As children return to school, some parents and teachers have their minds on the so-called “summer melt,” the reversal or loss of the academic gains from the previous school year. But summer can also melt children’s fitness and health.

Without the routines and activities of school, children often spend more time indoors in sedentary activities, and research finds there are corresponding increase in body weight and decline in cardiovascular fitness.

Schools provide not just academics and routines, but also opportunities for participating in extracurricular activities, including sports. In Spokane Public Schools at the elementary school level, there have been limited free sports options for the past 20 years, when funding for traditional style after school sports was cut for elementaries. A local elementary teacher, Heidi Bresson, saw and felt the impact of not having extracurricular sports on the kids in her Title 1 school (where at least 40% of students come from low-income households) and she and her husband, Mike, founded Active4Youth, a nonprofit, community-funded organization, to bring back cross country running to our local elementary schools.

Heidi and Mike decided to focus Active4Youth on cross country because of its accessibility – no specialized, expensive equipment is required for runners – and because running is the foundation for many other sports. Although it’s common to see kids participating in club sports all over Spokane, most public school kids don’t have access to sports outside of their schools due to cost, transportation issues and the time it takes, often during parents’ working hours.

That’s where Active4Youth steps in, partnering with local school districts to provide a free elementary cross country program to 5,500 to 6,000 kids each fall in three school districts in the Spokane area.

You might have seen them, a band of little runners in your neighborhood.

They can be a ragtag bunch from the serious speedy ones to the chatty walking ones. Each week during the fall season, students take part in three hours of coached training at their elementary schools and race against others in their same grade. Over the course of the season, each student can participate in two meets, where they race against peers from neighboring schools at local parks or high school campuses. Then, the top performers from these events earn coveted invitations to the All-City or All-Valley Finals. This structure fosters important lessons in perseverance, teamwork, sportsmanship and goal setting.

After 17 years of running this program we now have quantitative research indicating Active4Youth impacts our children positively and dramatically.

Active4Youth and WSU collaborated with Spokane Public Schools to complete an evaluation of the impact of Active4Youth’s program on students in Spokane elementaries. We explored Active4Youth participation rates, the demographic profile of participating students and further analyzed how participation in Active4Youth was associated with attendance and academic outcomes.

We found that Active4Youth had wide reach across schools with more than 1 in 4 students participating, with proportional representation across age, sex, and racial/ethnic groups. Strikingly, participating children had significantly fewer unexcused tardies and absences, and better outcomes on standardized tests.

Specifically, Active4Youth participants were 30% more likely to meet or exceed language standards and 40% more likely to meet math standards.

This was an observational study, so other factors might have contributed to the differences in academic outcomes between Active4Youth participants and nonparticpants. Nevertheless, the findings add to the evidence that participation in after-school physical activity programs can have positive impacts on academic and behavioral outcomes.

Apart from helping maintain healthy weight and building muscle and strength, research shows that running and other forms of physical activity help regulate blood sugar, improve attention and memory, and reduce risk of depression. All these benefits are valuable in their own right, and they might also explain why Active4Youth improves these school-related outcomes.

What many don’t realize is that this program is not fully funded by school districts. While we partner with the local school district in many different ways, Active4Youth can only thrive with the ongoing commitment and support of the Spokane community. In fact, the program won’t be able to continue next year without increased community support.

As a new school year begins, the return to routines offers a prime opportunity to reinforce healthy habits. Active4Youth provides a proven, accessible and highly impactful program that supports academics but also the holistic well-being of children. The dramatic positive impacts on attendance, academic achievement and behavior underscore that Active4Youth is an invaluable asset to the Spokane community, ensuring children are not just “back to school,” but back to a healthier, more engaged and more successful future.

Amanda Hargreaves is Executive Director of Active4Youth. Pablo Monsivais is professor of population health and nutrition at Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. Both live in Spokane.