LET PLAY BEGIN...
The WRAC REOPENS Monday, Jan. 11th at 5 am. HOURS OF OPERATION will be: Monday- Friday: 5:00 am - 9:00 pm Saturday: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm We excited to get back to the WRAC too, but before you go, I ask that you review the WRAC's Covid Care Program and these Phase 1 GENERAL USE info:
MASSAGE THERAPY: Limited appointment times available. We are looking for ways to expand this opportunity as soon as possible. January membership dues were not charged and this remains the case even with the club's reopening. If your membership has been on hold and you wish to activate it, or need to make any changes, please contact Zach, Membership Coordinator, and he'll get you taken care of. If you have not yet signed the new version of the Membership Liability Waiver, please do so by logging into your account before using the club again. If you need this emailed to you, just let us know. I am awaiting final guidelines, expected to be posted on Monday afternoon. Everything stated above is based on the information available at this moment. If something changes in this plan, you will be notified. If you have any questions, please ask. Thank you. Stay healthy! Evy Gillin Club Manager evy@wrac.org
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![]() UPDATE - JANUARY 6 Dear Member-Owners, YES!! IT WILL BE A HAPPY NEW YEAR! WA State Safe Start Guidance announced yesterday provides a pathway forward for The WRAC! HOURS OF OPERATION: Monday - Friday: 5:00 am - 9:00 pm Saturday: 7:00 am - 4:00 pm Sunday: 10:00 am - 5:30 pm January dues were not charged and this remains the case even with the opening of the club. If your membership has been on hold and you wish to activate it now or need to make any changes, please contact Zach, Membership Coordinator, and he'll get this taken care of for you. Club use protocols followed in October-November will continue to be in place. Please refresh yourself with these by viewing our Covid Care Program information page. 1. Masks will be required at all times while in the club. If you are challenged with this, please check out the many athletic performance masks now available. The last thing we want to do is be the "mask police" this so this makes it easy...mask up at all times. 2. Workouts need to be kept to under 1 hour. 3. Fitness classes will be scheduled for 45 minutes. 3. Tennis and Pickleball are limited to 90 minutes of play. 4. Use guidelines allow for reserved time in all areas:
6. Check in will be done at the Fitness Center desk (as before). Please be prepared to use your app for hands-free check-in process. The front lobby and deli will not be available until further notice. Beverage and some snack bars will be available for sale at the Fitness Center desk. If you need something from the pro shop, please present the item to the desk for check-out. 7. Reminder: Be sure to bring your personal sweat towel and water bottle as fountains remain unavailable. New bottle filling station is now available at the hallway fountain. If you have any questions, please get in contact with me or other appropriate staff member. I look forward to seeing your smiling face at the club soon! Sincerely, Evy Gillin Club Manager evy@wrac.org Your WRAC Board of Directors Dick Lester, Pres. Stew Cusick, V.P. Bryan Noyd, Treasurer Nel Wheeler, Secretary Carolyn Dowell, Nick Jimenez, Cindy Lorrain, Rani Sampson Dear Member-Owners,
Happy New Year! While January 1st won’t witness our normal crowded fitness frenzy, and our building will remain eerily quiet, we are optimistic we’ll be able to welcome you back to the WRAC sometime this month! When the governor’s gym closure order is lifted, we are extremely confident we can provide a safe and sanitary venue for our members to gather in community to pursue active, healthy lifestyles. It’s why we exist. We’ll likely reopen with prudent limitations, and our path to full, unrestricted operation will be a long one. The impact of the pandemic has been unequal among different people and businesses, and the WRAC and its wonderful team have borne significant financial pain. However, our proverbial glass is half full, and we’re ready to work extremely hard at rebuilding in three key areas:
We hope you share our optimism about the new year. This is your club, a member-owned non-profit established to promote healthy lifestyles in our community. Please share any suggestions or feedback with us. Sincerely, Your WRAC Board of Directors Dick Lester, Pres. Stew Cusick, V.P. Bryan Noyd, Treasurer Nel Wheeler, Secretary Carolyn Dowell, Nick Jimenez, Cindy Lorrain, Rani Sampson WRAC BOARD LETTER
