For the past almost 11 years, my son Jake and I have done a ministry called Jacob’s Ladder Special Needs Fitness in the Cleveland area. We provide regular exercise and fitness activities for people with all kinds of challenges. We serve the Lord by serving others and pray after every workout.
Our son Jake is a certified group fitness instructor for people with special needs, he is also now certified in CPR and a boxing instructor for a group called Down To Box.
One of the “COVID blessings” that Beth from Key Ministry talks about has happened to us at Jacob’s Ladder. Due to the whole COVID issue, we had to go to a Zoom format. There are some challenges to Zoom, perhaps the main one is that you cannot coach technique and effort as well as in person. But, there are also some opportunities.
For one, we were able to draw from a much larger geographic area. We now have students from 40 miles away and one young man named Cody from Minnesota, several hundred miles away. Cody is an individual with Angelman’s syndrome, and he truly is an angel. His mom reports that since he has been in our program, those who work for him and care for him have reported an increase in functionality and overall higher functioning. We would never have known Cody and his mom if not for COVID!
As I mentioned, there are some drawbacks to Zoom, such as getting the camera angle correct for the different exercises. For example, when a student is on the floor doing a plank exercise, that view is different than when they are standing up doing jumping jacks. So sometimes when students are planking, we can’t see them unless they can move their computer screen. Some students are able to move the screen at the appropriate time while others are not. It really works best if a parent or sibling or caregiver is present to assist the student.
As the instructor of the Zoom classes, we share some of the same issues. Luckily for me, I have our son Jake to assist me in these situations; he is way better at this than I am!
Overall, our students work very hard and I think we have created a positive and “work hard “ culture on our Zoom classes. We also try and have fun, do some mutual teasing and play lots of Rocky music for motivation.
Photo credit: Jacob’s Ladder Fitness website.
However, we have one long time student of Jacob’s Ladder that kind of “breaks the mold” for this group. I will use the name “Pat” so it could be a young man or young woman; I want to protect identity, real name not even close to Pat. As mentioned, Pat has been with us for many years, I think since Jacob’s Ladder began.
A couple of interesting patterns: Pat will often log onto the Zoom class with about 5 minutes to go before class ends, and then say hi to everyone, then ask who is new on the class, then start talking. At this time, I will say something like; “Okay Pat, let’s exercise now and we can talk later.” Pat usually complies…until the next class.
But the thing that Pat does sometimes that is most frustrating, and at the same time totally hilarious to me, occurs when Pat attends the entire 30–40-minute session. Sometimes, while the other students are working hard and sweating—yes, we can tell when someone is sweating on Zoom—Pat will be laying on the bed in the room at home, pillow visible and head partly propped up. We only see Pat’s head on the pillow. While laying back on the pillow, Pat is eating. Not only eating, but chewing with mouth wide open, so we can all see and hear it.
Sometimes I go into coaching mode and let Pat know that this is not the time to eat and Pat should be exercising with the group. Other times I tease Pat openly about this behavior and we all have a good laugh, including Pat. The strategy that seems to work the best is to mention it to Pat, laugh a little and then just move on with the exercises with the others, making sure I give them positive feedback for their hard work. In other words, don’t give Pat too much attention, but at the same time have some fun. Luckily, none of our other students have taken up this unique behavior.
I often wonder if some exercise guru might come up with a “new and totally revolutionary” program called something like “Eating while Exercising, You can do it ALL at the same time!”
Tony D’Orazio is a graduate of Ohio Northern University; he and his wife Karen have three children. In addition to a successful career with a national disability and workers compensation organization, Tony has served with a boys’ home organization, working with disadvantaged and challenged adolescent boys. In 2011, along with sons Ray and Jake, Tony founded Jacob’s Ladder Special Needs Fitness, to provide much needed exercise for those with special needs. Jake D’Orazio is a 2019 Graduate of Strongsville (Ohio) High School, and is a certified group fitness instructor for individuals with special needs. Jake is CPR certified, and currently works as a Down to Box boxing instructor for individuals with special needs. Jake loves the Lord Jesus, his mom and dad, and all Rocky movies. See Tony’s previous post about the importance of expectations for children with special needs here.
