by Beth Rifkin
500 times 'round the track – not your idea of an enjoyable way to get some exercise? How about sprinting, serving aces, unleashing power forehands and crushing backhands? But you already knew that tennis provides a great workout. And now Robby Ginepri is hoping kids will think the same way.
The Indianapolis Tennis Championships presented by Lilly is partnering with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, USTA and ATP to promote Healthy Active Lifestyle (HAL), a new Indianapolis state-wide initiative that emphasizes the importance of exercise, fitness and healthy eating habits. The initiative hopes to help fight the growing problem of childhood obesity and subsequent side-effects, such as the continuing epidemic of children who are developing Type 2 diabetes at a very young age.
American tennis pro Ginepri (pictured above), who won the Championships in 2005 and was a semi-finalist in 2006, visited schools in Indianapolis and Carmel earlier this month to promote tennis as a healthy, fun form of exercise. He demonstrated the game using a mini-tennis net and then answered questions from the kids about his own exercise and health habits. Ginepri also serves as an advisory board member of the Atlanta Youth Tennis Foundation, an organization that meets the needs of under-served children in his hometown.
2008 and 2009 will also show an increased relationship between the Indianapolis Tennis Championships and Eli Lilly and Company. Through its diabetes and other products, the Indianapolis based pharmaceutical company has helped people live longer, healthier lives. Lilly manufactured the first human insulin made of recombinant DNA origin, helping diabetics that take insulin to better control their health. There are two types of diabetes: Type 2 is usually brought on by being overweight and inactive; Type 1 (or juvenile, insulin dependent) is due to an autoimmune disorder. Exercise is fundamental to people with either type of diabetes and tennis provides a pathway to becoming physically fit.
Now drop and give me 500!
Full story: ATPTennis.com
Indianapolis Tennis Championships: Tennisindy.com
May 21, 2008
