SPORTS
Healthy Mind,
Healthy Body
Sylvia Zukin teaches fitness
with a smile
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
Bob McKeown
W
hen Sylvia Zukin teaches
health and fitness classes,
she not only teaches move-
ment, she teaches positive thinking.
She demonstrates by example that
fitness is not only measured in inches
or pounds, but in attitude. She
preaches — and practices — that good
physical health depends on good men-
tal health.
"Those are the things I try to
teach," she explains. "Yourself. How
to deal with your attitude and mak-
ing yourself happy. And the only way
you can be happy with yourself is
when you feel good in yourself!'
Until last week Zukin, 65, was
director of the women's health club at
the Maple/Drake Jewish Community
Center. While she no longer works at
the Jewish Center full-time, she re-
mains as a consultant and teaches
classes three days a week.
Zukin was the women's health
club director for 27 years. With a
background in dance and physical
education, she built the club's pro-
gram from seven health and fitness
classes a week to the current level of
nearly 100. Some of the classes are
based on new medical research,
others are started as a result of the
needs of the Center's members.
"Anything that anybody ever said
they have a problem with or they
want, I gave them," explains Zukin.
"Whether I did it myself or I taught
a teacher to do it, every class has been
started because I brought it in here.
I'm very proud of that!"
As with most other aspects of
health and fitness, says Zukin, the dif-
ferences between what men and
women want from fitness programs
are mostly psychological.
"It's the psyche," she says. "It's
the way we approach, the way socie-
ty approaches the man and the
woman. I feel that every woman can
do just about anything a man can do
as far as exercising, and every man
can do almost everything a woman
can do, as far as exercising — if
they're trained right and if their mind
is open and ready."
The same applies to age. "There
is very little difference between a
16-year-old's and a 70-year-old's exer-
cise. If you watch some of the people
Sylvia Zukin leads an exercise class
that we have trained here, you'll find
that there is practically no difference,
providing they stay with that train-
ing . . . It depends how you approach
life, and how you keep your training,
what your values are. Most of us are
so busy that we can't take time to do
what's good for us. That's what it
takes, setting your priorities. Because
you are the most important thing in
your life. You are the person, the per-
son you have to deal with every day,
every minute. The disappointments,
the heartaches, the good things. So
you have to be ready for these things.
And the way you prepare yourself is
to be physically fit. Physically (fit)
doesn't mean that you have to be a
total macho man. It means that you
have to be emotionally fit, mentally
fit as well as physically!'
While Zukin spends less time at
the Center now, she says, "I don't
think I'll ever give up teaching!' She
will teach a body awareness class at
the Center "and I will be doing con-
sulting and advising on future pro-
gramming, how to bring more pro-
grams into the community!'
She will also be available for con-
sulting work outside of the Center.
Zukin considers body awareness
training very important. The class in-
volves a total understanding of how
everyday movements affect the body
and its fitness. It includes, "how to sit,
how to stand, how to walk," she says.
"That's what I want to make people
aware of. It's not only how much you
work out, it's how you collapse your
lungs when you're sitting, the
habitual patterns. That we have a
tendency to pick up a phone and hold
it by the shoulder, and we wonder why
our back goes out of whack, or our
Mike Hartman Makes His JLA Debut
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Sports Writer
M
ike Hartman got the call he
was waiting for last month,
and it could not have hap-
pened at a better time.
The West Bloomfield resident,
who played in 17 National Hockey
League games with the Buffalo
Sabres last season, began this year
with Buffalo's Rochester, New York,
farm team in the American Hockey
League. But on Feb. 21, the Sabres
recalled Hartman to the NHL. He
played his first NHL game in Joe
Louis Arena on March 1, as the Red
Wings blanked the Sabres, 4-0.
Hartman started the season slow-
ly, then tallied 11 goals in 20 games
before his recall. He totalled 13 goals
and 14 assists for 27 points and set a
team record of 283 penalty minutes
in 57 AHL contests.
"I started playing better, getting
confidence," said Hartman last week,
"and that's what brought me up!"
Hartman played in four games for
the Sabres before they visited Detroit.
He scored no points, and tallied none
against the Wings, but he felt he was
playing the physical style of game
which the Sabres want him to play.
He started the Detroit game on right
wing and had a first-period fight with
Jim Nill, after colliding with the
Detroit winger in a corner.
Hartman has been playing on a
line which includes veteran left wing
Clark Gillies. Gillies is a strong,
physical player. Hartman, though not
as big as Gillies, plays a similar style.
"Playing with Clark Gillies is great.
It's a big help out there!" said
Hartman.
Many of Hartman's friends at-
tended the game. "I heard a lot of peo-
ple yelling my name" during pre-
game warm-ups, he said. His father,
John, a Red Wing's photographer, was
there. "The most disappointing thing
about the whole situation!' he added,
"is that my mother (Cheri) couldn't
make it!" Cheri Hartman was out of
town on vacation, but has seen her
son play in other NHL buildings.
"She's been real supportive," said
Mike.
Hartman does not know how long
he will remain with Buffalo. The
Sabres have been plagued with in-
juries, which is one reason he was
recalled. But his physical style of play
could be valuable for the Sabres in
next month's playoffs. Playoff hockey
is generally more physical and
defense-oriented than regular season
play.
Buffalo was the Nifils worst team
last season, but the Sabres have im-
proved this year and will likely finish
a strong third in their division.