It was another great year for the AFH Fit program! AFH Fit encompasses all of the charitable work that AFH members perform in the physical fitness space. Similar to previous years, AFH Fit collaborated with several great partners, including Marathon Kids and Active Schools, to bring unique athlete-based experiences to young people across the country. There were 181 AFH Fit in-person visits during the 2018-19 school year, conducted by over 264 AFH members from 19 different sporting disciplines. An estimated number of 35,000 children participated in the AFH Fit program.
As always, AFH Members choose the best way to become involved in the AFH Fit program. This year AFH Members chose to work with our established partners, Active Schools and Marathon Kids, but also other organizations dedicated to physical fitness. With our established partners, we facilitated 60 visits to 30 Active Schools, 43 visits to 12 Marathon Kids clubs, and 26 visits through the Power Up! program in Washington D.C. and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Additionally, AFH members were also involved in 48 physical fitness-based community events with non-profit organizations, including Special Olympics, Girls on the Run, and local YMCA affiliates, just to name a few.
AFH U student athletes played a big role this year in the AFH Fit program. In total there was 15 teams from 5 different universities involved in 49 visits with Active Schools, Marathon Kids, Power Up or Community Events. The majority of teams chose to work with partners on a recurring basis, allowing for the student-athletes to develop deep relationships with the young people at the schools and clubs. For example, the Michigan State University Women’s Field Hockey team visited two different Active Schools in Lansing 18 times during the spring semester.
This year AFH Fit launched several new virtual elements to its program, the AFH Fit Monthly Challenges and the AFH Fit virtual visits. The AFH Fit Monthly Challenges are a series of short videos conducted by AFH members, which were sent out to schools at the beginning of each month. In the video the AFH member led a series of warm up exercises and then challenged the students to focus on the monthly physical exercise. At the end of their participation schools were eligible for a Virtual Visit with an AFH members from a wide range of sports. The program additions were met with high levels of engagement from our partners and we are looking forward to expanding this branch of AFH Fit in the upcoming school year.