Grinning with anticipation, 8-year-old Ty’rique Brock waited patiently to hear if he was one of the lucky few to win a prize at the grand finale celebration of the Scorecard program, held Nov. 7 at Jackson Heights Recreation Center in East Tampa.

Ty’rique has spent the past couple of months filling up his own scorecard with stamps and signatures that verified his participation in physical activity. Football, kickball, relay races, playing in the park; these were some of his choice activities. At the finale, he was among the three dozen young students from two area elementary schools who had filled the 24 spots on at least one scorecard and could now be in the running for one of the grand prizes: two bicycles, a Wii console and games, scooters, tickets to USF basketball and football games and to the Florida Aquarium.

Scorecard Community Coordinator Bonnie Salazar with Ty’rique Brock, his mother Andrenna Brock, and a full scorecard.

The Florida Prevention Research Center (FPRC) at the USF College of Public Health helped Robles and Sulphur Springs Elementary Schools implement the Scorecard program, which offers elementary aged students action outlets for physical activity in their community. The program encourages youth to try new activities with an emphasis on fun rather than health or skill.

“It’s all about providing an opportunity for them to try new things, to spend time with friends and family, to find something they like to do, and to have fun,” said Robert J. McDermott, PhD, professor of public health and co-director of the FPRC with Carol Bryant, PhD.

Students use the card to track their physical activity. When they have been active for a designated period of time (typically one hour) at a Scorecard site or at home, an adult stamps or signs one of the 24 squares on the card. Once all of the squares are filled, the card is redeemed for physical activity related prizes (such as Frisbees, beach towels, water bottles, backpacks), and makes them eligible for grand prizes.

The Scorecard program began in 2004 in Lexington, KY, and USF’s FPRC earned a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006 to fund Scorecard locally.

The FPRC ran a pilot Scorecard program for middle school students in Sarasota County in 2006, then the full program for elementary school students in Hillsborough County last spring.

“One key point we learned from the Sarasota program was that it is better to target younger kids because as the kids start to enter their teens, they start to favor sedentary activities, like video games and television,” Dr. McDermott said.

“So the point is to interest them in activities earlier because by the time students are teenagers, it might be too late.”

During the past year, the FPRC worked with Robles and Sulphur Springs Elementary Schools, as well as other community partners in the Sulphur Springs and Robles areas, to build a comprehensive plan for tailoring the Scorecard program to fit local needs, with the goal of helping Tampa’s youth become more physically active throughout the year.

Prior to choosing the schools that would participate, Dr. McDermott’s team assessed the environment surrounding the schools, looking for those that were more kid friendly, with parks that had amenities like bathrooms and benches, and with ample venues for planned activities, such as bowling alleys, skating rinks, etc.

“We want the kids to feel safe, so if the nearby park is littered with broken bottles or drug paraphernalia, we weren’t likely to include that school,” he said.

Local venues participated by hosting regularly scheduled events for the students. Terrace Sports, for example, hosted weekly timeslots when students could bowl for $1 per game with a $1 shoe rental. Weekends were filled with events, such as track meets or baseball clinics at local parks, or activities like the Too Good For Drugs Walk and KidFest at MOSI.

Much of the support provided by FPRC came from public health graduate students John Trainor, Emily Koby, and Alyssa Mayer, Dr. McDermott said. They staffed many of the events and evaluated the programs to provide feedback to the school. In addition, the graduate students collected data from last spring’s program and presented it this month at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. Students will also be involved in the data analysis from the fall program, and will probably present or publish those results, as well as share the results with the schools as feedback.

“They learn something new from participants’ feedback and refine the program each time,” Dr. McDermott said.

From left: Alyssa Mayer (MPH student COPH), John Trainor (PhD candidate Applied Anthropology), Andrenna Brock-Cadet (mother of Scorecard student), Emily Koby (master’s student Applied Anthropology), Bonnie Salazar (Scorecard Community Coordinator), and Susan Carrigan (USF Social Marketing Ctr.).

In addition to the graduate students, the program received much support from Tonya Thomas as the neighborhood Scorecard coordinator and Sulphur Springs resident.

Next spring, however, the goal is for the schools to take the program and run with it, Dr. McDermott said.

“We have built an infrastructure with the schools and community organizers so that they could run the program on their own.”

Beyond that, the next task is to apply basic marketing principles and develop a tool kit that can be used in schools around the country, he said.

As for Ty’rique and the grand finale celebration, he didn’t win one of the grand prizes but still came away feeling like a winner. His mother Andrenna Brock-Cadet said that the Scorecard program was great for Ty’rique.

“Sometimes we’re surrounded by a lot of negative and this program was a positive thing for my son,” she said.

“As a parent, I enjoyed seeing him participate. And it helped me get out and move, too. Sometimes I would get in there and run around and play. They definitely need to keep this program going.”

Playing up the grand prizes at the Scorecard Finale Celebration are DJ Ekin (left), radio host for WBTP 95.7 the BEAT, and Acafool, a local hiphop artist.

Students get in the mix at the Scorecard Finale Celebration.

Story by Sarah A. Worth, USF Health Communications
Photos by Eric Younghans, USF Health Communications