Don't knock it till you've tried it
12.05.2015
Before I had my first taste of De-Turf fitness, I was hesitant as I really didn’t know what to expect and exactly what De-Turf entailed. However, De-Napoli’s clear enthusiasm for his programme caused me to struggle to reject his efforts. Thus, allowing me to attempt to reflect his efforts and give the steps and motions a real go. His enthusiastic dancing and encouragement in turn became contagious. This impacted me and others to listen to his instructions and I found myself enjoying the class straight away.
The atmosphere created by De-Napoli was fantastic and resulted in a very relaxed environment for everyone, which helped push people to put in 100% effort. The class itself was split into different segments, with some parts involving the use of hockey sticks and a racket, this appealed to my sporting side and helped keep the exercise fresh and energetic, but also very tiring!
De-Napoli also used techniques focusing on both left handed and right handed people, in order to work on peoples ‘weaker side’ , which I thought was very beneficial and also very challenging, pushing us all to do various activities that we felt unsure about, but with De-Napoli’s guidance became more and more confident as the session went on.
The combination of both dance and sport was unlike anything I’d ever participated in before and was a real breath of fresh air compared to the usual exercise I participate in. Overall De-Turf fitness more than exceeded my expectations and I can’t wait to attend my next session.
By Aliko Mwambingu
Funky fresh fitness
30.04.2015
De-Turf fitness is a simple, funky and revolutionary fitness programme founded by De-Napoli Clarke, in Leeds. It targets all age groups from primary school children to middle aged mums, who seek to get fit with the added bonus of getting in touch with their youth. Reason being, the class uses basic primary equipment such as tennis rackets and hockey sticks as methods of guidance, to allow the performer to increase health related fitness factors such as balance and coordination.
The session kicked off immediately with tremendous enthusiasm from De-Napoli. However the same was not to be said about us as a group. The testosterone fuelled room of both introverts and extroverts, with the exception of three females, created a sense of competitiveness as well as a clouded mood of anxiousness.
The initial routine he showed us was to the beat of an old school funky house tune, now I was gripped! This was my greatest motivational factor for participation. Nothing brings me more joy than ‘getting my groove on’ to old school house music.
Who would have thought dancing with a tennis racket could be so tiring? As an athlete, I enjoy being pushed physically and De-Napoli’s class did so with new techniques affecting our balance and coordination with a lot of engagement of the left hand side of the brain, a side not often tested. This therefore can benefit people who work in an office or those who work tediously because it engages both sides of the brain that work left and right limbs. This can link to an increase in mental wellbeing, keeping the mind “ticking over”.
The basic sport factor was definitely covered as it was a brand new activity for all of us in the room, placing everyone on an even playing field which was good and helped to put everyone at ease.
I think De-Turf is a completely unique and new activity and should be embraced by everyone of gender and ages. The combination of dance and sport sounds very different, but that’s what makes it so enjoyable, combine that with De-Napoli’s love for dance and his energetic teaching style, De-Turf really is an exercise for the future and one to watch.
By Aidan Lawrence
Don't let the word dance put you off!
16.04.2015
So what is de-turf fitness? It stands for ‘Dance Education Training Using Rhythmic Fitquency’. Straight away the word dance stood out to me at an alarming level, me, dancing, sober? I don’t think so. However, I reluctantly turned up on Monday morning, full of anxiety, not sure what to expect, to be greeted by De-Napoli Clarke, with a very contagious amount of energy and enthusiasm. He began to explain what he was all about and the ideology behind his activities. He started to break down the meaning of de-turf fitness and it all started to make sense. His energy when talking about his rhythm, or as he liked to call it ‘riddim’, was so electrifying I was hooked!
The idea was pretty simple and so easy to learn, it was basically sport with music. We were each given a plastic tennis racquet and organised into lines going from left to right just like any other fitness class. De-Napoli positioned himself at the front the group, facing us and explained he should be looked at like a mirror, meaning if he stepped to his right we would step to our left and so on. He hit play on his iPod and started with simplistic dance moves, moving one way then the other. To begin with I was a little unsure, as were the majority of the class; my motivation had dropped, worrying about what the person next door might be thinking of my groovy dancing.
The music started to pick up and De-Napoli began to introduce tennis shots into his dance routines, the atmosphere changed and I found myself starting to get into it, laughter and smiles radiated around the room as everyone found their comfort zone! Maybe this wasn’t so bad after all, I mean I like tennis, and I’m a sport student nonetheless!
My attitude had changed completely, I thought this style of dance class was aimed at the older generation; predominantly women, but maybe I was wrong? There I was enjoying dancing around waving a tennis racquet in the air! I think the reason I enjoyed it so much was because we all started at the same level and the dance routines started off relatively simple. This helped ensure that we were all engaged. As the songs went on, the dance routines progressed. I loved this as it added a new challenge with every song. My co-ordination wasn’t the best, but I’m no Brian Freeman after all!
Overall, once I’d relaxed and forgot about my worries I really enjoyed the activity and would love to give it another go! A lot of people, like myself, would assume this type of activity to be mainly for either young children or middle aged women just because of the word ‘dance’. I believe this activity would be a good team building and stress relieving aid. I think de-turf fitness should give taster sessions for free to organisations with office based teams to help promote the idea, if the taster sessions are a success, sales will rocket!
By Jack Edmonson
Will definitely be recommending to friends
27.03.2015
De-Turf fitness is not a well-known fitness regime like yoga or Zumba. However the involvement of sport skills with the foundation of dance is like no other I have come across. My preconception was that the class would not be something I enjoyed, yet the upbeat, imaginative movements left me with the opposite feeling. The contagious enthusiasm of De-Napoli, had the whole group laughing and having a good time, whilst we were also keeping fit, which is vital for any fitness class and those as a combination forms my personal evaluation of an activity.
De-Napoli’s energetic and infectious nature helped motivate everyone to get fully involved, helping to push people out of their usual comfort zones. De-Turf promotes socialisation, as the whole group took part together, with excitement and diversion, with the humour of De-Napoli helping create a relaxed and fun environment for all involved, and provided a perfect place to meet new people and also have fun with mates. De-Turf also incorporated the use of sporting equipment such as hockey sticks and tennis rackets, which motivated me even more as I come from a sporting background and enjoy participating in a range of sports, including tennis, which led to an increase in my levels of enjoyment!
Before I took part in De-Turf I was quite anxious due to the word dance being mentioned a lot, but once I got involved and realised there it wasn’t just dancing, combined with the levels of fun all the people around me were having, I felt so much more relaxed and wasn’t worried about how I looked.
De-Turf is so much more than a dance class. It combines dance with sport and does so with great success, combine this with De-Napoli’s ability to make everybody feel at ease, whilst venturing into unknown territory, my overall De-Turf experience was fantastic and I will definitely be recommending to my friends and attending more classes in the near future!
By Ben Challeneger