, PLAY 60 has part­nered with orga­ni­za­tions like the Amer­i­can Heart Asso­ci­a­tion and Spe­cial Olympics to pro­mote youth fit­ness.

The NBA plans to extend its pro­grams dur­ing the All-Star week­end in Indi­anapo­lis from Feb­ru­ary 16 to 18, focus­ing on com­bat­ing hunger and enhanc­ing phys­i­cal activ­i­ty pro­grams. Emhoff also announced he will attend the All-Star fes­tiv­i­ties to sup­port these efforts.

MLS will expand its “food recov­ery” pro­grams to donate more meals to local com­mu­ni­ties, while the Nation­al Hock­ey League Play­ers’ Asso­ci­a­tion will hold events to col­lect and donate equip­ment to those in need.

In total, 14 sports leagues and play­ers’ asso­ci­a­tions have signed agree­ments with the President’s Coun­cil on Sports, Fit­ness & Nutri­tion. Chef José Andrés, one of the council’s co-chairs, empha­sized the need for robust nutri­tion­al pro­gram­ming in gov­ern­ment poli­cies, stat­ing that food should be a key con­sid­er­a­tion in all deci­sions and actions.

The White House hint­ed at more part­ner­ships and com­mit­ments to be announced in the com­ing weeks, fur­ther­ing the goal of a health­i­er, more active Amer­i­ca.