Rochester Mountain Bike Team gives lessons to underserved Rochester children

(ABC 6 News) — Getting outside and playing a sport can be beneficial for a child’s growth, something the Rochester Mountain Bike Team knows well.

Tuesday, RMBT gave lessons to kids through Family Service Rochester with helmets provided via a grant from the Rochester Parks & Recreation Department. The children come from underserved communities and the chance to pick up a sport like mountain biking has long-term positive effects in the eyes of RMBT head coach Scott Hogen.

“It can be a life-long sport,” Hogen explained. “The normal ball sports don’t fit for everybody, basketball, baseball, football, they don’t connect. The biking is something you can do with your parents and you can go out and take trips biking, we’ve done that. So, it’s just a really good family activity that can last a lifetime.”

“This extreme sports session came about as a result of my looking at materials and thinking, ‘You know, here’s something that’s become so popular,'” Peg Winters, the 21st Century Coordinator at Friendship Place added. “‘What if we put together this collaboration to allow some of our youth who live in these communities to have that chance to experience what it’s like to be doing an extreme sport?'”

Winter also pointed out mountain biking isn’t the only extreme sport the kids in attendance are going to explore. There are also plans to introduce rock climbing and skateboarding in the future.

RMBT is scheduled to have another lesson for underserved children on July 13.