Sports Academy Provides More Than Fun And Games To Children

By Andy Hutchison

Future basketball, soccer (or whichever sport they pursue for that matter) players are learning the fundamentals of athletics in the Newtown Youth Academy’s Kids Sports Academy.

Newtown’s Kathy Nowak created the Sports Academy for NYA and all day long children are testing their skills, learning about exercise and, Nowak believes, getting a jump on being healthy. Nowak, the owner of the Gymnastics Spectrum in Danbury for 27 years, brought the curriculum from the Gymnastics Spectrum programs to the Youth Academy. The programs are designed to prepare young boys and girls for any and every sport. The athletes, or soon-to-be athletes as the case may be, learn about body movement, fitness, and basic skills of athletics in the Sports Academy’s many programs.

Buzzing Bees (designed for ages 18 months to 3 years old) and Tumble Bees (for children ages 3, 4, and 5) are offered. Inflatables, small basketball play hoops and obstacle courses give the children a chance to have fun and stay active. Additionally, youth soccer, lacrosse, baseball and tennis skill sessions are held as part of sport-specific sessions designed for children 3 years old up through kindergartners. Newtown’s Alex Aitchison, a Eastern Tennis Hall Of Fame inductee, will direct the tennis program. The Kids Sports Academy also offers a “Kids Time — Stay And Play” drop off program from 11:30 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday for ages 3 to 8. This program is for members and nonmembers alike.

“We want to teach these kids how to be healthy — how to be active,” said Ken Good, manager of programs at NYA.

The Sports Academy program is for the younger children, but the NYA offers a broad range of programs for older children, teens, and adults.

Adult basketball is already offered and adult flag football and soccer leagues are being added. Good said the NYA is really for anybody between 18 months and 99 years old — or older. Seniors walk the track and fitness equipment, tennis and basketball courts, and turf fields provide year-round opportunities in the 86,000 square-foot building at Fairfield Hills.

Nowak said it’s nice to see the senior citizens and children interacting with each other.

Good said there is a lot of emphasis on specialization of sports for up-and-coming athletes and believes that it is important to keep the young athletes interested in a variety of sports. He said the Sports Academy promotes this by exposing new-to-sports children to a wide range of games and exercises.

“We really don’t want to be sport limiting. We want to be all encompassing,” Good said.

For information about the Kids Sports Academy, which offers three 14-week terms during the course of the year, as well as a seven-week Fun Summer session, call 304-1826. The next session begins on March 23 and registration is underway.