Donna Young gives instruction to several of her water aerobics class members at the Centre City Pool recently. Photo by Cheltzey Armstrong.
Her inspiration to teach started seven years ago, when she was obese. A God-sent blessing taught her water aerobics, and not long after, she began to lose weight.
“Five dollars is a bag of chips and a coke, and that hurts you, whereas my class will help you,” Young said. “God saved my life through water.”
To Young, aerobics is her ministry. She teaches up around 50 people each day and feels God called her to do it.
Young began teaching her friends, after they repeatedly told her how good she was. She began trying to get jobs for her ministry, and now teaches at Berry College, Jacksonville State and several other places. She’s also in her second year teaching aerobics at the Centre City Pool.
“If you love to do something, ask God to help you and you can make a living out of it,” Young said. “The people in this class become friends, and it turns into not only a place to work out, but also a place where you meet with friends two times a week. I really love all of the people I teach and I try to make class fun.”
According to Young, water aerobics is 75-percent more effective than land exercise, and 90-percent of people who cannot work out on land can do so in water.
“It is very rare that people get sore, because the water does the work for you while it massages your muscles,” she said. “The pressure outside your body is the same as inside your body in the water.”
Young works her ministry through water, and while class is going on, will often say things to motivate her students and show them God’s way.
“God sees us as the finished product, not as we are at this moment,” Young said. “Age doesn’t matter when God calls you.”
Post a Comment