Rookies Kids Fitness & Athletics opens in Bellmore
Sadie Loesch, 2, pushes a sled with the help of Rookies manager Adi Ashkenazi, while Vincent Ansalone, 2, climbs the rock wall with the help of his mother, Nikki Ansalone, at Rookies in Bellmore on March 6. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
Kids have all the fun.
A new athletic center, Rookies Kids Fitness & Athletics, has opened in Bellmore, offering play sessions with a twist.
“We combine fitness and sports,” says Marc Dern, who owns the venue with his wife, Meghan. “It’s a high-energy, fun class.” Any one class might include obstacle courses, climbing, relay races, baseball and soccer, Dern says.
Classes are age-based and can accommodate ages 15 months (walking) to 12, with most clientele being ages 3 to 6, he says. Participants choose a weekly class time but can take unlimited makeup classes depending on availability. Each age group is named with a sports term, for instance the 4-year-olds are called Champs and the 7- and 8-year-olds are MVPs. Groups geared to children with special needs are broken up by ages 4 to 6 or 7 to 12.
Dern is a former trainer with degrees in sports science and strength conditioning. “We created the entire thing ourselves; it’s not a franchise,” Dern says, though that may be a future goal. He and Meghan have three children, ages 4, 2 and 10 months. “We live down the road; we can walk to this facility,” he says. “Bellmore is our roots; we have friends and family here."
Nikki Ansalone, 38, a hair stylist from North Merrick, enrolled her younger son, Vincent, 2, in a class. "He loves to be active, so I wanted something more focused on running around and playing rather than just toys," she says.
WHEN | WHERE 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, at 2477 Merrick Rd., Bellmore. Birthday parties are scheduled after 2 p.m. on weekends.
COST Monthly membership is $128 for once-a-week class and $230 for twice a week class. Drop-ins are available if there’s space at $40; classes are capped at 12 participants.
MORE INFO 516-871-4881, rookieskids.com
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
