Fitness an afterthought for many refugees
Struggle to make it limits numbers in gyms, Boilermaker
July 9, 2003

EMILY BROWN
Special to the Observer-Dispatch

Utican Andrea Okanovic and her Thomas R. Proctor track and cross country teammate, Amara Ambruso, warm up and run in the Parkway Development Run's six mile race in June.

Impressed by Arnold Schwarzenegger's chiseled body in 1982's "Conan the Barbarian," 6 year-old Emin Hodzic began his life-long commitment to fitness.

"I had a dream," Hodzic says now, "to be like Conan, my big idol."

Today, the 29-year-old works weightlifting and cardiovascular activities into his already busy schedule.

"The gym is my No. 1, my girlfriend," said Hodzic, a pre-med student at Hamilton College who works out at Powerhouse Gym on Champlin Avenue. His normal routine includes going to the gym five to six times a week for two to three hours.

"I'm sort of addicted," Hodzic said. His addiction led him to find a gym the first week he moved to Utica as a refugee, just after he found an apartment and enrolled in school.

Hodzic is more of an exception than the rule. The pressures of assimilating to a new country keep many refugees out of Utica's dozens of health clubs. Gym owners said they haven't gone out of their way to reach them. And this Sunday's Utica Boilermaker Road Race expects to have only a small number of refugees among the 10,000 or so entrants.

Ed McTiernan, an owner at Powerhouse Gym, said there are around 20 Bosnian at his club out of 1,200. Cindy LaFountain at All-American Fitness in New Hartford doesn't think any refugees are using her gym.

Melissa Vasco, assistant manager at Fitness Mill on Main Street, said there are only four or five Bosnians that work out there regularly. Each of the owners said they rely on current members to spread the word about their gyms.

"We're not trying to (market to refugees)," McTiernan said. "It's just a word-of-mouth thing."

Vasco said The Fitness Mill doesn't target advertising toward refugees, and speculated joining health clubs might not be part of refugees' culture. The Mohawk Valley in the past decade has become home to many thousands of refugees, most from Bosnia but hundreds of others from places such as the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Ioana Balint, family services director at the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees, said most refugees are too busy getting settled into a new country to worry about fitness.

"When you come to this country as a refugee, fitness is on the bottom of the list," Balint said. "You have to learn the language, adapt to society's norms and values and become self sufficient."

Balint said college-age people are most interested in joining gyms and health clubs, but the idea hasn't swept through the population yet.

"To say it's a general trend -- that's too much," she said. "It (fitness) is not so trendy in their country of origin. It's not really in their culture."

Mirzet Kendic, a 20-year-old Bosnian who came to America in 2000, started working out at the Fitness Mill when a friend invited him, but said many Bosnians prefer a more natural approach to fitness.

"Bosnians just do it naturally -- kick the soccer ball," Kendic said. "Right now, it's rough for most of my friends to go to the gym. Tuesday and Thursday, there's soccer practice, and a lot of people work and save money."

Serif Seferagic, 22, started working out at Fitness Mill when his boss invited him. Seferagic uses the workouts as a supplement to playing soccer. He suggests other gymgoers take a more relaxed attitude about working out.

"It would be nice if they could just go out and have fun. Even a workout is scheduled," he said about American's fast-paced lifestyle.

And if the pace is too fast in health clubs, that could explain low numbers of refugees running in Utica's Boilermaker 15k.

Bob Ingalls, director of the Boilermaker Road Race, said demographic surveys of participants do not ask about ethnic background.

"From a strictly un-technical perspective, there's very small participation (of refugees in the race)," Ingalls said. "But with 10,000 people running the race, there has to be some."

One is Andrea Okanovic, 16, who will run the Boilermaker for the sixth straight year.

"It's a matter of time for it to catch on," Okanovic said. "It's not a sport (in Bosnia). Running was a hobby."

She said she has seen more Bosnians join the running community. Her aunts and uncles have signed up for the Boilermaker to support her and her older sister. More Bosnians have shown up at the Parkway Development runs, which provide training runs for the Boilermaker Wednesday evenings.

At Proctor High School, more Bosnians have joined her on the track and cross-country teams.

"We didn't run in Bosnia," Okanovic said. "We never had the chance. It was school, then go home and work to help our parents."

With Utica's opportunities for fitness, getting involved is a matter of finding the time, said the Conan fan, Hodzic.

"You have to organize your life," he said, "to find a time (to work out) and to use every minute."