By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Bowling Green Community Center is offering a space for youth to exercise their brains and their bodies.
A new multi-generational “Play Zone” has been opened on the first floor of the community center. The room is available for use to current pass holders and paid daily guests of the facility.
Kids ages 9 and older can use the space without parental supervision. But the room is also designed for families to play together.
“This opens up a lot of new opportunities we haven’t had before,” said Ivan Kovacevic, program coordinator with the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department. “I’m really looking forward to having a lot of different ages here.”
The Play Zone offers physical challenges and mental games, such as:
- Expresso fitness bikes
- Pop-a-Shot basketball systems
- A Minute-to-Win-It station with six games
- Giant Connect 4 game
- Giant Jenga game
- Box hockey game
- Giant tic tac toe
- Giant matching game
- Card table
- Giant checkers
- Giant chess and instructional chess
- Hook and ring game
- Magnetic darts game
- Golf putting game
“We’re going for a lot of age groups,” Kovacevic said.
While the community center offers exercise equipment upstairs for adults and older minors, and team sports for all ages in the gyms on the first floor, the Play Zone is intended to meet the needs of other kids.
“I see this room being used in a lot of different ways,” Kovacevic said. “This gives teenagers a place to gather. They can come out on their own.”
The Expresso Fitness Bikes in the Play Zone can be used by adults as their children play games, or they can be used to race someone else. Expresso Fitness bikes combine elements of gaming with exercise to simulate an outdoor ride on an indoor stationary bike using magnetic resistance to simulate real trail conditions and a high definition screen that makes the ride interactive. With two bikes, users can race against each other.
The simple “box hockey” game is also a hit, with Kovacevic recalling an 80-year-old grandma playing with a 10-year-old grandchild.
“It’s a super addicting game,” he said.
Information about community center passes can be found at www.bgohio.org/parks.
