BELLAIRE — RL Strength and Conditioning partnered with the Wheeling Miners indoor football team to provide a safe after-school activity for children of the Ohio Valley.

“This is a major collaboration with our Wheeling indoor football team, the Miners. I got to speak with coach Rez (Josh Resignalo), and we collaborated. They wanted to come because they care about the community,” RL Strength and Conditioning owner and operator Rick Leigh said. “They wanted to come over and see the youth, so we collaborated. And we’re here today to help train the youth. It’s a beautiful thing when the community can come together like this, for the youth of the Ohio Valley,” Leigh said.

Leigh added that the reason he created RL Strength and Conditioning was due to him growing up in Section 8 housing and didn’t have a positive outlet after school.

“We were poor and had no money. All the kids that I grew up with were going to football camp, basketball camp or paying private trainers and I didn’t have that type of money,” he said.

“I’ve been through a lot of drama in my life, a lot of things that would knock a lot of people out of the game, and I made it through the storms. I just want to come back and help the youth make it through their storms and show them there is a way. Because when I was little, if I had a program like this, it would have saved me.”

Resignalo said that events like the one with RL Strength and Conditioning are crucial for the team so it can show the community it plays an active role in the community.

“We actually do a lot of stuff in the community, we got to a lot of schools, a lot of elementary schools, we try to get involved as much as possible in the community.”

During the event, RL Strength and Conditioning volunteers and players from the Wheeling Miners broke the kids in attendance into several different groups to do several different drills.

“We do weight training, agility drills, boxing, the agility ladder, box hops, and then after that, we break it down into cardio and plyometrics. We then hit the kids with the cardio and plyometrics to get them ready for their sports that they do in school,” Leigh said. “And then at the end, I come up with some games for them to play where they don’t realize they’re actually doing sprint drills and a lot of cardio and keep them in shape.”

RL Strength and Conditioning holds free events for children every Wednesday and then every other Saturday at the Bellaire Presbyterian Church at 3599 Guernsey St., across from Bellaire High School from 5-7 p.m.

Leigh added that he tries to get at least one special guest per month like the Wheeling Miners were this month.

“I try to set that up at least once a month, I try to do business owners, politicians, mayors. We’ve had pro boxers, and pro football players, so I try to give them a variety of everything. We’ve even had rappers and singers come in, just because not all kids are the same. Not everybody’s going to the NFL or NBA, but maybe there’s somebody that in the community doing good that can spark them kids and give them motivation to pull themselves out of whatever they’re in and do great,” Leigh said.

He added that RL Strength and Conditioning is a nonprofit organization and if anyone would like to donate to support it, they can find RL on Facebook at RL Strength & Conditioning, Inc.