Sport Saturday Fitness Program For Brick Kids Returns In January

BRICK, NJ — If you have a child ages 9 to 12 who wants to stay active during the winter, the Brick Municipal Anti-Drug Coalition invites them to participate in Sport Saturday.

The program offers young athletes 90-minute training sessions designed to help them achieve their personal best physically, mentally and emotionally in both sports and life, BMAC officials said.

Sport Saturday sessions are available every Saturday from Jan. 5 through April 13 at the Brick Civic Plaza. There are two sessions each Saturday, at 8:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. The program is free for participants. Parents can register their children for one or more sessions. There is a limit of 30 children at each session.

The sessions include fitness work, sports specific training, and lessons in the importance of leadership qualities, problem solving and character development, designed to help youth increase self-esteem, awareness and resiliency, and is part of ongoing efforts to help kids develop the skills to avoid turning to drugs and alcohol to cope with the stresses of life.

Trainers are provided by Mentor Academy of New Jersey and are certified physical education teachers as well as youth sports trainers.

"The drive towards more professionalism in youth sports has caused an increase in overuse-related orthopedic injuries in children ages 12 and up. Evidence suggests that a youth’s first exposure to a prescription opiate is often for treatment of injury or post-operative pain," said Councilwoman Andrea Zapcic, who is the council liaison to BMAC.

Studies show kids exposed to opiates that are prescribed to them before high school graduation have a 33 percent increased risk of using opiates recreationally in the years after graduation —including kids who have negative attitudes toward drug use.

Sport Saturday is funded through the BMAC grant provided by the Governor’s Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse (GCADA).

Registration for Sport Saturday can be done at the Recreation Office, 270 Chambers Bridge Road, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m.–4 p.m., or online at http://parksandrecreation.bricktownship.net. Call 732-262-1073 for more information.

Photo by Karen Wall, Patch staff