Under the ChooseWell program umbrella, the City of Lacombe is pleased to be presenting Free Family Fitness events weekly for the remainder of July.
Each Wednesday from July 8th to July 29th in Popow’s Kinsmen Park, Dani Ducross will host a different activity from 6:30-7:30 p.m. The event will incorporate a variety of activities so that attendees can see which activities they like best and hopefully continue to pursue that around the City.
“My background is in dance, karate, yoga and aerobics. Basically, what I’m going to do is integrate all of those different things into an opportunity for whoever comes to try those things,” said Ducross.
“For example, if I have a huge variety of people coming – say I’ve got some seniors, and a couple of two-year-olds and a bunch of people in their 20s that show up one night. If the theme was karate, I’d probably do a general karate class warm-up, and then I’d give different tasks to the different ages.
“The adults would get an exercise that they can handle, and then at the same time, I’d take the kids aside and have them do an activity that works for their age group and is more fun-based.”
The activities will be altered and adjusted to suit all age groups and abilities of the present members. Registration is preferred but not required. To register, contact Ducross at 403-896-6178 or at dducross@hotmail.com.
Registrations help the City to track the usage and success of the ChooseWell community programs. Drop-ins will not be turned away on the evening of events. Ducross and Sonya Beauclair of the City of Lacombe request registering so that they can be aware of the community interest in the program and can prepare better for the class.
Beauclair added the idea is to get people out and active in a way that incorporates the whole family.
“The big thing is that we’re trying to get people out and active. It can be hard with busy families. I know that as a mom, one of the struggles I have is, where is my kid going to go if I want to go exercise?
“So with these events, people can bring their kids. Kids can participate or play on the park, and the whole family can participate without one parent having to stay home or having to find a babysitter,” Beauclair said.
“This year we had some grant money from ChooseWell so we thought a great way to spend it would be on a free family fitness program. Dani has some kinds of family-fitness programs as well and she’s a great person to facilitate this because people can sign up for her classes afterwards.”
Ducross explained a little on how she plans to engage all ages in the classes.
“Examples of how I’d integrate that are things like jumping jacks – adults would do regular jumping jacks, but maybe the kids would jump like monkeys, or frogs. If the adults were running, we’d turn it into a game of tag or chase for the kids. We’re going to do that for each activity. We’d have yoga, and yoga for kids. For example, if we did a downward dog pose, we’d get the kids to kind of climb under their parent like a bridge,” she said.
The events will change weekly and will last for the remainder of the month, with the final class on July 29th.
kmendonsa@lacombeexpress.com