In BRIEF

  • In mid-February, a little more than a month after police had arrested two men who had broken into lockers and stolen credit cards and other belongings from members of the Glens Falls Area (NY) YMCA, Glen Falls police began searching for a third man. Security cameras, which the Y installed last fall after a string of break-ins began last April, captured an image of a man that police say may be involved in more thefts at the Y. Glens Falls Police Chief Joe Bethel told Capital 9 News that police want to know if the man in the photograph is the man who broke into lockers, stole credit cards and, within minutes, started using them. The image has been broadcast on local media outlets. The recent thefts are similar in nature to the thefts from January, police told the TV station. They say that whomever is responsible is using a tool to cut through locks in the locker room.

  • The recently completed first phase of a multimillion dollar upgrade and expansion at Midtown Athletic Club, Weston, FL, includes two new locker room areas, a new day spa, and a build out for the facility's mind and body studios. The new locker room areas boast rich teak millwork throughout with imported ceramic tile bathing areas and rare Brazilian white onyx countertops. Amenities include lockers with digital security technology and flat-screen plasma televisions. The newly constructed mind and body studios will host a full line of yoga classes and mat Pilates classes. In addition, the club features a new Pilates reformer studio. The next phase of the expansion will add a restaurant, lounge, meeting space, and expanded fitness and children's areas.

  • Healthworks Fitness Centers, Boston, is searching for two runners to compete in the Boston Marathon on April 21 and reach a combined fundraising goal of $10,000 to help build a second nonprofit fitness center for women and children. The company's first nonprofit fitness center, a 3,500-square-foot facility that opened in 2002 at the St. Mary's Women & Infant Center in Dorchester, MA, focuses mainly on women. The second facility will have 9,000 square feet and will focus primarily on the fitness needs of children. The company still must raise $175,000 of the $575,000 needed to build the new facility.

  • The Indian Wells (CA) Tennis Garden will play host to an NBA preseason basketball game on Oct. 11 between the Phoenix Suns and the Denver Nuggets, the Suns recently announced. The 16,000-seat outdoor stadium at Indian Wells is like an NBA-style arena, complete with loge seating and 44 suites, and plays host to the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament, which will be held March 10-23. This will be the first outdoor NBA preseason game in 36 years.

  • Greg Lappin, the general manager of the Rochester (MN) Athletic Club, is hosting a live fitness show called “Fitness Connections” every Wednesday for 12 weeks. The show, which airs on Austin, MN-based PBS station KSMQ, will feature topics including barriers to exercising and developing personalized exercise programs. The first show aired Feb. 6.

  • The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) and Aon's Affinity Insurance Services Inc. have joined forces to enhance and expand insurance program offerings for IHRSA club members. As part of the new relationship, Affinity Insurance Services will function as the official group-purchasing provider and administrator for the new IHRSA-endorsed workers' compensation insurance program along with property and casualty programs.

  • Washington State University researchers plan to create the National Aquatics and Sports Medicine Institute after receiving a $1 million grant from the National Swimming Pool Foundation. The institute will help researchers learn more about the effects of aquatic exercise not only on general health and well-being but also on specific medical conditions such as asthma, hypertension, osteoporosis and obesity.

  • The wife of a man who died last year after being found unconscious in the men's sauna at the Lafayette Family YMCA in Lafayette, IN, is suing the organization, according to the Journal and Courier. The civil complaint was filed last month and alleges that the Y failed to properly supervise the sauna and that employees may have removed or modified the sauna's timers. Don Franklin, the chief executive officer of the Y, told the newspaper that he could not comment on the lawsuit because insurance companies and attorneys were handling the issue.