Summit Health and Fitness closes its doors as the final class offered

It is fitting, then, that as the club prepared to close its doors for the final time on Friday, Heilman taught the latter his play-out lesson.

Heilman has been a PE teacher in the city for 26 years and is currently at Basis Flagstaff. For several years, he has been teaching a gaming class for young adults with what he calls unique needs. He invented the term because in his eyes, working out should be seen as fun, not work.

I\’m like, \”This is nothing but a play-out,\” because that\’s what it is, Heilman said. We were just playing and that\’s just how fitness should be considered, because I really want it to be fun. I really want it to be something people look forward to, so they keep doing it for the rest of their lives.

This class features exercises that focus on play and movement, such as bouncing a ball overhead, playing catch, agility obstacle courses, ladder drills, and more.

Heilman has taught a variety of other classes over the past 23 years, such as boot camp, kickboxing and a step class. He also moved to San Diego two different times for jobs teaching fitness and unique needs fitness.

His positive energy is contagious. When his students walk in, Heilman greets them with a hug, a punch, or a high-five. Then, she activates a music playlist ranging from Imagine Dragons Believer and Rachel Plattens Fight Song to Chumbawambas Tubthumping. From start to finish, she\’s right there interacting with her students.

Definitely my favorite part of the week is right here, Heilman said.

Heilman started the course about eight years ago when he was contacted by Mary Haynie, who was looking for a program for her granddaughter, Jaclyn. She and many of Heilman\’s students have been with him since day one. He has worked to promote it through Quality Connections, a non-profit organization that works to help people with disabilities become independent and provides job training and employment opportunities, as well as through other means.

Shauna Mattson discovered Heilman and the class through a connection from Quality Connections by sharing a link to an article about it on Facebook. She has since given her son, Erik, who also competed in the Special Olympics, a way to stay active.

I said, Oh, we\’ll get you started on a gym class, that\’s great! So just keep him busy and active and he can date people nearly his age, Mattson said.

As he looks back, Heilman said what he\’s doing now with his unique needs students is similar to what he did with boot camp all those years ago.

I\’m using the agility ladder, I\’m using the hurdles, I\’m using the battle rope, I\’m using the stability balls and dumbbells, I\’m using the same equipment, Heilman said.

He added: We had these shirts made, Boot camp: Why do we work so hard? Because we can. I honestly think it\’s now full circle 23 years later, teaching the last lesson here to my amazing friends.\”

While Summit may be shut down, Heilman isn\’t going anywhere. He has filed paperwork and is finalizing plans to move the play-out classroom to the Flagstaff Aquaplex.

Through more than two decades and one knee and hip replacement, Heilman has never stopped loving what he does.

[Being the last person to teach a class] it actually makes me feel really special, Heilman said. \”It makes me incredibly humble that I\’ve been able to do this for so long. And that I\’ve enjoyed it for so long, and I actually did it. All of my classes have been so much fun to teach; I really enjoy the people I\’ve coached.