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McDowell County Kids Get Soccer Back

What happens to a community as coal jobs go away? Here are some things you might expect: many people leave, schools empty, local businesses struggle to keep their lights on. But here’s something that may not come to mind: extra curricular sports go away.

That’s what happened to children in McDowell County over 25 years ago. They lost their local soccer league. And while the thousands of lost coal jobs may not come back, thanks to a 4-H project, and about a dozen volunteers, soccer is making a comeback in McDowell County.

It’s a windy fall day. Two teams of children hurdle towards a green ball. Parents are cheering, and shivering.

9-yr-old Andrew Curry playing goalie at a match in Welch, W.Va.

9-year-old Andrew Curry is watching, waiting for his turn to get back into the game.

“I like that you get to run a lot because I used to play baseball and you didn’t get to do a lot of activity,” says Andrew. He likes to play defense the best. He’s one of 156 elementary students playing soccer this year in McDowell County.

The games are held once a week at Mt. View High School.

Parents and other volunteers coach for free, people like Tom Morsi, a retired coal miner.

“We started a soccer program up here in Welch 26 years ago,” says Morsi. “Jobs started going down, people started leaving, going to other states…and they disbanded. Now a lot of kids that played soccer have kids that play in this soccer league. It’s come full circle.”

Morsi says they want to keep the cost low to make soccer available to any child who wants to play. Parents pay $10, local businesses and funding from West Virginia University’s 4-H program pays for the rest.

Although there is no breakdown of childhood obesity rates by county, here in McDowell, 45% of adults are obese. That’s almost twice the national average, of 28%.

According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, one of the reasons many low income children are obese is because they often don’t have access to safe places to be physically active.

Take McDowell County, where traveling 30 miles through rugged mountains means an hour’s worth of driving. To help parents have an easier time getting their children to soccer practice, the teams mostly practice in makeshift fields in neighborhoods throughout the county.

Places like “church parking lots or old baseball fields that you could turn them into a practice soccer field,” says Nathaniel Smith, another volunteer who’s helped get this soccer league up and running.

Smith says this soccer league is just one example of what’s possible in McDowell, even though times are hard.

“And my hope is…turn some things around, make some things better, and work together.”

Smith says they’d like to see at least two hundred families sign up to play next year. The economy here may be spinning out of control, but he’s not giving up. He hopes they can start middle and high school teams in the next few years. Smith gestures toward the children at play and says, “these kids are the future of McDowell County.”

W.Va. Ties for Second Most Obese State in the Nation

Almost 36 percent of adults in West Virginia are obese, according to a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson…

Almost 36 percent of adults in West Virginia are obese, according to a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. West Virginia’s obesity rates are surpassed only by Louisiana while Colorado has the lowest percent nationwide.

Obesity rates in American adults decreased in four states – Minnesota, Montana, New York and Ohio – and increased in Kansas and Kentucky. The decreases mark the first time in the past decade that any states have lowered their obesity rates.

However, obesity remains a major public health concern for millions of Americans. Obesity is associated with an increased risk for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and high cholesterol. These diseases cost the country between 147 and 210 billion dollars each year.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.

West Virginia 1 of 3 States with Obesity Rates Over 35%

New government data shows that in most states, the rate of adult obesity is not moving.

Results from a telephone survey show obesity rates stayed about the same in 45 states last year. There were small increases in Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah.

Some experts said they are glad, overall, that obesity rates aren’t getting worse.

The 2014 survey found that in 22 states, 30 percent or more of the population was obese. They were mostly in the South and Midwest. Three states — Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia – had obesity rates over 35 percent.

The government Monday released the rates, which were analyzed in a separate report by the advocacy group, Trust for America’s Health.

West Virginia’s Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Karen Bowling released the following statement in response to the report:

The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that West Virginia along with 33 other states experienced increases in the adult obesity rate. Obesity and tobacco use are the leading causes of most of the chronic disease challenges that we are facing as a State. This underscores the urgency and importance of the work that the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources is undertaking with our partners in developing a State Health Improvement Plan that identifies obesity as a priority. One goal is to reduce obesity to 33% by 2020. DHHR is working with communities, health care systems, and decision-makers to develop initiatives improving access to physical activity and nutritious options. In 2015, DHHR invested 114 mini-grants geared toward making healthy foods and physical activity accessible to more communities.

