Fifteen-year-old Christopher Henry wasn’t able to ride a bike before he started sessions at Fitness for Health, a therapeutic exercise facility for kids in Rockville.
Henry, who was born prematurely, suffers from autism, attention deficit⁄hyperactivity disorder and a lung disorder. But through a series of targeted games and exercises, the Fort Washington resident has been able to gradually increase his balance and motor skills.
‘‘Within a month, Christopher was riding his bike independently,” said Marcelle Henry, Christopher’s mother. Henry said she has also noticed marked improvement in her son’s social skills and self-esteem since he began sessions last June at the facility, which serves children of all ability levels.
‘‘I have seen so much growth in Christopher and so much self-esteem has built up inside him,” Henry said. ‘‘... Now he’s very outgoing and he speaks to everyone, which he wasn’t doing before.”
The programs, which would normally cost about $97 per session, would not have been financially possible for Henry without a scholarship she received through the Kids Feeling Fit Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit started in 2001 by Potomac resident Richard Saltzman, along with a group of other Montgomery County parents.
The nonprofit offers scholarships to young people like Henry who face physical challenges, and aims to improve their confidence alongside their physical ability.
‘‘We saw a need for this in the community,” Saltzman said.
The foundation, run by several Potomac and Bethesda area volunteers, funds the scholarships through grass-roots fundraising and several grants from the Life Enrichment Awards Program run through the HSC Foundation in Washington.
Saltzman estimates that his group has offered about nine scholarships in the last two years — some of which are used for six months of classes at Fitness for Health, while others are used to pay for fitness equipment, exercise classes, nutritionists or other needs. The award recipients are chosen based on financial and physical needs, he said.
Robin Feldman, a board member of the Kids Feeling Fit Foundation, said the Fitness for Health facility helped her son Larry improve his motor skills. She became involved with the foundation, she said, because she wanted to make sure others had the same opportunity he did.
‘‘I had medical insurance to be able to provide this for my son, but I knew there were a lot of people that had no insurance whatsoever,” Feldman said.
Saltzman said he believes the Fitness for Health program is successful for many of the children he funds because it allows them to work toward simple goals — like catching a ball or climbing up a wall — and then build off their success.
According to Marc Sickel, the facility’s founder, the idea is for kids to have so much fun they forget they are working. Sickel’s facility includes a 30-foot trampoline, a ropes course, an indoor batting machine and several climbing walls — including two that glow in the dark.
‘‘Kids all know what’s hard for them, and they tend to avoid those things,” Sickel said. ‘‘You want to put them in an environment where success builds success.”
Gaining confidence to try something new can often be the first hurdle for kids facing physical challenges, Sickel said.
Saltzman was introduced to Sickel in 2001, when his own children started using the facility. The two boys — Zachary, 13, and Alexander, 9 — continue to attend sessions.
‘‘I think they have become more willing to try,” Saltzman said. ‘‘And they understand that if I fail, it’s okay — I can try again.”
