Reimagining Youth Programming

Amanda Sinkler, the founder of Newtown Discovery Preschool, shares why Newtown Athletic Club revamped its youth programming.

Guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services recommend children and adolescents ages six and older get at least an hour a day of moderate or vigorous aerobic activity. However, according to the CDC, only 24% of children ages six to 17 achieve this recommendation.

The COVID-19 pandemic worsened this. One study found children in the U.S. spent about 90 minutes a day sitting down for school-related activities, and a further eight hours daily sitting down for leisure purposes during the lockdowns.

Health clubs are perfectly positioned to help get kids across the nation moving again, and Newtown Athletic Club (NAC) is doing just that.

The past three to four years the club has actively been reimagining its youth classes. 

“Pre-COVID, our youth classes were very session-based and skill-based,” said Amanda Sinkler, the founder of Newtown Discovery Preschool. “We kind of pulled away from that type of programming. We decided to essentially take our group exercise for adult fitness and replicate that with all of our kid’s fitness.”

Prior to this programmatic shift, NAC’s kids program consisted of art classes, soccer, basketball and more. Sinkler said they tried to offer various youth sports but admitted there wasn’t a need since other organizations in the community already ran them. “We wanted to still do fitness but wanted to be good at what we’re good at, versus trying to teach kids something we’re not an expert in,” she added. “We wanted to use our expertise to our advantage and make sure we were getting kids involved as well.”

NAC offers a wide variety of classes for children ages three to 12 including cycling, Power, HIIT and Kick, aerial yoga, Six Zone, Bounce Boot Camp, Zumba, and more. In addition to these classes, NAC has also implemented parent/child classes which have been a hit.

“The parents absolutely love it, and what is more important, the kids love their mom goes to Zumba, and they also go to Zumba,” said Sinkler. “That’s really cool to see. It helps reinforce living a healthy lifestyle is so important. To see them actually be engaged with their parent in some of the classes has really been a positive thing for our membership.”

In addition, Sinkler added NAC tries to use the same instructors for both the adult classes and the youth classes. This allows the parents to feel more comfortable with getting their children involved since they already know and trust their instructor — an important thing to consider.

If you are weighing whether to offer youth fitness classes at your facility, Sinkler advised to do what you’re best at. She added it’s better to reimagine your offerings instead of competing for members with other seasoned community offerings. Overall, your main goal should be to help get more kids moving. 

“There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel when what you’re already doing for adults could work for kids,” said Sinkler. “I think a lot of people overcomplicate the curriculum for kids programming. You already have the curriculum sitting right in front of you. You already have the instructors. You just need to schedule a time that it could work. Just give it a try and dive in versus trying to start something you know nothing about.”