Active Southern West Virginia takes great pride in its Community Captains. We strongly believe that without them our mission would be impossible. They are dedicated to making their communities a happier, healthier, and an altogether brighter place to live. We are forever grateful for their service and passion for creating free opportunities for their community members to participate in. This month we are highlighting Montgomery Community Captain Abby Barrett to both show appreciation for her service and to showcase a little bit of her story. We hope it will resonate with some of our readers and motivate them to start their journey toward a healthy and active lifestyle change.
Abby joined the Active Southern West Virginia team as a Community Captain for Montgomery in September to coach a Beginner to 5K Training Team. The Team concluded their training on December 5th by competing in the Jingle Bell 5K in Charleston.
Abby is a dental hygiene student at BridgeValley Community & Technical College. She was very active through high school, but slowed down when she got into college. She made the decision to get back into a lifestyle of physical activity when she started noticing negative changes in her mood and overall health. Within the past 6 months she has again embraced a lifestyle of being physically active by playing softball, volleyball, running, and hiking. She especially enjoys running because it is a great stress reliever and improves cardiovascular health. She has enjoyed the sense of accomplishment that comes with being physically active.
Abby was motivated to become a Community Captain in Montgomery because being new to the area she was discouraged by the lack of opportunities to be physically active in Fayette County on a community level, she also saw this as an opportunity to meet new people. She says, “It is very rewarding helping and motivating other people to be physically active.”
Abby says that her biggest obstacle when it comes to maintaining a physically active lifestyle is time management. She combats this challenge by incorporating physical activity into her daily routine. For example, when she’s studying she’ll take ten minute breaks and incorporate lunges and jumping jacks into those breaks to get her heart rate up, more blood pumping, and to help stay alert and focused. Being a Community Captain for Active SWV has also helped her combat that challenge because it helps her stay accountable. She says, “I love participating in the Active SWV group because there are other people that are looking forward to having you come and walk and/or run with them.”
When asked, “Do you have any words of encouragement for people thinking of becoming a Community Captain or interested in committing to becoming more physically active?” She responded,
“If you are thinking about becoming a Community Captain and are nervous that you don’t have the time or resources to organize an Active SWV group, Courtney and Melanie are wonderful and will patiently guide you in any way that they can. It has been a very rewarding experience to see the accomplishments of the Active SWV Montgomery training team from the beginning of their training all the way up to the Jingle Bell 5k we ran in December. Even if you are not interested in becoming a Community Captain, joining a community group is a great way to make new friends and get the support you need to reach your physical activity goals.”
Abby will be leading the Montgomery Mile Tuesday group every Tuesday @ 4pm, starting February 2nd. The group will meet at Davis Hall, the BridgeValley CTC Main Building to walk and/or run 1 mile on the sidewalks through Montgomery. Anyone is welcome (especially beginners) to join the group at any time and encouraged to bring a friend! Keep up with the Active Southern West Virginia Bulletin Board Facebook group for updates/cancellations. We will be following the school cancellation schedule, so if Fayette County Schools are cancelled the running group will be also.
You can also stay connected with us by liking our main Facebook page Active Southern West Virginia, keeping up with our Events Calendar at activeswv.org, and following us on Twitter & Instagram (@activeswv).
We are so excited to have Abby on our team and are still recruiting Community Captains in the communities of Smithers, Gauley Bridge, Ansted, Pax, Meadow Bridge, and all points in between! We are specifically looking for indoor programming opportunities and are willing to help get that programming started whether it be Zumba, Yoga, seated exercise, aerobics, hoop dancing, you name it and we’ll help you get it started. Contact Program Assistant Courtney Roark at [email protected] or 304-254-8488.
