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Impact Dance Pad Game4/12/2021
I remember going to the P.T.O. meeting and getting in front of all of them without my shoes on and doing the moves, and that was kind of funny, said Sean, now a 12-year-old sixth grader.In they rushed, past the Ping-Pong table, past the balance beams and the wrestling mats stacked unused.
They sprinted past the ghosts of Gym Class Past toward two TV sets looming over square plastic mats on the floor. In less than a minute a dozen seventh graders were dancing in furiously kinetic union to the thumps of a techno song called Speed Over Beethoven. Bill Hines, a physical education teacher at the school for 27 years, shook his head a little, smiled and said, Ill tell you one thing: they dont run in here like that for basketball. It is a scene being repeated across the country as schools deploy the blood-pumping video game Dance Dance Revolution as the latest weapon in the nations battle against the epidemic of childhood obesity. While traditional video games are often criticized for contributing to the expanding waistlines of the nations children, at least several hundred schools in at least 10 states are now using Dance Dance Revolution, or D.D.R., as a regular part of their physical education curriculum. Based on current plans, more than 1,500 schools are expected to be using the game by the end of the decade. Born nine years ago in the arcades of Japan, D.D.R. ![]() What youre seeing is a move toward activities where you dont need to be so great at catching and throwing and things like that, so we can appeal to a wider range of kids. A basic D.D.R. system, including a television and game console, can be had for less than 500, but most schools that use the game choose to spend from 70 to 800 each for more robust mats, rather than rip apart the relatively flimsy versions meant for home use. In a study last year, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., found that children playing Dance Dance Revolution expended significantly more energy than children watching television and playing traditional video games. West Virginia, which ranks among the nations leaders in obesity, diabetes and hypertension, has sponsored its own study and has taken the lead in deploying the game, which requires players to dance in ever more complicated and strenuous patterns in time with electronic dance music. As a song plays, arrows pointing one of four directions forward, back, left, right scroll up the screen in various sequences and combinations, requiring the player to step on corresponding arrows on a mat on the floor. Players can dance by themselves, with a partner or in competition. Though the game, which is made by Konami of Japan, began in arcades, it is now most commonly played on Sonys PlayStation 2 and Microsofts Xbox game consoles.) As a result of a partnership among West Virginias Department of Education, its Public Employees Insurance Agency and West Virginia University, the state has committed to installing the game in all 765 of its public schools by next year. Carson, Ware distinguished professor at West Virginia Universitys School of Physical Education and director of the states Motor Development Center. I was in a mall walking by the arcade and I saw these kids playing D.D.R., and I was just stunned, she said. There were all these kids dancing and sweating and actually standing in line and paying money to be physically active. In February, Ms. Carson and her main collaborator, Emily Murphy, a doctoral candidate at the universitys School of Medicine, announced results of a multiyear study. They found significant health benefits for overweight children who played the game regularly, including improved blood pressure, overall fitness scores and endothelial function, which reflects the arteries ability to deliver oxygen. None of that would come as a surprise to Maureen Byrne, mother of two boys in Chesterfield, Mo., who introduced the game to her local school district after seeing its impact on one of her sons. My oldest son, Sean, used to have love handles; he was kind of pudgy, and Ill be honest: we were worried about it, she said. We had heard of D.D.R., and I got it for him for his birthday. We put limits on the other video games he plays, but we told him he could play D.D.R. Hes playing sports and running, and we see D.D.R. Ms. Byrne and her family demonstrated the game for the local parent-teacher organization in the hope of convincing it to underwrite a test at school. I remember going to the P.T.O. Sean, now a 12-year-old sixth grader.
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