By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – If you say all your kids is do is play video games, that doesn’t have to be all bad. You can now get your exercise and gaming all at once at the YMCA.
O’Brien Mitsubishi and the Mitsubishi Foundation has given the Bloomington-Normal YMCA $25,000 to convert a racquetball court into an exergaming area for kids. That includes gaming bikes where you pedal to activate your controller and as the YMCA’s Director of Health and Wellness and Youth Sports Joe Rodgers explains there’s more strenuous activity too.
“There’s what they call reaction walls where you have to kind of touch the light pattern and follow it and then you can run away and do different things with it as well,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers said the Y will convert a racquetball court into an exergaming area with work to start later this summer. He said the Y has been looking for ways to get more young people interested in fitness and studies show this is how you do it.
“We’ve been thinking about doing this for a number of years and there’s a lot of supporting research from national organizations on how exergaming is becoming the newest form to get kids and keep them moving and keep them active,” Rodgers said.
The exergaming area will be for kids ages 7 to 14.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
