Kids in Training (KIT) was established in 2003 by Maylene Jackson, mom of Sydney & JT and a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist. Maylene felt the need for an organization that targeted fitness and good nutrition in youth when she noticed many of her clients did not need performance enhancement; they just needed to move more and practice better eating habits. While there are organizations already established that meet these needs, most only serviced the affluent families who could easily afford the high fees charged for these activities. With the demise of daily physical activity in schools and their increasing vulnerability to junk-food sponsors, we feel an organization with our mission is what is needed to turn around the increasing obesity issues so prevalent in our country today.
We produce events such as triathlons, adventure races and track and field events that help to motivate our youth to become interested in fitness. We also run clinics to train these individuals for the events, nutrition programs (What’s in Your Lunchbox?!?), after school sports programs and day camps. KIT has also formed a scholarship program to help kids who cannot afford fees for organized sports.
KIT feels that participation in endurance-based, multi-sport events such as triathlon, promotes life-long fitness habits. These are the activities we did as a kid ourselves, swim, bike and run, when our mothers told us to go out and play. We didn’t need another person to play with nor did we need expensive equipment. As adults, multi-sport endurance activities are recommended for cardio benefit as well as to prevent overuse injuries.
We feel the demise of these activities are due to the fact that there are very few safe places for our kids to play by themselves or as the number of dual-working parent households grow, that we do not have time to participate in these sports with them or to transport them to a safe place to exercise.
As a non-profit organization, we are dependent on funding from sponsors to keep all our programs running to help combat the ills inactivity brings to our children. Contact us for information on how you or your organization can help.
