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1st Friday: Outdoor activities equal family time

Nathan Mattise/Special to The Tribune
Friday, August 3, 2007

Spending quality time with the family means a variety of things:

Having dinner.

Taking a vacation.

Watching some TV.

But in Albuquerque, family time often means something else:

A time to get fit.

"Families are a huge part of this city's fitness," said Fred Hultberg, executive director of the New Mexico State Games and supervisor for league play within the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

"There's not a sport I can think of where the family hasn't been a big part. Take the athletes in the New Mexico State Games: It's so neat to see mom, dad and the kids participate as a family. You'll see these kids at the track, then archery, table tennis, swimming - and these are all things that mom and dad can do."

Hultberg says a direct connection exists between family and fitness. He helps recreational leagues find fields for practice and games, so he's seen the effect families have on youth leagues for baseball, softball, basketball, football and soccer, among others.

Hultberg says that trend extends to the nontraditional sports.

He said the arm wrestling competition at the New Mexico State Games, in its first year, drew 25 youngsters with 90 percent of those grappling alongside their folks.

And out of the 350 participants in this year's swimming events, 40-50 of them were parents who wanted to be there to swim with their children.

"One thing we try to do is as a family is try more activities together. If you don't know the sports yourself, you won't have the knowledge to help the kids go further. You won't be a successful little family team," said Jennifer St. John, a recreational swimmer whose husband Glenn and two daughters, Brenna, 15, and Gillian 9, all swam in the New Mexico State Games this year. "With swimming, what I would call running in a lane, it's a life sport. You can always find a pool to swim in and we’re hoping that our kids take that with them so that they can always stay with it and stay healthy."

St. John said her husband is very active in swimming within the area, but usually prefers to be involved in a non-participant role like an official or timer. However, he makes sure to always register for the New Mexico State Games every summer because it's one of the few opportunities to swim alongside your own kids. Hultberg said events such as judo, archery and track and field offer similar opportunities and feature more of the same family friendly trend.

"Moms and dads are the only way these sports can make it," Hultberg said. "You really couldn't do any of the sports without their help. It's vital that you have a lot of family participation, and, in Albuquerque, we probably have more of that than anybody."

Despite the high level of current participation, the number of families active within Albuquerque athletics continues to grow.

Take archery for instance. Gina Chavez has run the Archery Shoppe at 2910 Carlise Blvd. N.E. for eight years. Her entire family - husband, Mark, and daughters Amanda, 17, and Angelina, 18 - participated together for nearly 15 years. And Chavez said she's grown accustomed to seeing more and more families like her own.

Recently at some of the larger city tournaments with almost 350 participants, Chavez said at least 50 different families were in attendance."Every single day, I see more families," Chavez said. "Everyone can have their own equipment - even 2-, 3-, 4-year-olds - because bows are now more lightweight and affordable.

"My family's been around it (archery) since my husband and I carried our kids on our hips. We'd spend every weekend at tournaments, and they always had activities for kids like shooting bows at balloons for prizes. Tournaments are geared that way all the time now."

One of Chavez's newer customers is Heather Lusk. Her husband, Michael, has been in bow sports for five years, and their daughter, Halee, 9, started six months after her dad. Lusk joined her husband and daughter 18 months ago and hopes to have more family time with a bow in the future.

"There's a lot of families at shoots we started to develop friendships with, and now there's always a bunch of us who go together, and, when we're not going to shoots, we're camping together," Lusk said. "It's fun to go out and support each other or even to challenge each other in practice. Plus, it all keeps you in shape.”

Lusk said many of the shoots are held in mountainous area, requiring lots of hiking.

The appeal of maintaining your health and maintaining a strong family bond was enough to get Lusk involved. And, as long as that opportunity exists for Albuquerque families in archery and other activities, family time and fitness time will be close relatives in town for years to come.