U.S. OPEN

September 6, 1996

Donna Shalala

Les Snyder

LES SNYDER: First, I'd like to welcome all of the media that are here in attendance today. Thank you for coming to this important announcement. Before I get started, I'd like to introduce a special guest who is sharing this afternoon with us, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala.

DONNA SHALALA: Thank you very much.

LES SNYDER: We are also fortunate to be joined by Debra Larkin and former Executive Director of the Women's Sports Foundation and currently a member on the president's council on fitness in sports. In early July, the Surgeon General's report on physical activity and health was released. This was the first report of its kind and among the findings of the report are that higher levels of physical activity lower mortality rates for both the young and for the old. We are happy to have you here and make the announcement that the United States Tennis Association is very supportive of the findings of the report and in fact, our own research has indicated the same thing. Our research has indicated that playing tennis, getting people started young, and keeping them playing, is very important to the overall longevity. So, we are very, very pleased to be here with the Secretary and making this announcement that the USTA is going to be very active in the support of this in trying to get the message out. Now, how can we do that? The ways that we can do that is through our programs. We have a very active USTA NJTL program which many of you are familiar with. This program is an entry level program and continues in many cases through more advanced levels, but it begins as an entry level program. By getting the message out to those that are disadvantaged in various ways, we believe that we can influence those people to stay very active. We also have a program that is introduced through the schools and what we are going to do is try to emphasize even more that playing tennis is a very healthful activity and that we are looking forward to having the young people participate in this sport for a lifetime. Again, I would like to reiterate that we have been doing some research through our sports science unit of the Player Development Program and those people have found that it is important to get people playing young as a way of keeping them playing. So Miss Secretary, I would like maybe if you would have a few comments to make to the press.

DONNA SHALALA: Just a couple of things. Thanks very much. First, it's a thrill to be here. Let me also point out Vice-President Jack Mills is also a member of the President's Council on physical fitness and he is here along with Debra Shanleyc (phonetic) Larkin. First let me thank the United States Tennis Association. I want to point out two things. First, that my mother played at Forest Hills in the 1930s, so, I am personally thrilled to be here. She was a great mid-western champion and is 85 and still plays on a regular basis. And second, that when this stadium opened, I was an usher. I couldn't afford a ticket, so I was glad to sit in the front row this time. My boss has no intention of a close match, but we are pleased to be here because of the Surgeon General report. I commissioned the report two years ago because of the Olympics, and now what we are doing with the report, the report is really on moderate activity. The point is about 25% of Americans are couch potatoes. They do nothing and most of them don't do enough. We have to try to get people at least to do moderate activity 30 minutes a day, that could be walking the dog or doing gardening, a number of different kind of moderate activities and then to get people much more involved in sports than they are. We are dropping physical education programs in schools. We are getting rid of recreation programs during the summer and our commitment is to work with national sports organizations like the United States Tennis Association to get people more active. The fact that they will do the outreach for us, that they will involve the scientific findings Surgeon General's report in their own outreach activities, their own magazine is very important to all of us, so, I thank you very much as a tennis player. I am delighted to be here and delighted with the new association with the United States Tennis Association and on behalf of the President, thank you and your colleagues for this effort.

DONNA SHALALA: Edna Smith Shalala, western champion in late 1930s.

DONNA SHALALA: Yes. She still plays. She still plays in the 70s and 80s group. When it was announced that I was going to be appointed to my present position, they went to interview her. They said we hear your daughter is a pretty good player. My mother's response was, she couldn't beat me until I was 70 (audience laughter). So, I come from a tennis-playing family.

DONNA SHALALA: I think it is easy enough. I know she played Alice Marble. I know that she knew people like Suzanne Lenglen. I really am a tennis buff.

DONNA SHALALA: No. It is not at all. For instance, the Women's Olympics Soccer Team is part of this effort; almost every single one of the sports national sports organizations, plus all of the athletic companies you are going to begin to see a Surgeon General's quote or sign on most of the athletic companies, almost as a logo. So what we are going to try to do together is to get Americans off their couches and out doing something and try to broaden their perspective in terms of what they can do and make the point that moderate activity can reduce the chance of heart disease, or lung disease, or other things. Most Americans die from smoking related diseases, or a lack of fitness, or diet. Those are preventable diseases, and therefore, we have gone after those, not simply the well-known diseases, but gone after issues like tobacco fitness and nutrition, the nutrition labels that everybody can now read what the fat content is, is part of this overall effort, but it is individual organizations like the United States Tennis Association can really have impact not just with their constituency, but with younger people. We have got to get younger people doing sports they can do a lifetime.

LES SNYDER: Just let me add on to that question. Our intent is not to be going after grants or anything like that. We just believe that we have great vehicles that will help to carry that message.

LES SNYDER: That is correct.

LES SNYDER: I think it is a very good idea and I can't honestly say that we have actively done something like that, but it certainly will be the type of thing that we want to carry the message. We want to carry it through the programs that we currently have.

DONNA SHALALA: We have not withdrawn our support from any kind of activity. Our fundamental point is that young people have too much time on their hands and keeping people involved until they fall exhausted into bed is good for the country and that means having after school activity, having evening activity, and night activity. I have been a strong supporter of not only midnight basketball, midnight anything, we can do to keep young people busy, particularly through sports. Kids that are engaged in sports, in tennis, don't get involved with drugs, don't get involved with cigarettes, you don't get as many early pregnancies. It simply is a fact and therefore anything we can do in terms of these investments are important.

DONNA SHALALA: He turned me down flat once. He broke 80. There just wasn't a chance, but I do use his tennis court and Mrs. Clinton does play a little tennis and I have been encouraging her to take some lessons and play a little more, but I think -- it is not that I have totally given up on the president, but I think that he really is a golf nut.

DONNA SHALALA: I think our hope is that all of the tennis players, amateur as well as profession, in the United States will see themselves as role models to encourage people, no matter what their age, to pick up a tennis racket and just get out and do something on a regular basis.

DONNA SHALALA: I have not seen the scientific studies. You can't switch your television without seeing one of those -- I think our point that it is a lot more fun to pick up a tennis racket or golf club or to go out and jog. The point is that there is a difference between sport and some of these other activities and what we are trying to do is find -- is get people to do something regularly. The point is moderate activity on a regular basis, take the stairs instead of the elevator at least three days a week in the office. I happen to have a dog that walks me in the morning, so I get my 30 minutes easy and a little on all the sports that I play at the same time, but getting people to think that part of their lives -- they have to integrate as part of their lives moderate activity is really the point here. Thank you.

End of FastScripts….