Waynesboro YMCA News
SMAC swimmers earn national rankings
Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club swimmer Alex Rayle was at the head of an impressive class of SMAC swimmers this spring, setting the 400-meter individual medley standard at the short-course Y Nationals. Several swimmers ended the short-course season ranked nationally in their... [Read more...]
Waynesboro YMCA News
Fighting a national epidemic
Sixty percent of adult Americans are overweight, and thirty percent are obese. And our bad habits are affecting our kids, whose life expectancy, shockingly, sadly, will be less than our generation, a major step back in quality of life that is entirely preventable.
“It’s not just about the elderly and people who have had heart attacks. It’s not just about those folks with a lot of stress. It’s also about the kids, and the Y has a great representation of children. So we thought, If we come out and have some things that are interesting for the children, we can get them engaged in their own health and health outcomes,” said Arlene Macallero, the director of physician recruitment at Augusta Health, who has been working with the Waynesboro YMCA on the development of a preventive-wellness program that gets the message of heart health out to the masses.
The two organizations teamed up on Thursday to present a community health fair at the YMCA that focused on health education – for kids and their parents.
“There’s a lot of misinformation in the public with regards to their health. They can get on the Internet and go to a million sites, but not all of them present accurate information. The goal of these kinds of events is to educate the public with the right information and to let them know what we have to offer in terms of education programs, classes, et cetera,” said Kara McGill-Meeks, a clinical dietitian at Augusta Health. [Read more...]
Y now offering massage therapy
The Waynesboro YMCA is now offering massage therapy.
Swedish Massage – a variety of techniques specifically designed to relax muscles by applying pressure to them.
Deep Tissue Massage – a technique that focuses on the deeper layers of muscle tissue
Myofascial Release Massage – stretching the fascia and releasing bonds between fascia, integument, and muscle.
Reflexology Massage – is the practice of massaging parts of the feet with the goal of encouraging beneficial effects at other parts of the body. [Read more...]
Different strokes: A summer in the pool with the Stray Cats
Rachel Maki learned quickly that high-level competitive swimming wasn’t for her. “I was in SMAC for two weeks,” said Maki, a rising senior biology major/volleyball player at Shenandoah University, who has for several years been involved with another swimming program at the Waynesboro YMCA that you might not have heard of.
The Stray Cats summer swimming program provides a competitive outlet in the summer sports season for kids and teens who might not otherwise want to be a part of a year-round program like SMAC.
“We’ve got soccer players, football players. One of my best swimmers this summer is a football player,” said Maki, the head coach of the Stray Cats, who has been involved with the program since the age of 5.
For Maki, Stray Cats was something she could do in the summer to get ready for volleyball in the fall and soccer in the spring. It can also be a steppingstone to a program like the SMAC program.
“You get to swim in meets, see how it goes. You start to get your competitive nature. But it’s not a rigorous schedule,” said Maki, whose team schedules four hourlong practices each week in the summer, and also competes in a weekly meet against summer swim teams from across the region. [Read more...]
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