Children and leaders get active together across the state and beyond for PLAAY Day this Thursday

WASILLA — Positive Leadership for Active Alaskan Youth (PLAAY) is set to engage more than 20,000 children across the Alaska and even in parts of the Lower 48 for their annual PLAAY Day event this Thursday at 10 a.m.

Teachers and other leaders will get up and move with their kids for 30 minutes of synchronized exercise with a routine broadcast onto screens near and far.

“The point is to make it a shared experience,” said PLAAY Director Wally Wilson.

This is the second year for PLAAY Day and the program has already grown drastically in size and scale. Last year, about 8,000 kids participated. This year’s numbers have nearly tripled with lots of students in the Mat-Su Borough School District included.

The 30 minute video everyone will watch contains several elementary school students as well as UAA students and some teachers. They will get up and move around, leading a guided exercise routine for participating children and adults to follow along. Each year has a different theme. This year’s theme is the 2018 Winter Olympics so the exercises will be inspired by the winter sporting events.

Wilson said the routines are designed to be used in classrooms but there are instnaces where a school will use it in their gym. He said that a school in Ohio has begun implementing PLAAY exercises in their gym program.

“We had to earn our way out,” Wilson said.

The PLAAY Day event grew from the PLAA Summit, an event that started three years ago as an educational, two-day series for adults who plan to work with children. The PLAAY Summit will take place this Friday and Saturday at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, located at 4000 Ambassador Drive, Anchorage. Wilson said this movement chiefly focuses on the combined dynamic of student and mentor. The PLAAY Day event has helped propel the program to all new heights. He said The PLAAY program is way for aspiring mentors and college students to “get their feet wet.

“It’s a pretty powerful experience for the children,” Wilson said.

The acronym PLAAY could change down the road, as the program continues to expand across the nation, changing to a name more broad. Wilson said he plans to have at least 10 schools in the lower 48 participate with PLAAY Day next year. They have accumulated interest from school from west coast to the east. He added that there is also cooperate interest in the event, looking to sponsor the event and adopt the exercises. Looking forward, he sees a bright future.

“The key is connecting the demographics from young children and adults and that connection is health,” Wilson said.

There is still time to sign up for PLAAY Day and the PLAAY Summit. Wilson noted that classrooms should test their connectivity prior to the broadcast. To register for the events or find out more about PLAAY, visit: www.plaay.org/plaay-day