TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Empowering youth through bicycles.
The Manzo Bike Club ended their season with a bang Thursday.
The club is part of El Grupo, a non-profit that uses bicycles to develop youth and personal discipline.
The organization provides the equipment so kids of all backgrounds have the chance to participate.
There is access to bikes, helmets, snacks, free or reduced-fee programming, and bilingual coaches.
El Grupo says it's proud that at least 38% of all households benefit from financial assistance.
Denise Aquino, El Grupo Exec. Director says the skills the students learn on the bike are the skills that they learn to navigate the rest of the world.
“You think it’s just a bicycle but really it’s confidence, it’s independence. They want to give back to their community. They want to teach their friends how to do this on the bike. When you just do that with a bicycle, imagine what they can do with their rest of their life," says Aquino.
Vanessa Celaya, a fifth grader at Manzo Elementary says her mom had her sign up to get some exercise and loves how the program has helped her.
“The coaches here are really nice, really fun. They encourage us to do a lot of thing so I’m really happy about that," says Celaya.
She even participated in the El Tour De Tucson, in the 32 mile bike ride.
“You have to think you’re gonna make it or else you’re not gonna make it," continues Celaya.
Fourth grader Alex Toyota says the Manzo Bike Club taught him how to ride in the third grade.
“It was fun and it was very tricky but Coach David and his son and his son’s friends helped me, they helped me learn a lot," Toyota says.
The lessons even went beyond the handlebars.
“The bike club taught me how to get along with kids much better," says Toyota.
El Grupo has close to 100 volunteer coaches.
"And we have coaches like David and Lisa who are from the neighborhood and know Tucson better than anyone else and we're just so lucky to have folks who are so dedicated to building up the youth in Tucson," says Aquino.
Lisa Vega says it was only right to coach at her old school and loves being a part of the kids' lives.
“That feeling is indescribable. It warms my heart to know that we’re the first to teach them how to ride bikes," Vega says.
30 3rd through 5th grade Manzo Elementary students had their last ride of the season, rolling through the neighborhood, making pizzas at Coach Vega's house, and caroling to the residents in the area.
El Grupo also has many programs beyond the Manzo Bike Club.
"We have El Grupito which is ages 7-11 and then after that we have El Grupo's race team and bike packing which is for high schoolers," Aquino explains.
The bike club even expanded to Davis Elementary this year.
If any students are interested in joining next year, please contact the school's principal and/or teacher to get connected with the bike club coaches and get on-boarded.
