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Off the beaten track

Cattaraugus Community Center available to area residents

“We are the best kept secret in northern Chautauqua — Cattaraugus Counties,” exclaimed Brad John, Director of the Cattaraugus Community Center on Route 438 in Irving. And according to some of the members with whom I spoke in the facility’s fitness center, that’s the way the Center’s members want to keep it! “Don’t let the word out that we are here,” said a member who wished to remain anonymous. “Right now, it’s perfect and we don’t want it to get too crowded.” But the reality is that this place deserves to be well-known.

The Cattaraugus Community Center is one of the gems of our area for those who value healthy lifestyles, socialization, sports and recreation. It is a magnificent facility that pays homage to Native American artists in the interior of the building, and to wellness in all that it offers.

When entering the building, a visitor is immediately struck by its spaciousness and the Native American motif that runs around the walls of the entire grand foyer. The Information Desk at the entrance is encircled by a design in the flooring created by a local artist who used a land and waters theme out of tiles and objects embedded in resin, abutting the ceramic tiles that comprise the flooring throughout the foyer and halls. Flanking the entrance doors, there are two huge sculptures reminiscent of antlers, thus further connecting the building to the land. According to Brad John, Native American artists have been invited to use the spaces in the Center to display their arts, so occasionally there will be small exhibits there too.

As one enters the building, a large swimming pool area is visible just to the right of the entrance. Windows on the exterior and the interior allow light to stream in, and people who wish to see what is in store for participants in the aqua aerobics class can do so at 9 a.m. each weekday morning. This pool is also used for lap-swimming, learn-to-swim programs, group birthday parties, and rentals. In addition, the Gowanda Wave Runners swim team practices there. There always seems to be a steady stream of swimmers who use this beautiful pool for classes or lap swimming.

Once inside the foyer, visitors can see the indoor lacrosse facility with seating for about 1,000 spectators. There, youth lacrosse teams practice and play, as do four men’s lacrosse teams. It can also be used for indoor soccer, baseball, and softball too. Native teams, including the Newtown Minor teams and other leagues, organizations or schools can rent it from the CCC.

Newtown Minor league teams start at age 6 in learning to play lacrosse and compete with same-age teams from other areas. The adult supporters of these teams raise funds for team travel through selling food and snacks at the concession stand in the foyer as well as selling raffle tickets for a wide variety of items. The adult men’s teams hold games and tournaments at the Center, and the website, www.cattarauguscommunitycenter.com lists dates of games to invite the public to attend.

Across from the lacrosse facility is a huge gymnasium that can be divided into two separate full-sized gyms. Around the second story perimeter is a walking track that is about 1/11th of a mile long. During the winter season, basketball is the primary sport played in the gym, although schools and organizations can also rent the space for practice.

Down the hall from the foyer is the Fitness Center, a very well-equipped room that holds all that is needed to attain or maintain a healthier body. Treadmills, elliptical machines, bikes of different styles, an Air Dyne, a rowing machine, free weights, bench press, Jacob’s ladder, and a large variety of other fitness equipment for all muscle groups in the body are available, along with advice on how to use them all.

Jim Luke, a “regular” at the center, describes it as “a friendly place with people to talk to when working out in the morning. In the earlier parts of the day, the place is filled with mostly retirees who are happy to share their stories. Some people come here expecting to lose 15–20 pounds in one week, but that’s not going to happen. The successful ones realize that it will take much longer, and that a slow and steady pace wins the race.”

Philip Porpiglia of Irving added, “This place is great! It is very affordable and it’s filled with friendly people. It’s larger than some of the other local gyms, and the fitness instructors are always available to help you learn how to use the equipment without getting hurt.”

Pam DiCesare of Silver Creek was quick to point out how incredibly clean the entire center is.

“It seems that there is always someone using floor cleaning equipment, wiping down the furniture and counters in the foyer, and cleaning anything in sight. Members who use the fitness equipment use disinfecting wipes to clean the parts of the machines that are touched, and hand sanitizer is available for those who wish to use it,” she stated. “All in all, people are well protected from germs here! What I also love about this place is its location on Route 438. It is so easily accessible.”

In addition to the facilities themselves, the CCC offers a wide variety of fitness classes along with other healthy lifestyle programs. Classes currently offered at the CCC include Barre, BodyPump, Relief and Recovery, HIIT, Aqua Fitness, Circuits, and Zumba.

Some of these classes are held in The Studio, a reconfigured room with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, or in the Multi-Purpose Room, a much larger space. All-in-all, the Center’s staff works to provide a variety of classes to meet the fitness needs of the community.

Brad John, the director of the CCC since late 2015, has set high goals for himself and the Center.

“We are here to meet the needs of our community, and that includes Native Americans as well as those living in our area. When I first started this job, I recognized that this is a very unique opportunity to meet the stated needs and to expand the opportunities available to realms other than sports. Student groups come here for team building and leadership development,” John explained. “Outside our main entrance, we provide space for community groups to grow vegetables and flowers in the summer, and we maintain those plots when necessary. We even have had a large marching band rent our facility for several days when it participated in ‘Drums Along the Waterfront’ last summer. All-in-all, this is a true community center with a focus on healthy living, and we are available to our surrounding communities too.”

In the meantime, the best thing you can do for yourself is drop into the Center on Mondays through Thursdays between the hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., on Fridays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., or on Saturdays or Sundays between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The doors are open, and a friendly face will greet you and explain what is offered and available within the CCC. If enough people do this, the Cattaraugus Community Center will no longer be “the best kept secret” in our area.

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