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Rock On
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Chris Stroffolino
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Last Updated on November, 12 2008 at 12:33 PM
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If someone tells you to check out a water aerobic therapy class
designed primarily for -- and mostly attended by -- people in their
sixties, seventies, and eighties, you’re going to expect a very slow
class. But if you drop by the class so described at the Oakland YMCA at
9.30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, you’re going to be very surprised.
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If someone tells you to check out a water aerobic therapy class designed primarily for -- and mostly attended by -- people in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, you’re going to expect a very slow class. But if you drop by the class so described at the Oakland YMCA at 9.30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, you’re going to be very surprised.
With his mixture of very strong rocking songs, and his engaged, highly motivational attitude, the teacher Kelvin Joiner is a rock star sensation. He leads his classes into call and response chants with as much passion --and less threat of damnation -- than a fiery southern preacher
Speaking to some of the seniors in his class, they almost unanimously praise him. Mary Spamos credits Kelvin’s class for "making her feel 17 again." Cricket Bailey had “just about given up on water walking classes at the YMCA,” due to instructors that she felt were lackluster. “But Kelvin brought me back. He doesn’t treat us with kid gloves; he pushes us to go as far as we can go,” says Bailey.
His classes are consistently the most popular "water walking" classes at the YMCA and pull in crowds of 50 or more. When he substitutes for another class, he brings people with him. When he misses a class, it's a very tough act for his replacements to follow.
In fact, his classes feel much more like the "oldie nights" orchestrated by young, local hipster DJs like "The Duke Of Windsor" or like the "East Bay Oldies" held at the Emeryville bar Kitty's. Perhaps, this is because the mostly senior citizen clientele knows how to rock and dance a little more than quite of a few of the young hipsters I meet while clubbing. Kelvin does not make the same assumption made by many of the younger people who work with seniors: He doesn't assume that they are slow. “You can’t be healthy unless you’re enjoying yourself,” he says. “I try to get people to enjoy moving their body whether on water or on land.”
It isn’t that the class’s population is restricted to seniors. Younger clients with disabilities also find that Kelvin’s classes inspire them to stay healthy. Denise Dill loves the water because “she can do things in it like jog and even dance, things “that she generally can’t do on dry land.” In a country that tends to glamorize youth and vigor, people like Kelvin help glamorize the pool therapy class in a way that makes it one of the most happening disco nights in town, even though it happens in the morning.
Kelvin Joiner started going to the Oakland YMCA when it opened in 1987, and started teaching there shortly thereafter. Until this year he had primarily led land classes in stationary bicycling, aerobics, and weight training. He began teaching the pool classes earlier in 2008 only as a substitute, but his popularity kept him doing it. He’s even quit his day job in the computer department at Stanford University to devote more time to his work as a personal trainer. His class may not be for everybody. One or two members have complained that he’s a little too loud or a little too fast. Luckily, the YMCA offers other classes to accommodate those folks as well.
You must be a member or guest of the YMCA to take these classes. For more information, contact. oakland.ymcaeastbay.org or www.oaklandymca.org - (510) 451-9622. For information on Kelvin's personal training classes, contact kjoiner@hotmail.com |
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OAKLAND
NEW
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