Pickering student playing with the pros

LYNN – In an effort to battle the growing number of children suffering from obesity, the NFL Network is encouraging middle-school students and staff to make being active a part of their everyday lives and Pickering Middle School eighth-grader Brett Erelli was recognized and rewarded this week for doing just that.”I had to write an essay saying how I feel about childhood obesity and how to keep kids more fit,” Erelli said. “It was a 500-word essay and all the kids in the school passed it in. My principal called me down to the office to tell me they chose my essay and I was really excited.”The Keep Gym In School Fitness Program, which was developed in association with the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, is made up of five fitness assessment tests; student effort in physical education class, an essay on “Why Being Physically Active and Healthy is Important to Me” and completion of a fitness journal. Initial assessments were conducted in October/November with follow up tests in March to measure the students’ improvements.Erelli said that promoting physical fitness and combating child obesity is important to him.”If you stay more fit you will be able to live a longer and happier life and that’s what is important,” he said in a telephone interview from New York City, where he attended the NFL Network and 2010 NFL Draft’s NFL PLAY 60 youth football clinic Wednesday.Erelli said he is a football fan and had a lot of fun.”The top 18 NFL prospects came to Central Park and we played a big football game with them,” he said. “They gave us some lessons and signed autographs. It was really cool.”During the clinic, Erelli was honored as being one of four of the most improved and dedicated students from nearly 150 middle schools that participated in the national Keep Gym In School Fitness Program. Winners were recognized by former NFL All Pro and current NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders.”It was cool because Deion Sanders gave my trophy and he is going to be a Hall Of Famer,” Erelli said. “It was cool to get to talk to him.”NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the prospects of this year’s NFL Draft were also in attendance and spoke about the importance of youth health and fitness. Erelli and his father, and the Pickering school, were handsomely rewarded for their efforts.”Tonight we are going to the NFL draft. We got the VIP seats and we will be with a lot of famous people. We get to watch the first round,” Erelli said. “My school got the gym for free because of the grant – $50,000 to do over the gym. It was done over in October. They gave us lifting equipment, treadmills, bikes and a lot of other things.”The Keep Gym in School Fitness Program is a part of the NFL PLAY 60, a campaign dedicated to combating childhood obesity by restoring the quality of Physical Education programs in the nation’s schools. This year the program worked with the Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, New York Giants and NFL Network affiliates Verizon FiOS and Comcast to distribute more than $200,000 to middle schools in the NFL clubs’ communities. For more information, visit www.KeepGymInSchool.com.