Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley unveils new fitness room

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley have been supporting children and families for more than 25 years, providing educational and developmental opportunities for youth ages 5-18. The clubs offer services before school, after school and in the summer.

Summer is an especially busy time of the year, but the Boys & Girls Club in Twin Falls recently converted an old classroom into a functional workout room to give youth another safe space to be active and have fun.

The room opened in March, and since then, more than 450 different children have used the room. Currently, the room has 15 different health and fitness camps scheduled this summer. The club is open from 6:45 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, plus has two teen nights when it remains open until 9 p.m.

“Summer is a time when we are able to pack a lot of different camps in, and they are all designed around health and fitness,” said Lindsey Westburg, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Magic Valley.

The workout room was made possible through a Community Transformation Grant funded by the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health. The Foundation awarded the $250,000 grant to the City of Twin Falls, which manages the funds. The city put together a team of community leaders that decides what projects and programs should be funded. The purpose of the grant is to increase children’s access to physical activity and healthy foods.

The decision to fund the Boys & Girls Club in Twin Falls was a no-brainer for that grant team, considering the impact it has in the community.

“We offer services to all youth, and a lot of what we are trying to do is fill in the gaps,” Westburg said. “We work with the school district and our community partners to address barriers and issues that kids and families in town are facing.”

The new workout room contains traditional equipment such as tumbling mats, but it also is equipped with The Mirror, which is an interactive smart gym. The club pays for a subscription so students can take classes offered on The Mirror. Popular programming has been yoga, meditation and zoomba.

“The technology has been great in that arena,” Westburg said. “We always have a staff member in the room, but The Mirror programming has been amazing for us. It’s a very modern option, and it’s really cool.”

The Mirror will allow even more access to services that most families wouldn’t be able to afford. The club currently offers instructor-led classes like karate and dance. The Mirror gives kids additional options.

“Giving kids access and removing those barriers is a value,” Westburg said. “We’re grateful to have had that room renovated and use it. It’s amazing.”