My friend Dianne told me about an exercise class she attends for people with Parkinson's. It is called Rock Steady Boxing. I went to the class to watch today. I really enjoyed meeting the people and watching the class. Everyone was so nice! Each person told me that the class is the only thing that helped them get rid of their canes. They were all in the advanced class so I can't join that class right now! At the end of the class, I was chatting with my friend Diane and another woman came up to me and said she knew me from somewhere. I asked her if she taught at Springfield or Chichester and she said no but she was a teacher. We both live in the same town and she told me that she taught at Marple and then said, your daughter Amy went to school with my son and was in his class and in band with him. And she said I was your daughter Olivia's fourth grade teacher. Of course, I then remembered exactly who she was. She thought Olivia was from Russia but I said no, Ukraine. She went on to tell me how much the entire staff loved Olivia. She said she herself learned a great deal about orphanages and life in Ukraine from Olivia. She thought Olivia was the cutest thing and she really was! She thought a lot of the girls in that class were jealous of Olivia because of all the attention she got from the staff! Olivia was the first student they ever had who didn't speak English. She was able to understand a lot because she had lived with us during the summer before 4th grade and picked up a great deal of English! She was conversationally fluent before she started 4th grade but she had a lot to learn and she picked it up quickly!!
The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation estimates there are more than 1 million people in the United States diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and more than 60,000 people are diagnosed each year. Rock Steady Boxing is the first gym in the country dedicated to the fight against Parkinson’s.
In the gym, exercises are largely adapted from boxing drills. Boxers condition for optimal agility, speed, muscular endurance, accuracy, hand-eye coordination, footwork and overall strength to defend against and overcome opponents. At RSB, Parkinson’s disease is the opponent. Exercises vary in purpose and form but share one common trait: they are rigorous and intended to extend the perceived capabilities of the participant..
Rock Steady Boxing, the first boxing program of its kind in the country, was founded in 2006 by former Marion County (Indiana) Prosecutor, Scott C. Newman, who is living with Parkinson’s.
Rock Steady Boxing initially began through the friendship of two men, Scott Newman and Vince Perez, after Scott had been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s at the age of 40. Refusing to let his friend go down without a fight, Vince turned to his experience as a Golden Gloves boxer to design a program that attacks Parkinson’s at its vulnerable neurological points. His intuitive insight is now proven to have merit through an increasing body of medical research.
Comments
Post a Comment