TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Youth in the Travis community are going to have to exert a bit of physical effort in order to win the FitFactor program's 2007 grand prize, an iPod Nano.

Participating in FitFactor, an exercise program encouraging children from ages 6 to 18 to lead healthy lives and stay in shape, will enter children for a chance to win iPod and iTunes-related prizes including the Nano.

"The program was conceived based on the problems with childhood obesity," said Steve Metcalf, Youth Center recreation specialist.
The music-related loot is a bonus incentive to interest children in the FitFactor program.

The lone Nano is the grand prize to be awarded at the program's end in September. Monthly awards include iPod shuffles and iTunes gift cards.

The program ends Sept. 30, though it is expected to return again in 2008.

According to the FitFactor Web site, the plan is to keep this program going indefinitely.
Metcalf said he thinks it's good for children to get out and get some exercise.

"When you go over to the teen center or come over here in the afternoon, you'll see a lot of them," - staring at a T.V. screen playing a video game- "while part of that time could be spent doing some kind of physical activity," he said.

In addition to the iPod swag, other prizes such as pedometers, hats, bracelets, bags and pins are awarded for reaching one of the five point plateaus (1,000, 3,000, 8,000, 15,000 and 25,000 points).

Running, bicycling, swimming or even mowing the lawn are just a few of the 1,500 ways participants can tally points, Metcalf said.

"The program allows children to take just about any physical activity they do, go into their own little site on the computer, find that activity on a list, click on that and it gives them points on one side of the little site," Metcalf said.

Children are split into two groups - ages 6 to 12 and 13 to 18. When one of the five points levels is met, participants are e-mailed a certificate they can take to the Youth Center to redeem their prizes.

Registration begins at the Youth Center, where Metcalf or a member of the staff will take your personal information and load it into the site.

Metcalf said that parents are the key to the program's success.

"It's a partnership, and parents play a major role in this," he said. "It's the parents that need to be the ones to drive them to use the program. The parents I know that are involved and the children that do really well in this program are the ones where the parents not only do P.T. for work, but they also go out and run or do other things too."

Children able to participate must be family members of active duty, National Guard and Reserve members of the Armed Forces, Department of Defense civilians, retired military members, honorably discharged veterans and military spouses and their families.

Visit the Youth Center or www.afgetfit.com for more information.