• by Karlene Lukovitz  @KLmarketdaily, March 11, 2009

Milk producers and the National Basketball Association are partnering to encourage teens to drink milk as part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

The campaign, "Get Fit By Finals," combines elements of two ongoing programs: the Body By Milk/"got milk?" educational/promotional program and NBA FIT, a comprehensive initiative promoting fitness and nutrition for children, teens and adults.

Get Fit By Finals is drawing on the appeal of NBA stars and providing tools and prizes to encourage teens to take simple steps to help improve physical fitness and nutrition, such as being active for at least 60 minutes a day and drinking three glasses of fat-free milk each day in place of sugary drinks.

The new program is based on the latest federal physical activity guidelines, and draws on the fitness expertise of the NBA and WNBA trainers and the nutrition expertise of NBA sports dietitians to help teens achieve personal fitness goals.

The campaign was kicked off by Rodney Stuckey, guard for the Detroit Pistons, who visited Detroit's Remus Robinson Middle School on Tuesday. Stuckey rallied students to sign up for the Get Fit By Finals Challenge and presented the school with a $1,000 "got milk?" Get Fit Grant to help implement health and fitness programs.

Remus Robinson is one of thousands of schools nationwide that have received Get Fit activation kits that include expert fitness and nutrition videos, tips and drills from the NBA, and posters and banners for school cafeterias and gyms featuring NBA and WNBA All-Stars Chris Paul and Diana Taurasi.

Teens can join the Get Fit By Finals Challenge at bodybymilk.com, featuring tools for teens of all ability levels. The site will offer exclusive videos showing how the pros train and stay healthy, featuring NBA and WNBA players, NBA trainers and sports dietitians. Each video focuses on different fitness or nutrition topics.

Teens can also go online or sign up for emails to receive "daily drills"--video tips from NBA pros suggesting simple behavior modifications teens can make each day to help them get fit. An online personal fitness tracker/journal can be used for logging daily exercise and milk consumption, and comes with an assigned "Get Fit Champion" to follow along and provide motivation.

A Get Fit widget enables easy downloading from a desktop or social network page of all of the program information and tools.

Challenge participants receive a Get Fit rewards package featuring discounts on fitness gear. Frequent "mini-challenges" will encourage teens to show how they are getting fit for the chance to win special rewards. Teens who share how they are using their personal fitness tracker to improve their fitness will be eligible to win trips to the NBA Playoffs and a grand prize of an all-expenses-paid VIP experience at the 2009 NBA Finals. Additional sweepstakes will be open to both Challenge participants and non-participants.

Participating schools have a chance to win a gym makeover by showing how they're rallying their students to get fit.

Body By Milk is part of the National Milk Mustache "got milk?" campaign, a multifaceted program focused on the health benefits of milk. The campaign is managed by the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP) in Washington, D.C., which is funded by the nation's milk processors.

The tagline "got milk?" was created for the California Milk Processor Board by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and is licensed by the national milk processor and dairy producer groups.