EVENT ATTRACTS A FITNESS THEME

Cape Girardeau will become the youth soccer mecca for this region over the weekend. The community is hosting 65 teams from four states in the Cape Area Youth Soccer Association Fall Classic. The Southeast Missourian is proud to sponsor this event along with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and we welcome the visiting teams to this community.

Soccer, almost invisible in this area before the 1980s, remains a growth enterprise here and throughout the region. Proof of that interest are the 125 games that will played on local fields Saturday and Sunday. Certainly, we greet these young athletes. Certainly, we hail the commerce heaped on Cape Girardeau by these out-of-town guests.

But, another reason to embrace the event will be the inaugural tour of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield "Healthy AdVANtage" vehicle, a mobile program that stresses human wellness. The van offers health appraisals, including checks of diet, exercise and stress, and screenings of blood pressure and body fat levels. With this program, the insurance carrier is hoping to promote preventive medicine and eliminate unnecessary health care costs.

Physical fitness is an attribute basic to most of the young athletes who will compete this weekend. Physical fitness is also the aim of the "Healthy AdVANtage" program. We are pleased to be a sponsor of this event and hope the message of wellness finds an audience among those attending the soccer games.