December 1, 2020 Dear WRAC Team: Dean, Gabe, Tony, Lisa, Zach, Ellie, Connie, Clint, Jessica, Don, Tanner, Liv, Keith, Tammi, Alanna, Charl, Joyce, Heather, Hannah, Angie, Boden, Bridget, Max Y, Dave, Izzy, Tammy, Valerie, Jackie, Max M., Emma, Leslie, Mallory, Olga, Seana, Lyda, Toddi, Gary, Kim, Abby, Craig, Dennis, Elyse and Evy. We THANK YOU! In the midst of a very difficult year, it’s easy to recount all the things we’ve lost. We won’t do that here, though each of us misses our ability to use OUR WRAC as we used to. We simply wish to give thanks to the extraordinary WRAC team who have helped us make it through this difficult year and to acknowledge the hardship that many of them are experiencing due to the pandemic. The success of the WRAC is due to the individuals who choose to work here. The people above are not just a list of names. They comprise a cohesive team, and each is meaningful to their own group of members who appreciate their friendliness, hard work, and dedication. The vagaries of COVID have made many of us realize just how important these people are in our lives. We’ve heard so many stories of WRAC team members going above and beyond their job description. They love their jobs, it shows, and we member-owners benefit from it. Our WRAC team has endured economic adversity as they have faced multiple rounds of layoffs or reductions in hours, unemployment claims, and call-backs. Their passion for promoting healthy lifestyles, fitness, and recreational opportunities in their vocation of choice has required sacrifice through no fault of their own. As much as the WRAC would like to somehow ease their financial hardship, cutbacks and layoffs are essential to the WRAC’s survival, given the plunge in revenues from the shutdown. It’s a tough situation without easy answers. Despite this, our great staff consistently offers to do whatever is necessary to get through this crisis. For that, we’re extremely grateful. Dues will not be charged for the month of December, given the four-week shutdown from November 17th to December 13th. We await guidance on re-opening December 14th, and that will inform our decision on dues for January. The generosity of member-owners who wish to continue paying dues for December is appreciated. Please reply asap by completing the December response form via button link below to indicate your intention. In the spirit of giving thanks, we are also thankful for our unique structure of member-ownership. It allows us to operate a lean and efficient financial model without concern for ownership compensation. This is your club, and we want to hear from you. Any feedback or suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Sincerely, Your WRAC Board of Directors Dick Lester (P), Stu Cusick (VP), Bryan Noyd (T), Nel Wheeler (S) Carolyn Dowell, Cindy Lorrain, Nick Jiminez, Rani Sampson To submit suggestions or feedback, please contact any Board member or include your thoughts on the response form. WRAC OPERATION is "ON HOLD"
NOVEMBER 17 - DECEMBER 13TH IT'S TIME TO PIVOT...AGAIN! It looks like this closure will indeed hold us out of the club through at least December 13th. Though we are working closely with Washington Fitness Alliance to try to get better answers from the state and local officials as to why fitness was included in this shutdown, the answers are slow in coming. The latest data continues to not support this decision. The thing we can all probably all agree on is that we want our community and country to be healthy and strong (that's why we are all at the WRAC) but my hope is that benefits derived from staying active and fit can become a larger factor in these impactful decisions. There have been no reported cases at our club or any club in Washington state. For lots of details on current data available, please see the link below to the WFA website and Facebook pages. THESE "WRACTIVITIES" ARE AVAILABLE NOW:
In Health, - Evy Gillin WRAC Manager evy@wrac.org 509-421-0243 If you have questions or need to make any adjustments to your membership, please contact Zach. He'll get you all taken care of right away. ![]() There’s a lot of talk about proper life balance with work, family, and food...but is your workout balanced? Are your muscles balanced? Did you know your quads are made up of 4 muscles... makes sense right. This muscle group (rectus femoris, Vastus medialis, Vastus Lateralis, Vastus medialis) needs to be balanced out individually for knee health as well as balanced as a group to properly offset the hamstrings and glutes, or opposing muscle groups. Every joint in the body has muscles on