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September 25, 2002
Summer fun drifts away By Jeanette DeMelo As summer officially ends, summer activities also draw to a close. Those who frequent the Arc of St. Charles will greatly miss their fun in the sun. For the past few months a dozen participants of the adult activity center have attended water exercise classes at Ellington Fitness Club. Monica Trepagnier, a manager and personal trainer at Ellington, opened the club’s pool to the group once a week and directed their activities. The water gives these physically and mentally challenged individuals a great freedom. “In the water they can do things they can’t usually do,” said Trepagnier. “It is spirit lifting. They lighten up.” Rodney Dauzet displays one of the most remarkable examples of newfound freedom in the water. On land, Dauzet walks with a crutch due to a disability in one of his legs, but in the water, he moves with stability. Travis Polly is a natural in the water. He ventures to the deep end of the pool where he spends the best part of the hour swimming and turning underwater summersaults. The participants range in their capacities in the water. Some can already swim, while others are still fearful of the water. Trepagnier’s job is to gage their abilities and encourage them to become more familiar with the water and thus more confident and free. She does this through a number of fun water drills that get everyone involved. Each participant grabs a water noodle as a flotation device, and the races begin. First, they simply walk from one side to another. Next, they ride the noodle like a horse and bound from one side to another. Once they have warmed up, they begin a ball game, using the noodle like a bat. And finally comes the tests of their confidence, swimming through a hula-hoop. One day when asked to plunge through the water and through the hula hoop, at first Ronnette Rome said she didn’t want to get her hair wet because she had to go to work that afternoon. But after seeking all of her classmates dunking under the water, she joined in their game. She was hiding a talent for she swam through the hoop with ease. “Anything Monica does, they love. If I don’t start getting them ready to come to Ellington, they start asking questions. If they miss on Tuesday, we have to come on Thursday. Monica helps to motivate them,” said Betty Lee of the Arc of St. Charles. The Arc of St. Charles is an activity center for disabled adults. The ages of participants range from 21 to 70. Those who frequented Ellington Fitness Club for water exercises were: Jenny Bourg, Frankie Stolsek, Ronnette Rome, Tina Zeringue, Rodney Dauzat, Wendy Cook, Pierre Friloux, Damian Dominique, Renaldin Banks, Meghan Edwards and Travis Polly. The Arc provides care for these individuals and hosts a variety of activities to keep them busy and fit. Exercise is a regular part of their week. Aerobics videos provide in house exercise. At Ellington, Trepagnier also leads them in range of motion drills and dance steps, which strengthen their memory and their physique. Besides their water sport during the summer, Trepagnier also introduced them to the sand volleyball court. Water, sand, sun and lots of fun were the characteristics of this group’s summer and judging from the smiles on their faces, they will be back again next year.
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