{"id":15335,"date":"2016-10-24T10:47:39","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T14:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=15335"},"modified":"2016-10-24T10:47:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T14:47:41","slug":"ymca-program-to-help-kids-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=15335","title":{"rendered":"YMCA program to help kids thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kids with diverse abilities learn fitness, water safety and teamwork<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

\"ymcalogo\"<\/a>The torches may have been doused, but Rio 2016\u2019s fever hasn\u2019t left for some kids who were glued to the action last summer. Now, with a recent grant to YMCA of Greater Brandywine from Autism Speaks, even more children with diverse abilities will be able to channel their Olympic inspiration into improving their swimming skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

The grant, earmarked specifically for the Y of Greater Brandywine\u2019s Kennett and Jennersville branches, provides swimming scholarships for children with autism, and will make even more accessible the selection of the Y\u2019s services for those with diverse abilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ensuring that all members of the community can have access to opportunities for fitness, personal growth and community involvement has been a focus of the YMCA since its founding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicholas Pincin, aquatics director for the Kennett branch, acknowledged that availability of adapted programs falls short nationwide, \u201cand certainly in Chester County there aren\u2019t as many as there need to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the grant will come in handy to help expand the swimming programs in two areas of the county where there\u2019s a particular need.<\/span><\/p>\n

The nod from Autism Speaks also helps draw attention to the variety of adapted programs the Y offers beyond swimming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Branches throughout the Y of Greater Brandywine system feature opportunities to participate in the arts and other programs such as fitness, personal training, tennis and other activities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, the Upper Main Line Y has a vaunted swim team, the Y Knot Otters; the branch’s competitive aquatics director served on the 2016 U.S. Paralympics coaching staff in Rio.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the Lionville and Kennett branches feature the Open Doors program on Friday nights, an opportunity for those with diverse needs to socialize in a structured environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Programs here and elsewhere across the association benefit children and parents alike, and financial assistance is available for families who qualify.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul Griffith, 7, has autism, and he and his dad, Steve, participate in both the Tuesday night fitness class and the Friday night swimming in Jennersville. Griffith said both he and his wife, Michelle, have seen the positive results in their son as a result of the Y programming.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see Paul getting more in the rhythm of things every week,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can see that all the kids are having a good time and they\u2019re learning to exercise and have fun at the same time. It\u2019s a program where both the parents and the helpers are in tune with special needs kids.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the swimming, Griffith said he appreciates both the safety element for Paul, who took to the water at 3 years old, and the opportunity for a different, lower impact type of exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids really become comfortable in the water and they love it,\u201d he said. \u201cI see a lot of good things happening there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Visit our website<\/i><\/a><\/span> to find out more about the YMCA of Greater Brandywine\u2019s adapted programming, or call your nearest Y branch for details.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kids with diverse abilities learn fitness, water safety and teamwork The torches may have been doused, but Rio 2016\u2019s fever hasn\u2019t left for some kids who were glued to the action last summer. Now, with a recent grant to YMCA of Greater Brandywine from Autism Speaks, even more children with diverse abilities will be able […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5734,294,5735,2352],"class_list":["post-15335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-autism-speaks","tag-grants","tag-swim-programs","tag-ymca-of-the-brandywine-valley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15336,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15335\/revisions\/15336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}