By CELIA GANS
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day we indulge. By January 2nd, we bulge. And join a health club. That’s right, statistics confirm that the highest number of health and fitness club memberships are bought in January. Not just bought, but used. According to A.J. Lipstein, JCC Fitness Center Coordinator, “In January, 1993 the Center averaged over 1,400 member- visits per month.”
1,400 member visits? Isn’t that almost triple the projected number of visits-per-month projected for the newly refurbished center opened in November, 1992? What’s going on here? In case you haven’t noticed, the Fitness Center is thriving.
Its cardio-vascular and Vigor Sport strength-training equipment (retrofitted, with 6 new machined added since the fall of 1992) is state-of-the-art. Its six staff trainers and 11 independent personal trainers are all certified athletic trainers (or must become certified within 6 months of joint the Center) or physical therapists. The independent trainers not only bring in their own clients, but work one five-hour shift per week at the Center with any Center member. The trainers also bring expertise: Ron Johnson, trainer of the Wilmington Blue Rocks, gives baseball clinics in addition to his hours of floor time.
Classes, including regular, step and low-impact aerobics, country line dancing, and its special classes (“Stretch & Flex” Co-Ed Conditioning or “Abs with A.J.,” for example), are open to members on a first-come- first-serve basis. “We recognize that fitness center members couldn’t always make one or two specific classes every week,” says Lipstein, “and we changed our class enrollment policy. Now, for an additional $135 per year, a member can attend an unlimited number of classes with no pre-class sign-up.”
The Fitness Center has also added special programs on health, which include lectures and health screenings. September was National Cholesterol Month, and the Center featured lectures on nutrition, with the measurement of cholesterol levels. October was National Spinal Health Month, with a chiropractor conducting a workshop and screening. January, 1994 will feature Dr. Alan Tocker lecturing an eye care and conducting eye checks, including a screening for glaucoma. In February, National Heart Month, cardiologist Edward M. Goldenberg, M.D., will conduct a workshop and perform blood pressure screenings. Again, any member can sign up for one or all of these special events.
By April, admits Lipstein, “people return to outdoor activities,” and Center visits taper to 950 to 1,000 per month. As for Lipstein himself, he’s always in training. In addition to his Fitness Center work, he’s captain of the Wilmington Rugby Club, whose record was 14-2 during the past season. “We lost to Washington, D.C. in the finals of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament. That’s impressive for a city the size of Wilmington.” And, says A.J., if you’re interested in trying out for next season — it begins in February. Better check your fitness level first, however: remember that January sign-up statistic?
SPECIAL NEEDS POPULATION PROGRAMS
The Jewish Community Center does more than meet fitness and recreational needs of its members, according to Eileen Wallach, Program Director, it also reaches out to non-members with special needs. Five to 10 special needs youngsters 14 and over and adults use the Fitness Center; the JCC Summer Camp’s Tikun unit mainstream its special needs youngsters with other campers whenever possible. In cooperation with the Wheelchair Tennis Program of Delaware, 20 young people and adults from Delaware and Pennsylvania participate in spring-summer- fall tennis program, including instruction, drills and tournaments, on the JCC’s courts.
From March through June, 20-30 adults use the JCC’s pool for Special Olympics events and practice. The JCC provides Multiple Sclerosis Society adult members 50 to 90 hours per week of free pool time.
For the first time, the February 6, 1994 Snow Ball Run will be “open to athletes with disabilities in any division, including the wheelchair division,” says Wallach. This is sanctioned, she notes, and will meet all requirements for course layout, safety, and staffing. Run sponsors to date include MBNA, the Cactus Bar & Grill, Katler & Katler (Howard and Steven Katler, podiatrists, and Deane Katler are all JCC members), Rehabilitation Consultants, Double S Companies (construction), Patterson-Schwartz Realtors, Grotto Pizza, and Entenmanns’. The dollars raised by the event will be used to re-do special needs locker rooms at the JCC with a handicapped-accessible ramp, and install a wheelchair lift (or ramp) to the JCC’s lower level.
AQUATICS PROGRAM
In the fall of 1992, it was the JCC’s Fitness Center which benefit from new equipment, new staff, and a new outlook. Now, says JCC Program Director Eileen Wallach, it’s time to focus on the Aquatics Program. Under the direction of Melody Medley, a competitive swimmer, teacher and coach for almost 20 years, and head of the 1993 JCC Summer Camp’s Aquatics Program, the program is developing new ways to bring more people, more funds and innovative ideas into the JCC’s pool.
Medley has taught individual and group swimming lessons since 1974, and has served as an assistant coach for a national Junior Olympic swim team and four future Olympic swimmers. She is the inventor of the Swim Gem, a patented PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipe “pool island,” which creates a safe, shallow, in-pool platform on which beginning swimmers can practice – or play.
In 1990, Medley conceived, wrote and produced two nationally distributed swim videos: “Swim, Play and Learn: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Swimming Skills” and “Teach Yourself How to Swim: A step-by-step Video Guide for Adults.” In working with swimming instructors and coaches, Medley insists that “teaching swimming lessons should be as much fun for the teachers as it is for the students.”
“We’re looking ahead,” says Wallace, “with the American Red Cross phasing out its Water Safety and Lifesaving Programs, we want to be ready to fill the gap. We want to be leaders in developing successful aquatics programs for swimmers, for instructors, and for water safety and lifesaving certification programs.”