Washington, D.C. Family Wins Boys & Girls Clubs of America's First-Ever Triple Play Fit Family Challenge

News provided by

Dec 08, 2010, 09:13 ET

Coached by Dr. Ian Smith, VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, the Humphries Family Wins a Healthy Family Vacation

ATLANTA, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As millions of Americans are in the midst of holiday indulgence, three families have spent the past two months competing in a fitness challenge to improve their overall health. The families – from Boston, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. – have children who attend a local Boys & Girls Club and have been participating in Boys & Girls Clubs of America's (BGCA) first-ever Triple Play Fit Family Challenge. Last night in Los Angeles, the families convened to find out which family came out on top. The winning family, the Humphries of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, D.C., was announced by Dr. Ian Smith.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101208/DC14117 )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050921/CLW030LOGO )

Author of the New York Times bestseller, The 4 Day Diet, and medical diet expert on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, Dr. Smith, coached all of the families throughout the Challenge. "I congratulate all of the families for working together to establish healthy habits like increased levels of physical activity and improved nutrition choices," said Dr. Smith. "It's great that they can go back to their communities and inspire other families to follow suit."

Triple Play: A Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul is BGCA's proven health and wellness program. It was created by BGCA and Coca-Cola to encourage Club members to eat healthier (mind), become more physically active (body) and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships (soul). Triple Play was created in 2005, and to date, more than one million young people have participated in the program.

To win the Triple Play Fit Family Challenge, the families were judged on how well they incorporated the principles of Triple Play into their lives. As the winner, the Humphries – consisting of Dana, 42, Caprice, 12, and Clifton, 11 – will receive an "active, healthy vacation," including an experience at a U.S. Olympic Training Facility. The other two families – The McIver's from Boys & Girls Club of Venice, Calif., and the Rochelle's from Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston – also received prizes, including Microsoft's new Xbox Kinect system.

"We are extremely proud of the efforts that the Humphries, and the McIver and Rochelle families, put into the Triple Play Fit Family Challenge," said Wayne Moss, BGCA's senior director of Sports, Fitness and Recreation. "Boys & Girls Clubs of America believes living a healthy lifestyle is critical to the overall well being of today's youth – ensuring a pathway to a great future."

BGCA offers all families a resource (in both English and Spanish) to help them get healthy as a family – the Triple Play Parents Game Plan. This at-home guide is available as a free download at www.bgca.org/tripleplay.

About Triple Play

Triple Play: A Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul was launched in 2005 by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services with support from The Coca-Cola Company to get kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships. A two-year study of more than 2,000 children ages six to 18 showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more, eat healthier foods and feel better about themselves. The study found that Triple Play kids increased to 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 60 minutes a day for children, while their peers outside the program decreased to 78 percent. To date, Triple Play has helped more than one million kids learn the importance of physical activity and proper nutrition.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America

For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (www.bgca.org) has enabled young people, especially those who need Clubs most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, some 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs serve more than 4.2 million young people through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs can be found throughout the country and on U.S. military installations worldwide, providing young people 6-18 years old with guidance-oriented character development programs conducted by trained, professional staff. Key programs emphasize leadership development; education and career exploration; community service; technology training; financial literacy; health and life skills; the arts; sports, fitness and recreation; and family outreach. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 57 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta.

SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America