Getting a kick out of exercise

When Nicholas Bambina was four years old, he was diagnosed withType-1 Juvenile Diabetes. Forced to endure painful stomachinjections, he pleaded for his mother to make it stop, but therewas nothing she could do.

Inspired by Nicholas’s harrowing struggle, his grandmother, JuliaMattone-Bambina, has started Kicks for Kids, an after-schoolprogram for kids age six to 16, educating them on how to live ahealthier lifestyle and making exercise fun.

Everything is geared towards learning and developing a positiveattitude about food, Mattone-Bambina said. This is nottorture!

On April 30, the program will kick off its Wednesday and Fridayclass schedule, with an open house at its Bay Ridge location.

A former teacher and administrator for the Department of Education,Mattone-Bambina is also a gourmet chef. While the kids are havingtheir 45-minute workout, she will be in the kitchen preparingwholesome food, with healthy recipes that she is happy to sharewith the parents.

But that’s just one of the ways moms and dads are included in theprocess. While workout classes featuring sports like kickboxing aregoing on, adults can sit down with certified Holistic HealthCounselor Jason Davila to discuss their concerns about theirchildren’s health.

However, Mattone-Bambina wants to stress that the program is notjust for kids who have diabetes or obesity problems — it’s for allkids growing up in a generation in which technology plays anincreasingly dominant role in child’s play.

Parents want their kids to be up with technology so they buy themthe Wii, she explained. But they’re not getting out there andplaying stoop ball anymore!

It’s a problem Mattone-Bambina hopes to correct. And she isconfident that her program is an effective way to gets kids to putdown the video games for a while.

We know it works, she said.

And as for Nicholas Bambina, now age nine, he is learning to livewith his illness. He’s currently able to check his own bloodglucose levels, and his family is taking it one day at atime.

I tell Nicholas I can’t cure you, but I can care, his grandmothersaid.