Go to the SASCU Downtown Activity Centre gym Tuesday and Thursday evenings and you will see a group of women on the move.
Some 13 women 55 and over are taking part in “Forever Active Bodies (FAB),” a fitness program sponsored by the BC Recreation and Parks Association, ProMOTION Plus, Legacies Now and the Shuswap Women’s Recreation Soccer Association.
Not only is the program designed to get over-55 women off their respective couches, it is meant to spark an interest in team sports.
To this end, the nine-week program formally known as Let’s Get Moving!, focuses more than half of the one-hour classes on developing sports skills.
Following a 15-minute aerobic warm-up, it’s on to the sport of the day.
Participants have become acquainted with the elusive soccer ball that skitters across the gym floor, learning to control the ball with their feet. They have also become better acquainted with volleyball and the intricacies of the loose-wristed badminton.
The skills are being provided by Proactive Fitness owner Heather Stanton and School District #83 phys ed teachers Jan Naylor, Tricia Martin and Liz Mair.
Stanton saw the opportunity to secure funding for the program. She believed it would be a good opportunity to get the often-sedentary age group on their feet.
“It’s such an important age group to be working on agility, balance, bone density and strengthening,” she says. “We women live longer and we need to look after our health and have some fun.”