May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This year, [name of your town or community, state, school, organization] joins the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to challenge Americans to get moving for health and to get active and fit during May Month.

[Insert details of specific May Month activities that are planned for your area: event, place, date, time, sponsors.]

[Insert a quote from your local community or organization leader on the importance of leading an active lifestyle for health, productivity, and overall well being.]

According to Melissa Johnson, executive director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which started National Physical Activity and Sports Month in 1983, “Americans of all ages need to incorporate more movement in their daily lives. Adults need at least 30 minutes of activity 5 days each week. This can be done by choosing to bike or walk instead of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators, or pushing a lawnmower instead of riding one. Children need at least 60 minutes of active play daily. They need to run, climb, jump, and just get up and move around, away from their desks, the television and computer games.”

Twenty minutes of vigorous physical activity three times a week, such as sports, aerobics, working out in the gym, and running, have added health benefits. Johnson says, “But it’s important to understand that you don’t need to sweat in a gym or run a marathon to reap the health benefits of daily physical activity. Even 30 minutes a day, broken up into shorter increments of ten or fifteen minutes, can greatly improve your health.”

Although the President’s Council encourages and motivates Americans to become physically active and fit through its outreach and education efforts, motivational awards programs, and partnerships with other public and private sector organizations, only a commitment from individual Americans to live actively will reverse the trends that threaten the nation’s health. Johnson says, “We are fortunate to have a President who ‘walks the talk.’ For those who say they have no time to be active, we answer that the man who is arguably the world’s busiest person understands how important it is to move for health and makes time for physical activity in his day.”

For more information about National Physical Fitness and Sports Month events in your local area, contact [Insert your contact information here]. For information about the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, go to www.fitness.gov. To start a physical activity and fitness program, log on to www.presidentschallenge.org and sign up to take the President’s Challenge.