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Campers begin the Penguin Challenge at Homestead Park
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Xavier Weaver, 12, was so set to begin the Penguin Challenge on Tuesday at Homestead Park that he did not even have time to give a reporter his last name.
Instead, after stretching at the start of an obstacle course and saying he wanted to win, he ran off.
The challenge is sponsored by the city police department, Youngstown State University and the city Parks and Recreation Department.
The Penguin Challenge will take place at the park at 3 p.m. every Tuesday through July 30. In the challenge, there will be a weekly fitness test for kids that will conclude with a final challenge in which all of the children will compete in a combination of all the events for a grand prize.
Prizes will be given each week to the top three finishers in their age brackets.
With children gathered before the first event Tuesday in the park’s pavilion, Capt. Jason Simon of the police department said Homestead Park is the only park where the challenge will take place; five camps are being operated in city parks this summer.
A special challenge event is scheduled in a few weeks at Cardinal Mooney High School so children who attend camps at other parks can see it, Simon said.
Simon said the idea is to get kids to come back each week so they can work on being fit. The program is also part of the Community Based Crime Reduction program the city has been running on the South Side, a combination of extra patrols and social programs to fight crime in the area.
The first event Tuesday was an obstacle course through cones and trees. Older children ran a longer portion of the course than the younger ones. About 20 kids participated.
Julissa Pike was one of those who competed. When asked how it went for her, she answered in a word: “Tired.”
Julissa ran the obstacle course in her slippers. She said it would have been a different story if she had been in shoes.
“With my shoes I would have been faster,” Pike said.
Pike said she is looking forward to the other events, especially the crawling and climbing events.
“I’m good at climbing,” Pike said.
S’Adiamond Taltoan and Nelson Figueroa also competed Tuesday. Nelson said the course was fun.
“Going through the cones was easy,” he said.
S’Adiamond said she is also especially looking forward to the climbing event.
“I climb everything,” she said.