We have seen more than 90,000 patients with high blood pressure achieve control, and more than 102,000 are in adherence to their medication regimens. We are committed to improving hypertension, diabetes and prediabetes outcomes through screening and referrals to community-based self-management programs.

Tipping The Scale Again, West Virginia Is The Most Obese State

According to the latest data, West Virginia's adult obesity rate is tied with Mississippi for the highest in the country at 35.1%. Colorado has the lowest…

According to the latest data, West Virginia’s adult obesity rate is tied with Mississippi for the highest in the country at 35.1%. Colorado has the lowest rate at 21.3 percent.

The annual report is produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health.

In addition to being the most obese state, West Virginia is also the state with the highest percentage of people who do not exercise.

Among high schoolers, West Virginia ranks sixth, with 13 percent of those students obese.

The study finds across the country, every state has an obesity rate above 20 percent.

Officials at the foundation say these obesity rates put Americans at risk for a range of health problems and add a major burden to national healthcare costs. The report warns if obesity rates are not brought down, this generation of children may be the first in U.S. history to live sicker and die younger than their parents.

Its data shows West Virginia also has the second highest diabetes rate in the country at 13 percent.

Huntington Groups Taking Fitness to the Next Level

Exercise advocates in the Huntington area are hoping to take advantage of the popularity of health related events this summer.

Several groups in Huntington have decided the next step in the area’s continued focus on health consciousness should be the designation of a summer day to celebrate fitness.

So the United Way, Huntington YMCA, Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, the City of Huntington and the Cabell County Commission have worked together to create the first United Day of Fitness – scheduled in June.

The day-long fitness event will feature the Herald-Dispatch West Virginia 5K Championship in the morning, followed by St. Mary’s Senior Games and the YMCA Family Fun fest featuring kids’ Olympics, activities, and a concert. Andy Fisher is vice president of the YMCA Board of Directors. He said it’s just another step in what’s become a mission of many Huntingtonians that includes the YMCA’s new Kids in Motion program.

“We do need to keep promoting healthy fitness and activity here in this area,” Fisher said. “We got a black eye a few years ago and I think things are starting to improve and this is just one thing that can help in that.”

The events will take place Saturday June 21st throughout Huntington. Fisher says there was definitely a need to seize the momentum that’s been present since being labeled the unhealthiest city in the country in 2008- and build off of it.

The West Virginia 5K will start the day at 8 a.m. in downtown Huntington. Race organizers hope the event, now in its fifth year, will attract even higher numbers than the 700 people that took part last year. The run started as a way to combat the unhealthiest label and has raised $40,000 for United Way. Kaylin Adkins is the Marketing Director for the United Way of the River Cities. Adkins said Huntington is paying more attention to the dangerous condition of obesity.

“I think that people are more aware that there is an issue, I think before it could be swept under the table or people didn’t realize that obesity was a problem,” Adkins said. “I think that we kind of get blinded when we’re around something so much, that we didn’t realize people were unhealthy.”

Adkins said you can see it’s important for the city to continue to expand these fitness opportunities to accommodate the growing number of participants. She said the events are purposefully targeting all age groups – children to seniors.

Fisher hopes this is just the beginning for the area.

“It just seems more and more opportunities are open and available for people to get out and do things as a group or individually which makes our whole community vibrant and I think it’s very, very necessary to have that,” Fisher said.

West Virginia No Longer Fattest State in the Nation

From 2010 to 2012 West Virginia was ranked the most obese state in the country according to Gallup’s Well Being State of the States report.

This year Mississippi bumped West Virginia out of the bottom.

The report says Mississippi’s obesity rate is 35 point four percent, while West Virginia’s is 34.4. The national rate is 27.1 percent, which is 1.6 percentage points higher than the year before.

Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Kentucky have been listed among the 10 states with the highest obesity rates in the nation since 2008.

The report is based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 2 – Dec. 29, 2013 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well -Being Index.

It says people living in the 10 most obese states have higher rates of chronic disease like high cholesterol, diabetes, heart conditions and cancer.