Photo of a group of young children playing street hockey at a Power Play Challenge event.
Photo of a young boy shooting a ball with a hockey stick during a Blue Jackets Power Play Challenge event.
Photo of two young children stick handling with hockey sticks and balls during a Blue Jackets Power Play Challenge event.

BLUE JACKETS POWER PLAY CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY OHIOHEALTH AND GREIF

Blue Jackets Power Play Challenge presented by OhioHealth and Greif, is a FREE, hockey-themed wellness curriculum to assist physical education teachers in the fight against childhood obesity. The goal is to make a healthy lifestyle both enjoyable and easy for kids to maintain.

The Challenge is designed to meet Ohio state standards for physical education curriculum for grades 2-5 and aims to keep children active while encouraging healthy choices.

Students will be given five fitness-related challenges to complete individually and the class/grade will receive an introduction to street hockey. Each student who completes all five challenges over the course of the school year will receive a special ticket offer to a Blue Jackets game.

Blue Jackets Power Play Challenge, presented by Greif and OhioHealth, logo on white background.

The Five Challenges

Each student that participates in the program will receive a CBJ bracelet for each of the five challenges they complete.

  1. Jogging Challenge: Run three miles (cumulative).
  2. Fitness Challenge: Complete 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups (cumulative).
  3. Agility Challenge: Learn and complete three hockey drills: stickhandling, passing and shooting.
  4. Street Hockey Challenge: Participate in a game while utilizing skills learned in the agility challenge (street hockey game, relay race, one-on-one drill, etc).
  5. Nutrition Challenge: Demonstrate an understanding of healthy eating habits utilizing the grocery list and healthy meal handout.

In addition, the highest grade in each school that completes the challenges will be invited to a field trip at an OhioHealth Chiller ice rink during the school year, at no cost to the school. The field trip will consist of a STEM-focused facility tour, public skate, and on-ice skating instruction. After the field trip, all students will walk away with their very own hockey stick and ball to keep!

Power Play Challenge Starter Kit

The Blue Jackets will provide all necessary supplies to implement the Power Play Challenge, at no cost. Starter kits provided to each school will include the following Blue Jackets-branded items:

  • Street hockey equipment: 60 youth and 5 adult sticks, a stick bag, 60 balls and 2 hockey nets
  • Wall charts to track progress in gym class
  • Bracelets and charms to track student progress
  • Student nutrition worksheet
  • Teacher manual

*Blue Jackets will provide updated materials and opportunity to request replacement equipment, if needed, with each subsequent school year.

Teacher Workshop

In order to equip teachers with tools and training to implement Power Play Challenge presented by OhioHealth at their respective schools, the Blue Jackets will host a 'Coach the Coach' event to introduce the program and the five challenges. At this event, physical education teachers will participate in a hands-on workshop with Blue Jackets staff to learn how to safely and effectively teach street hockey to elementary school students.

For additional assistance, please contact Tommy Trowell at [email protected] or (614) 246-4152.

To date through Power Play Challenge, the Columbus Blue Jackets have partnered with 15 Central Ohio school districts (Columbus, Delaware, Dublin, Gahanna, Granville, Hilliard, Liberty Union-Thurston, North Fork, Olentangy, Pickerington, South-Western, Upper Arlington, Westerville, Whitehall, and Worthington) impacting 167 elementary schools and over 51,000 students.

The Power Play Challenge is supported by the Industry Growth Fund (IGF), which was created by the NHLPA and the NHL as part of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, in order to help grow the game of hockey.