| Wheat Ridge Recreation Provides Healthy Alternative for Local Youth |
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Wheat Ridge Recreation Center Provides Healthy Alternative For Local Youth
Local Partnership Funds New Active Game Room Featuring Wii Sporting Games and Dance/Dance Revolution
WHEAT RIDGE, CO – Thanks to a health initiative engineered by the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center and a grant from LiveWell Wheat Ridge area youth will no longer have to choose between playing video games or doing something physically active. The Wheat Ridge Recreation Center’s new “active” game room, which features Wii sporting games and Dance/Dance Revolution, lets kids do both at the same time.
“It’s definitely the best of both worlds,” said Joyce Manwaring, Director of Wheat Ridge Parks and Recreation. “Kids were having to choose between doing something active versus something sedentary and the sedentary often won,” she added.
Conceived by the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center as a way to combat the growing trend of childhood obesity, the Center’s traditional game room, which featured stationary games, was recently replaced with the active Wii game room. According to Manwaring, a grant from LiveWell Wheat Ridge, an organization made up of Wheat Ridge businesses and organizations dedicated to improving the health of Wheat Ridge citizens, accelerated the room’s opening. The grant money funded the Wii console, Wii games, and Dance/Dance Revolution. “We are grateful to LiveWell Wheat Ridge for its support,” Manwaring said.
The game room has not only given youth an opportunity to practice a healthy lifestyle with active games, but it has served as a place where kids can go and have some fun rather than hanging out on the streets. Another bonus for the Wii game room is that it’s attracting both boys and girls equally, where the former traditional game room mainly attracted boys.
The game room is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 -11 a.m. and on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30 – 7:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours are 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Prior to using the games, youth will need to attend a simple, one-time orientation. Orientations are given any time during open game room times. Game users will also need to purchase a Wheat Ridge Recreation Center I.D. card that is to be shown when using the game room. Fees for the game room are regular Wheat Ridge Recreation Center drop-in rates that range from $4-$6, depending on where a patron lives. Discount rates are available when a twenty visit punch card or an annual pass is purchased.
Youth can expand their Wii gaming experience by enrolling in the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center’s new EXR game class, where they will learn about fitness and compete against other kids in the Wii sports games. The EXR game class will be 3 - 4 p.m., June 8 through June 29 and July 13 through August 3. Kids can enroll in either session.
For more information about the Wii game room or the EXR game class, call the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center at 303-231-1300.
For more information about recreation programs and classes offered at the Wheat Ridge Recreation Center, visit www.ci.wheatridge.co.us.
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