PLAY ball: Arizona Diamondbacks hosts kids on Chase Field
Jun 17, 2015, 6:08 PM | Updated: Jun 18, 2015, 12:04 pm
PHOENIX — Kids from Valley boys and girls clubs got to play on the field at Chase Field on Wednesday as the 2015 National PLAY Campaign stopped by.
PLAY stands for Promoting a Lifetime of Activity for Youth. The campaign is all about raising awareness about children’s health issues and the obesity epidemic. It teaches kids about how important it is to lead a healthy life and eat right. It also emphasizes that they need to stay away from performance enhancing drugs.
One of the sponsors is the Taylor Hooten Foundation. Don Hooten is the president.
“Taylor Hooten was my son,” Don said. “He was a high school baseball player and began using anabolic steroids, just like half of the boys on the baseball team. Seven months after using them, he died.”
Hooten said that he was just like the majority of parents who have no clue that their kids are using PEDs.
“The most recent survey says that seven percent of high school kids, boys and girls, athletes and non-athletes, admit to using steroids,” Dan said. “Eleven percent admit to using Human Growth Hormone. That means that if your kid’s high school has 2,000 students, 200 of them are using performance-enhancing drugs. And every coach of every team will say ‘They’re not doing it on my team.'”
The National Play Campaign was created in 2004 by the Professional Baseball Trainers Society (PBATS). It has conducted over 150 events inside all 30 Major League ballparks. The campaign has reached tens of thousands of American young people, encouraging them to make healthy decisions and live a more active and healthy lifestyle.
Hooten said that he now talks to kids and parents about being active and healthy. He said there is a right way to do things.
“It takes hard work, it takes an investment in time, and, for the mom, it’s focusing on putting three good meals on the table for these kids every day.”
Hooten said there is absolutely no need for teenagers to use PEDs.
“These kids are 16 years old. With healthy eating habits and an active lifestyle, they should be able to develop into healthy adults.”
