The Coca-Cola Korea Youth Foundation marked its 10th anniversary this year and celebrated its decadelong dedication to helping teenagers find motivation to work out and pay attention to their health.

By providing physical training, sports opportunities and nutrition consulting, the foundation, established by Coca-Cola Korea, the local unit of the world’s largest soft drink maker, has been working on improving teenagers’ lives here.

The most popular program is the health class, in which teenagers can evaluate their health on a body composition analyzer and consult experts about their health. 

The foundation also supports weekly soccer, badminton, basketball and aerobics classes for local schools.

During the summer and winter, the foundation holds a camp at which teenagers can work out to reinforce their muscle power and cardiopulmonary function.

“We have games to help students enjoy sports and relieve their stress,” a foundation official said.

The meals are also designed to provide the participants with balanced nutrition, the foundation said.

In order to fight or prevent obesity, the foundation joined hands with the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity.

The participants appeared on an EBS TV program about the correlation between students’ academic aptitude and health. Not surprisingly, the results suggested that students who take part in various sports make significant improvements not only in terms of health but also academic aptitude, and experience a boost to their ability to focus and remain calm when studying.

“We have been expanding the programs (offered) to underprivileged families. Some of the programs are available to the public online, allowing people to self-scan their nutrition status,” a Coca-Cola Korea official said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)