USATF Foundation announces Run With US! partnership with Health Teacher

INDIANAPOLIS – The USA Track & Field Foundation is pleased to announce that Run With US! – a school-based running, nutrition & goal-setting program taught by elite athletes – has partnered with Health Teacher, Foundation Executive Director Tom Jackovic and Chairman Bob Greifeld announced today.

“In Health Teacher, we’ve found a first class organization whose goals and skills fully align with ours,” said Jack Wickens, Foundation Director. “Our role model athletes will be inspiring children all over the nation through RWUS! soon.”

Health Teacher, based in Nashville, TN, is an online health education resource that empowers teachers to positively impact the health habits of students in grades K-12. Health Teacher is used in all 50 states and in 14 foreign countries by its 20,000 users, made up of classroom & physical education teachers, health educators, school nurses, community organizers and parents. Its mission is to “Instill lifelong health habits and personal responsibility into today’s youth with the goal to dramatically change the health of our nation, forever.”

The RWUS! pilot program was successfully launched on February 8, 2012 at John Muir Middle School in Los Angeles, CA. Its main goal is to fight the rising tide of childhood obesity, especially amongst children living in urban areas.

The Foundation is preparing to impact thousands of America’s children in the coming years with inspiring healthy behavior messaging. By compensating elite track & field athletes serving as teachers, role models and mentors, students will personally interact and receive in-depth instruction from some of America’s finest men and women athletes, some of whom will be competing at the summer Olympic Games in London and at other major international competitions.

The USATF Foundation provides a means to attract and guide funds to new and innovative track and field programs with an emphasis on providing opportunities for youth athletes, emerging elite athletes, distance training centers and anti-doping education. The Foundation depends upon donations from its Board of Directors and from generous fans of track & field.