*

Join legendary Philadelphia Eagles Hall-of-Fame kicker David Akers for the grand opening of the St. Luke’s Fitness & Sports Performance Center – Union Boulevard, 702 Union Boulevard, in Allentown from 12 noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23.

The 30,000-square foot training space is the newest St. Luke’s Fitness & Sports Performance Center and features artificial turf fields for sports-specific skill training for everything from soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, softball and football, to adult fitness, tactical fitness and more.

News media and the public are invited to check out the fields, meet the members of the St. Luke’s Sports & Performance staff, and enjoy giveaways, raffle prize drawings and refreshments.

The afternoon will be filled with healthy activities as well as a special appearance by IronPigs mascots FeRROUS and FeFe.

• Young athletes of all ages are invited to participate in a variety of interactive sports clinics with participating sports clubs including: 
  
  Headstrong Lacrosse
  Lehigh Valley United Soccer Club
  Perfect Touch Soccer
  Scott Cooperman’s Baseball Group
  Marajoka Field Hockey Club

• Runners can get advice on how to go fast from Easton’s own middle-distance runner and Olympic hopeful Chanelle Price.

• Girls are invited to learn about St. Luke’s new Empower with Power, a program to empower young women with the power of strength training.

• Adults can join Akers, a six-time NFL Pro Bowl kicker and current professional water skier, in a Metabolic Conditioning Class along with fitness expert John Graham, Senior Network Administrator of St. Luke’s Fitness and Sports Performance, beginning at 1:30 p.m. Graham also is the recipient of The Morning Call Readers’ Choice Award for Best Personal Fitness Trainer.

“One of the key things David did to enhance his water skiing was to implement a metabolic training program specific to his water skiing performance needs,” said Graham.

“Metabolic training is an excellent way for adults to advance their fitness in a class designed to target the best of all words, targeting cardio-fitness improvement, muscular strength and endurance, fat-burning metabolism, and lean body mass enhancement in one class.”

St. Luke’s Fitness & Sports Performance Center – Union Boulevard also features a large spectator area that runs the entire length of the fields so that parents can watch their athletes train. The facility is Wi-Fi enabled so that parents can be connected online for work and family needs.

“The facility exceeded our expectations,” Graham said. “It Is truly a state-of-the-art sports performance facility that will benefit our youth, high school, college and adult athletes, in addition to being a first-class facility for high level fitness development targeting elite fitness participants as well as tactical athletes such as police, fire fighters, EMS and military personnel.”