Want to be a great tennis player? 
Eat like a great tennis player!

That's the motto of Go Bananas for QuickStart! QCV created this campaign to address childhood obesity and help create happier, healthier kids by using tennis players as nutritional role models.

According to recent research by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth, over 30 percent of the kids in Virginia are overweight or obese. While Virginia ranks 25th in childhood obesity, the 10 percent increase in obesity over the past decade is the highest of any state. As many as 58 percent of all Virginians are overweight or obese, and 23 percent do not exercise on a regular basis.

The USTA QuickStart Tennis format includes tennis instruction and fitness/conditioning activities. Go Bananas for QuickStart! supplements the USTA format with another element, nutrition/hydration, presented in the same fun and informative QuickStart way. Like Jump Start, the Go Bananas! model is simple -- ROLE MODEL, REINFORCE and REWARD.

        Go Bananas! Poster

QCV volunteers do Go Bananas! school visits throughout the year. After they give the Go Bananas! "talk," they give each kid a Go Bananas! poster, a debossed silicone bracelet and a Go Bananas! card that features UVa tennis players and coaches and describes a variety of foods and eating habits. "Why do tennis players eat bananas?" "Why do tennis players drink water?" Kids who correctly answer nutrition and tennis questions are given prizes such as Go Bananas! drawstring bags, water bottles, SMASH tennis magazines, balls and racquets. Go Bananas! is funded by generous grants from Walmart Distribution Center #7016 and the Junior League of Charlottesville and seven poster sponsors. Check out a school visit here!

QCV collaborates with nutritionists and dieticians at the UVa Health System Children's Fitness Center to ensure the nutritional information being passed along to the kids is right.

The Go Bananas for QuickStart! poster and giveaways for kids are made possible by the generosity of Walmart, GAMMA Sports, Volvo of Charlottesville, Cavalier Tennis Partners, JC Wolfe, DDS, Farmington Country Club, Hamer & Hamer, DDS, ACAC Fitness & Wellness and the Junior League of Charlottesville.

We need additional sponsorships for Go Bananas! . . . like The CVille Market. Owner Denise Yetzer provides coupons which are distributed to kids during Go Bananas! school visits at City of Charlottesville elementary schools. Each kid is given a free banana, a free bottle of water and a free tour of the Produce Department. It's like having a personal field trip!


If you'd like to Go Bananas for QuickStart! with us, please contact us at quickstartcentral@comcast.net.


Check out our Go Bananas! cards -- Why do tennis players eat  . . .
   Bananas?  Coach Brian Boland 
   Water?   Dom Inglot
  Apples?  Michael Shabaz
  Carrots? Lindsey Hardenbergh
  Berries? Houston Barrick 
  Whole-grain pasta? Jarmere Jenkins
  Seafood? Steven Eelkman Rooda (Coming soon)
  Broccoli? (Coming soon)
  Milk? (Coming soon)

Printing of the Go Bananas! posters and cards is done by UPrinting.com.