Actively BY JENNY OWREN HANKINSON Aging S
Fayetteville's elders trade shuffleboard for travel and Zumba
eniors swaying their hips to Zumba, practicing yoga, line dancing and climbing the 108 steps to the top of the Bald Head Island Lighthouse? It's not an episode of Betty White's "Off Their Rockers" — it's an average day at the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation Senior Center and Tokay Fitness Center.
Mary Brymer, Brian Gaskell and Kathy Westway, who work full time at the Centers, want residents to know that area seniors are active, adventurous and agile.
Gaskell explained that there are two arms to the Senior Center, physical health at Tokay, and "everything else" at the Senior Center. Gaskell, a certified personal trainer, works mainly at the Tokay Center, while Westway works at the Senior Center. Brymer oversees both cen- ters. Gaskell said that chair aerobics is one of the most popular classes.
Many classes are free; some have a reasonable fee. Yoga, for example, is $20 a month, or $5 a class, while chair aerobics is $20 a month or $2.50 per class. The day trip to Bald Head Island was a value at $32 plus the cost of break- fast and lunch.
"I was blessed to major in Parks and Recreation in college," Gaskell said. "I thought I would be coaching Little League, but I got the job with no experience working with seniors," he added.
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