This program offers an avenue of expression and socializing for area youth who find team activities difficult for whatever reason. Some in the Karate train for free because of their socioeconomic origins. This discipline teaches valuable personal management skills that these children have not been learning elsewhere for a variety of reasons. Karate is the art of unarmed self-defense. Karate is a Japanese phrase meaning "kara" - (empty), "te" - (hand), or the way of the empty hand. Karate is a centuries old martial art, formally introduced in Japan by Master Gichin Funakoshi. Since the 1950s, karate has been practiced throughout the United States and other parts of the world. Karate is an excellent exercise, utilizing 90% of the body muscles. The mental aspects are as important as the physical. The main objective of karate training is development of character, although karate is also a practical and effective self-defense system. Men and women...
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Note: This is a Pottstown Athletic Club member's testimonial that we received several years ago. We're sharing it now to help inspire others and hope you enjoy it! August 2004, I departed almost 12 years of United States Naval service with an Honorable discharge. Many factors contributed to that discharge and shaped my world as I saw it. In my professional career, I was overweight off and on for those 12 years and that resulted as the primary factor in my discharge. In my personal life, I was a personal computer gamer (PC), and thus spent most of my time indoors. Additionally on top of those two factors, while in the war, my first spouse left me while I was on deployment, taking my children and all that I have ever known. These factors sent me mentally, physically and emotionally into a spiral that I fought for years within myself. For all those years, I overate, smoked cigarettes, and watched lots of TV and not much else. By summer 2007, I would estim...
My husband and I have 4 kids, 14, 9 & 5 year old twins. I had just retired from Pottstown’s local Women’s Roller Derby team, my husband was looking to shed a few pounds and my kids had outgrown the YMCA one at a time over the last few years. This was the perfect time for our family to look at a new kind of sport that we could all enjoy together. Pottstown CrossFit peaked our interest. Of course we all saw the CrossFit Games and loved it! Every time we drive up Hanover Street there are people of all ages, shapes and sizes doing all kinds of fun looking things on the sidewalk like throwing balls at the walls, jumping up onto high platforms, rowing. We had to try it. My twins and my 9 year old started in the kid fit class. If the kids weren’t into it we couldn’t let the Y membership go and make the switch. The next day the rest of us tried it out. To say it was love at firs...
Peter Driscoll is a CrossFit Level 1 trainer and a physical-education teacher at Hartland Elementary School in Hartland, Vermont. He’s also the founder of HES CrossFit, which operates out of a transformed kindergarten classroom in the school. The affiliate is helping the school’s K-8 students gain strength and confidence through the integration of CrossFit into their daily lives. Driscoll explains that when he brought research to principal Jeff Moreno “that showed him how movement positively impacted cognitive capacity and academic performance,” Moreno decided to support Driscoll’s efforts to build the program. As a result, what began as a small initiative with six male students, some PVC pipes and a few kettlebells has grown into a school-wide movement. Students now take exercise breaks throughout the day and can choose to do CrossFit during recess or elective periods or after school with their teachers and peers. “We believe in getting the kids out of their seats. We believe i...