each side to aid with flexing/extending, aduction/abduction, or rotation. Muscular imbalance can cause tightness on one side and weakness on the opposing side which can cause many problems including joint pain or potential injury. Repetitive movements in a work setting or doing the same fitness routine over and over again can cause imbalances as well as sitting for long periods of time or maintaining a poor posture. When designing your workouts make sure you are thinking about balance in your muscle groups as well as changing up your routine. Make sure you are moving in multi planes and targeting opposing groups like pushing and pulling, for example. If you have hit a fitness plateau, fallen into a fitness rut, or are facing injury from muscle imbalance you may be in need of a new workout routine. Any of the qualified WRAC Trainers can help you with program design as well as fitness assessments to see if you are out of alignment. Contributed by: WRAC Wellness Director, Lisa Smith lisa@wrac.org ![]() A Runner’s Story: Featuring Elizabeth Doop Elizabeth Doop joined the WRAC along with her husband Ryan in October 2017 after they both participated in our ‘Take a Swing’ trial. Since joining, both Elizabeth and Ryan have utilized all aspects of the club: taking tennis lessons, participating in racquetball events, regularly attending group fitness classes and in March of 2019 - Elizabeth joined our Board of Directors. This last November, Elizabeth participated in her FIRST half marathon in Palm Desert, CA - finishing in 3 hours and 33 minutes! After sharing the details of the event on her Facebook page, I reached out to Elizabeth to find out more. I wanted to know what inspired her to run the half marathon, how she trained for it, her favorite part of the experience, if she has any plans for future races and most importantly: if I could share her story! I can honestly say that after reading her response and seeing the great pictures that document her journey - I was truly inspired! A HUGE thank you to Elizabeth for letting me share this story with all of you. - Emma Bush, Membership Coordinator “Where do I begin?! I started 2019 off with Anja's Petterson's Couch to 5K program at the WRAC. After completing her program, I participated in the Lake Steven's Chamber of Commerce Chase the Leprechauns 5k. Immediately following, I ran in the LA Big 5K at Dodger Stadium. It was while I was in LA at the LA Marathon Expo, that I learned of the USA Women's half marathon event. While exploring the other booths at the event, I talked it over with my husband, Ryan. I was excited about the possibility of doing the half marathon but I wasn't quite confident in my abilities yet. Ryan, being a distance runner himself, basically said I needed to get out of my head and sign up for the darn thing. SO I DID!! Oh the anxiety that followed. Thankfully I had 8 months to prepare. For several months my focus was on getting comfortable running outside and learning how our local terrain and weather affected my performance. When I was ready to work on my mileage building, I found a 12 week training program online for guidance. During my training, I participated in my first 10K race, the University of Washington Dawg Dash, to test the waters of running a longer distance. Finally, the big day arrived and I have to say the best part of the event was the energy. Almost 3000 participants, all with encouraging attitudes running side by side. So much girl power!! I've made plans to do another half marathon in May 2020, the Windermere Marathon in Spokane, WA.” - Elizabeth Doop ![]() TENNIS: When playing tennis and the points start getting more and more intense... The tendency is to start gripping the handle harder and tighter. You will do your body a lot of good if you learn to relax your grip as the point continues. Not only will this help the rest of your body to relax but you will save your arm from future injuries. Wrist injuries and Tennis Elbow will be less common in your Tennis career by loosening your grip while playing. PICKLEBALL: Trying to elevate your game to the next level? Learning to use your legs more by using a squatting position is a great way. When at the Kitchen Line to prevent your opponent from pushing you back behind it try to squat down for those shots right off the bounce instead of taking a step backwards. This will keep you at the Kitchen line for more points and keep you from giving your opponent and easy target by hitting your toes on the very next shot. Clint Vidano, Head Tennis Pro and Pickleball Director ![]() Clint Vidano, Head Tennis Pro and Pickleball Director |