Rams linebacker Chris Draft has been Tackling Asthma on the field throughout the St. Louis Rams training camp. On Friday, August 7, he received some support from the Winning with Asthma movement and Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder as well as the St. Louis Children's Hospital Asthma Van as they made their way to the Rams practices.

Kinder joined Draft at the Rams Friday morning practice to help raise awareness for the Winning with Asthma movement. Draft has partnered with the Lieutenant Governor to challenge youth and high school coaches to visit the Winning with Asthma website, www.winningwithasthma.org, and sign up for the Coach’s Asthma Clipboard Program. The program allows coaches to better understand the symptoms of asthma, as well as how they can assist their athletes with managing those symptoms and help them compete at the highest level. Draft also serves as the national spokesman for the Winning with Asthma movement and will be taking the same message to the entire country.

At Friday evening’s Rams team scrimmage, attendees will be able to stop by and receive an asthma screening from the St. Louis Children's Hospital Asthma Van. The Asthma Van is a mobile unit that travels to 12 public schools throughout the St. Louis area and services 800 kids with asthma each year. The van was stationed in the parking lot of Lindenwood University and had nursing staff and educators on site to administer screenings and distribute information about asthma.

About the Asthma Team™
The Asthma Team™ is a partnership between families, children and organizations across the country that are working diligently to teach their community that asthma is manageable and that asthma attacks are preventable. Each season, the Chris Draft Family Foundation’s Asthma Team™ invites one family of four affected by asthma to each of the Rams away games, with assistance from the local American Lung Association, AAFA or local hospital.

About Winning with Asthma
Right now in Missouri, over 400,000 adults and over 115,000 children suffer from the affects of Asthma.  In 2004, nearly half of Missouri adults with asthma reported they were first diagnosed as children. To support these individuals, the “Winning with Asthma” campaign, a private-public partnership created by the National Lt. Governor’s Association, features posters and literature aimed at coaches, nurses and students in high schools across Missouri. A Winning with Asthma television and radio PSA featuring Kinder and Draft

About the Chris Draft Family Foundation
The mission of the Chris Draft Family Foundation is to strengthen communities by empowering families to live healthy lifestyles.  The Foundation focuses on seven primary initiatives with overarching themes that stress the importance of education, healthy lifestyles, character development, personal responsibility, self-discipline and physical fitness.  In the spirit of the Foundation’s logo, inspired by a painting called “The Journey”, the Chris Draft Family Foundation actively pursues partnerships with individuals, families and organizations.  On “The Journey” to change the world for the better, merging our different paths and perspectives powers our mission and strengthens our commitment to improvement and ensures the success of our actions.  For more information, please visit our website: www.chrisdraftfamilyfoundation.org.