New York City public school students train like NFL pros thanks to partnership with coaching company Exos

NEW YORK - Thousands of New York City public school students can now train like NFL pros, through a new partnership with coaching company Exos. The program aims to get kids excited about exercise.

West Prep Academy on West 105th Street hosted the Coach For Good kickoff with muscle-building and team-building exercises, led by Exos, the major trainer for NFL athletes.

"A lot of them are training with us right now," said Exos CEO Sarah Robb Ohadan, "and many of them wouldn't be where they are if they hadn't had formative experiences just like this."

The company partnered with the Wellness In The Schools organization, which has been offering supplemental health education in West Prep for nearly a decade.

"Being the wintertime, it's hard to get kids outside and engaged," said West Prep principal Carland Washington, "so to have an indoor play day with the Exos team is so important for us and we're really excited to have them here."

Fifteen-minute movement breaks will stream to 7,500 students across 17 NYC public schools daily, right to the smart boards in class.

"We weren't able to do that several years ago," Robb Ohadan said, "so it just makes it easier and more accessible for these kids to get access to world-class coaches, which is really cool."

Local WITS instructors often become their own celebrity coaches in the classrooms they serve daily. This new partnership with Exos adds even more energy to the equation.

"It's just going to amp up their excitement to want to impress not only themselves, their classmates, their teachers, but the coaches as well," said national WITS program director Wendy Siskin. 

WITS reports fewer than a quarter of kids in the country get the recommended hour of physical activity each day.

"The New York City Department of Education is really big about wellness education," Washington said, "but in a six-hour and 20-minute school day, it's hard to fit that in."

A little fun-filled routine can mean the difference between a healthy or hindered life.

To learn more about WITS and its partnership with Exos, click here.

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