LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Chad Miller was looking to help raise awareness, volunteerism and funds for the Special Olympics of Kentucky.
A medical device salesman by day, Miller also has a passion for fitness. He is a partner of Norton Sports Performance and Ohio Valley Wrestling and has gotten those groups together with Special Olympics to keep the community moving during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I wanted to set up a program that would be really fun and entertaining to watch but at the same time would help people at home while dealing with a lot of anxiety and fears and give them a different channel to have access to something positive," Miller said.
The result is Fitness Friday, an online workout that airs at 10:30 a.m. every Friday on the Special Olympics Kentucky Facebook page. Miller enlisted the help of friends like trainer Eric Hammer and Eric Wood — the former U of L and Buffalo Bills lineman — to create the workouts, which aim to engage Special Olympians, their family and friends and anybody who wants to follow along.
"We had to cancel our state basketball tournament, which was supposed to be here in Louisville in March," said Trish Mazzoni, the President and CEO of Special Olympics Kentucky. "And then we had to cancel the state summer games. So we have over 11,000 athletes in the state of Kentucky that are sitting on the sidelines — or actually at home in isolation."
"We're gonna get 'em moving — nothing crazy," said Wood about Friday's workout. "And, during this time, you don't necessarily want to work to exhaustion. That would compromise your immune system, but getting moving and exercising in some capacity — taking a walk, doing some body weight exercises like we're doing today — is actually a perfect thing to do during this time."
The response after just one week was pretty amazing. There were nearly 5,000 views on the Fitness Friday workout posted March 20.
"I actually received over a thousand emails, which was awesome," Miller said. "Every single one was positive, gracious and thankful. I actually had a couple of teachers say that their PE class for homeschooling was actually our Fit Friday series."
Friday was the second of eight scheduled weeks of workouts, but the hope is to continue beyond that in some form. in all. You can see all of the workout's on the Special Olympics Kentucky Facebook page.
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