Physical Activity Program for the Elderly: Community and University Integration Programa de atividade física para idosos: integra o comunidade - universidade

The public universities are built according to the aim of developing teaching, research and extension activities. The activities of extension beyond assisting in the formation of the students, they also return to the community the production developed inside the university, in the sense of changing the reality in a positive way. The physical activity is a subject in prominence on the media, especially on its important benefits for the elderly, which happens to be the fastest growing age group. The Department of Physical Education, Institute of Biosciences, S ￡o Paulo State University (UNESP) at Rio Claro, has been developing an expressive number of extension projects that benefits both the external and internal community. The Program of Physical Activity for the Third Age (PROFIT) is part of these projects and it offers structured physical activity designed for 50-and-plus year-old people. Professors and both undergraduate and graduate students supervise such program. Thus, the aims of this study were to analyze: a) the history of the PROFIT; b) the operational way that the project has been run; c) the evolution of the program, in relation to the number of students who have been volunteered to help out and learn, since the period of its beginning in 1989 up to 2006. The data collection was carried out by searching on the data bank of the project (annual reports). The result of the search shows: a) a growth throughout the years both in the number of trainees (volunteer students) and older people who has been participating; b) such increases seems to demonstrate an efficient operational way to run the project. ‰ poss -vel concluir o PROFIT apresenta um importante papel tanto para a comunidade interna quanto externa colaborando com a UNESP no cumprimento de sua fun § ￡o transformadora da realidade. In conclusion, the PROFIT seems to play an important function both for the internal and external community, which helps the UNESP to fulfill its duty of transforming the reality in a positive way. ABSTRACT As universidades públicas s o edificadas com o propósito de desenvolver, de maneira indissociável, o ensino, a pesquisa e a extens o. As atividades de extens o além de auxiliarem na forma o do futuro profissional, também retribuem para a comunidade a produ o realizada dentro da universidade, no sentido de transformar positivamente a realidade. A atividade física é tema em destaque na mídia em especial traduzindo seus benefícios à popula o idosa que é a camada que mais cresce no mundo todo. O Departamento de Educa o Física - Instituto de Biociências " UNESP