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American Academy's fitness center only benefits well-to-do

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American Academy's fitness center only benefits well-to-do

By: Cassandra Ho, Community Contributor

Description: Expensive fitness centers only benefit well-off children.

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Posted by gabeyho Fri Sep 23, 2005 11:13:00 PDT
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A children's fitness center is a great idea, but how much is it going to cost to attend?

If it is anywhere near as expensive as gymnastics, organized sports, dance or adult fitness centers, who exactly is going to benefit?

I think it is wonderful that some children will be able to get much needed physical activity in a fun, challenging and air-conditioned atmosphere, but what about the child of the average family?

Granted, I am assuming this is going to be expensive for the average parent with more than one child, but if it is, when will something this wonderful be available to ALL children?

I think statistics would show that lower income families are the ones most likely to have obese children, so how does an expensive "fitness center" on the Northwest side of town help anyone except for those well-to-do families in the area?

I contend that one good contributor to the obesity epidemic is the lack of decent-sized parks; there are not enough of them and they are not as well-equipped as they should be.

The good parks with the nice shade trees are few and far between, and how many do you now of that have public-access tennis courts, full-size basketball courts, a baseball diamond, hop-scotch and somewhere to play four-square, catch and volleyball?

It wasn't too long ago when I was a little kid (I'm now 22) and elementary schools had unlocked grounds so neighborhood kids could use them for play. I spent a good part of my summers and weekends playing on the school grounds near my house.

There is a school in every neighborhood with really nice equipment just begging to be used, and it just sits there all summer and all weekend, neglected, while the little kids stare at it through the fence wondering why it is forbidden.

While every neighborhood has a school, they do not all have parks (or at least one worth speaking of). If we could just change that, I think many more children would be outside playing, rather than inside wasting away.

A children's fitness center is great, and we should have several of them, but until it is accessible to people from every income level another solution is desperately needed.

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