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By Rita Giordano
I Knight Ridder Newspapers
t was only the second week of fitness class at the Cherry Hill
Health and Racquet Club in Cherry Hill. N.J.. but you'd never
know it.
Kickboxing, jumping jacks, relays, sweat-stirring, face
flushing aerobics. So intense was the workout fitness instructor Sara
O'Brien was leading her eight gym neophytes through that some
guys on a nearby tennis court paused to gawk.
"That's right!" O'Brien called over. "We’ll kick your butts!"
Not too shabby for a bunch of middle schoolers. And they're not
the only ones.
Sparked by troubling
statistics about childhood ■■
obesity reaching epidemic
levels spurred by
concern about a potential
couch potato generation,
health clubs, gyms and Y's H
are increasingly focusing "A
on the age group known
as "tweens”: preteen
through middle school
age youngsters.
It's an age group, many
fitness professionals and
parents say. that has often .
fallen between the cracks, Tweens toke P art ,n
aside from organized exercise programs In
sports and athletics. New Jersey, above, and
But that’s changing. Pennsylvania, right
Tweens are Spinning,
sweating, doing Pilates, powerballing, even
strength-training on machines if they’re big
enough or with free weights if they’re not.
“We are really trying to get that age group,”
said Kate Hennigan, director of Town Sports
International’s Sports Clubs for Kids. "We see the
void. We see the need."
Obesity is defined as an excessive amount of
body fat in relation to a person’s height.
Town Sports, one of the nation’s largest health
chains, operates the Philadelphia Sports Clubs and its sister gyms in
the New York. Boston and Washington areas. Next month, compa
ny officials plan to expand their youth programming at several of
their 130 gyms, including the Philadelphia Sports Clubs at
Highpoint in Chalfont, Pa. Their new youth sports conditioning will
be a circuit-training workout aimed at tweens. They are introducing
yoga for the young, too.
Many others have gotten into tween programming, or are about to.
It's all part of a national trend and, from some, a call to action.
“Clubs are now developing fitness programs for these kids, and
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.sv v . .. . to their own CDs to class can make a big dis-
ference. And then there’s the
f """"""""""""[/I boredom
I • Aft H ' W I factor one reason why
Ijr V .te*A RF* | many tween programs offer
,Wk ‘to I a changing palette of activi-
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■ TWt i Fitness
r | some of their tweens may
\ I play a seasonal sport, but
many would just be playing
■H I video games on their Xbox.
2 88l B And more often than not. it’s
their parents who put them
IT"" HmBB in the classes.
Liz Warren of Newtown,
enrolled her daughter Molly,
that's a different shift,” said Bill Howland, research director for the
International Health. Racquet and Sportsclub Association.
According to How land, children under 18 are the fastest-growing
club age group besides people over 55. and those are largely aging
baby boomers concerned about their health.
Offering programs is one thing. Getting tweens to come is anoth
er. For a generation w eaned on computer games, instant messaging
and nonstop kids’ television with a fast-food chaser, breaking a sweat
on a regular basis can be a hard sell.
Nicole Leshnow. a Camden County, N.J., eighth-grader, stopped
by to check out the tween/teen class at the Cherry Hill Health and
Racquet Club. She's already into basketball and tennis and some-
times goes to the aerobics class that her mother
teaches.
But what do her friends like to do?
"Shop," she said. “I'm the only one out of a
group of girls who does sports. They don’t under
stand why I like to play sports. They'd rather slay
home and watch TV."
"It's difficult'to program for them," agreed Kelly
Foy, fitness director of Newtown Athletic Club in
Newtown. Pa. “Those middle school-age kids don’t
know who they are. what they're doing. They're inse
cure. They have more struggles. They're trying to be
cool, but they’re not sure what cool is.”
Sometimes something as small as inviting tweens
10, because of her belief in exercise and a family history of diabetes.
Molly plays lacrosse, skis and ice skates, but none is an all-year
activity. Her mother figures that if she worked outside the home.
Molly would come home and plop down in front of the television
with a snack.
Instead, her mother encourages her to play outside. And sure.
Molly said, she likes listening to Good Charlotte, but she got into
kicklxjxing the other week. And for the future, she has plans.
“I don’t know if kids are allowed." she said, “but I'd like to do
Spinning.”
Johns Creek is proud to sponsor the
Newspapers in Education, program as part
of its ongoing commitment to the youth Iflfl
of Forsyth County. I
of Technology
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Thursday, March 4,2004 -
is queen
of new
Jf movie
In The News
Lindsay Lyhan stars as Lola Cep in Disney’s
latest comedy, “Confessions of a Teenage Drama
Queen.” Lola is a drama queen with heart. In the
movie, Lola deals with many issues familiar to
kids, such as moving to a new city, trying to fit in
and maintaining your sanity in the middle of all
that turmoil. Os course, Lola manages to pull
everything off with style! —w~- | 4 a r ■
Lohan, 17, was recently in , 1 | />A i ~
New York City to promote the M IOS
movie, and Time For Kids Kid Reporter Danielle
Oberdier had the opportunity to chat with her.
TFK: Lola is someone to whom many girls can
relate because of her experiences at school, her
obsessions and her dreams. Are you a drama
queen in real life?
Lol When I was in high school l’m done
with high school now there was a lot of drama
that went on with friends and stuff like that. It’s
something everyone has to deal with. I think every
one goes through being a drama queen here and
there and it’s fun to be like that because it’s exciting.
TFK: Do you think you’ve influenced the way
girls handle peer pressure and parental relationships?
■in I think it’s important for me to play
characters that girls can relate to. I want people to
learn from those characters. If you’re having trou
ble in school and the character deals with that in
the movie, people can understand how to deal
with that in real life.
TFK: You had 40 costume changes in
“Confessions.” What was it like wearing such
amazing outfits?
Lohan It was a lot of fun. It was great to be
able to change outfits because when you wear the
same thing for the whole movie, it gets kind of
boring. I hope everyone likes looking at the out
fits. Some of them were kind of crazy.
TFK: You also have a recording career. Which
do you enjoy more, singing or acting?
1 enjoy both. I think it’s really impor
tant to show other people that they can do both
well if they want to. I want to keep up both acting
and singing.
TFK: Disney's “Freaky Friday" was a ball to
watch, so it must have been a ball to make. What
was the funniest experience you had while work
ing on it?
Jamie (Lee Curtis) and I had so much
fun making that movie, I can’t think of one thing,
because we always had so much fun! We always
played Ping-Pong on the set. We had Ping-Pong
tournaments. Jamie was really good. One of the
guys won a trophy, a table and a bunch of other
stuff. It was really funny.
TFK: I ve read that you are an exceptional stu
dent. How have you balanced your acting career
with your studies?
o’ I think it's important to focus on my
schoolwork and have an education before any
thing else, because if 1 decide not to act anymore,
I need to know what else I want to do.
Danielle Oberdier. 12
C 2004 Time Inc All Rights Reserved
TIME FOR KIDS end Timeforkids com are registered trademarks of Time Inc
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