MLS W.O.R.K.S., Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative, announced today that it has teamed up with award-winning, bestselling Summer Bridge Activities workbook series and the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University to launch the Active Bodies Active Minds program. The newly created program is a soccer-centered community outreach initiative that provides online resources for children and their parents to remain active, mentally and physically, while away from the classroom.
Active Bodies Active Minds is a summer-based program that will educate children, parents and teachers about the importance of physical and mental fitness during the summer months. Today is Summer Learning Day, a focal point of the summer program, which was developed to emphasize the importance of keeping children safe and healthy, supporting working families and sending young people back to school ready to learn. Select MLS teams will participate in Summer Learning Day by supporting events in local markets.
"Major League Soccer is keenly aware of the childhood obesity epidemic facing this country and coupling physical fitness with mental challenges is a great way to fight obesity while promoting sustained learning," said JoAnn Neale, Executive Vice President of MLS. "We are extremely proud to be partnering with Summer Bridge Activities and the Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning in this important initiative, and we believe that the outreach and support of the program from our clubs and players will encourage many children and families to benefit from the Active Bodies Active Minds program."
MLS W.O.R.K.S. will team up with Barnes and Noble, Borders, Amazon.com, Books A Million, and other independent bookstores and parent-teacher supply stores to promote the Active Bodies Active Minds program. A series of personalized public service announcements will also be featured in-stadium and on local MLS broadcasts.
In addition to these summer promotions, monthly sweepstakes will be conducted to reward children who participate in Active Bodies Active Minds. Participants who complete the program will have a chance to enter a separate sweepstakes to win a session at The David Beckham Academy in Los Angeles. For more information about the sweepstakes and the Active Bodies Active Minds program, please visit www.MLSnet.com/works.
