Idaho Dairy Products Commission

Events

United Dairymen of Idaho Sponsors Idaho Center Basketball Court
Court Unveiled for Girls and Boys State Basketball Tournaments

The United Dairymen of Idaho (UDI) are the sponsors of the new basketball court at the Idaho Center for the Treasure Valley community. The brand new court was unveiled before the Girls State Tournament on Thursday, February 14th. Nampa Mayor, Tom Dale, had the honor of shooting the first basket.

"The new court means a lot to the Idaho Center and to our community," said Idaho Center General Manager, Craig Baltzer, "we are proud to continue the tradition of hosting the basketball tournaments in our facility with the help of United Dairymen of Idaho."

For the past 10 years the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) has hosted Girls and Boys State Basketball Tournaments at the Idaho Center Arena. The Girls State tournament was the first event to ever happen in the arena. "The new floor will be a great addition to the Girls' and Boys' Real Dairy Shoot Out, said John Billetz, Executive Director of the Idaho High School Activities Association. "We appreciate the Idaho Center and the United Dairymen of Idaho for all their support and are looking forward to a fantastic 2008 State Tournament."

Sponsoring the state tournaments has been one of several programs sponsored by United Dairymen of Idaho during their more than 20-year partnership with IHSAA. "Idaho's dairy farm families are committed to supporting the youth of our state," said Deana Sessions, Administrator for UDI, "the Idaho Center is a wonderful venue for the kids and the floor provides a great opportunity to remind people that they need three servings a day of milk, cheese or yogurt for strong bones and a healthy body."

A key reason for the dairy reminder at the Idaho Center is the current calcium crisis affecting our children - they need more milk more often. To get the nutrients they need, it is important that kids are encouraged to drink more milk not only at home, but also at school. According to Sessions, "Our experience in schools has shown that if you provide milk to kids in a variety of flavors and packages they like, they will often choose it instead of soft drinks and other beverages that have very little nutritional value."

Kids have been drinking milk from a cardboard carton at school for more than 50 years. Unfortunately, school milk consumption is declining and so is the number of children participating in the school lunch program. Lower rates of milk consumption may put students at greater risk of fractures, hypertension, dental problems and osteoporosis and other health conditions later in life.

That's all about to change. The New Look of School Milk program was introduced in Idaho for the 2007-2008 school year. Through a partnership between UDI and Meadow Gold Dairy, more than 200 Idaho schools are now serving milk 8 oz. round, resealable plastic bottles. A 2005 study showed that kids overwhelmingly preferred milk in plastic to paperboard containers. In the study conducted among 300 school-aged children, 94 percent of them said they preferred school milk in the plastic bottle. Plus, 86 percent said that the plastic bottle was "easier to drink from" and two-thirds (67 percent) said that the milk in the plastic bottle "had a better flavor" than the milk in the paper carton.

Milk in the new packaging was handed out to people attending the Girl's State Basketball Tournament at the Idaho Center as well as the Boy's State Basketball Tournament.