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YORKTOWN, N.Y. The Yorktown Teen Center already aims to help teens become stronger adolescents, and they now offer a class that takes that mission literally.
Every Friday night from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. teens are invited to attend a new flexibility and strength training class, offered in collaboration with the Yorktown Parks and Recreation Program.
I really need this," said Billy Arnold, a junior at Yorktown High School.
According to teen center director Helena Rodriguez, the center was looking for new activities to help teens reduce stress when Roxanne Gamory offered to host a free class for the teens and their families.
That class was really a workout," said Robert Kramer, a freshman at Yorktown High School. Although Kramer said he was originally forced to attend the class, he came back the following week with three of his friends.
Next year, Gamory said she plans to open Calabash Yoga, a hot yoga studio in Cortlandt Manor, with the aim of offering a variety of styles of yoga, but said in the meantime she enjoys teaching the classes to the teens.
They are like sponges, so open and eager to learn," Gamory said. "I enjoy their spontaneity and need to be challenged."
The teens were quick to enjoy the "flex" class, and enjoyed learning from their instructor "Ms. G," according to Rodriguez.
The junior year is stressful for many high school students, so we have been looking for activities that would help reduce their stress in healthy ways. Many teens that come to the center are athletic and this seems to work. They definitely get a workout, learn to relax through breathing and the next week they return for more, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said parents are also welcome to join the classes, which take place Fridays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 2 p.m. if space permits, however, teens have priority. A Yorktown Parks and Recreation form can be completed at the teen center or parks and recreation office for those interested.
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