TCM Sports Legends Experience Preview

The $38.5million, 7.5 - acre Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience combines rich sports history, physical fitness, and health education in a variety of family-fun, outdoor and indoor experiences. Enjoy this drone footage to see the magnitude: https://vimeo.com/childrensmuseum/review/260178104/3ba30318e1

12 immersive outdoor experiences 

• Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever Basketball Experience gives families a chance to take their best shot and practice basketball skills on courts with hoops that just their size (fitting adults and little legends).
• Indianapolis Colts Football Experience sets the scene for kids and their grownups to practice offensive and defensive moves like the pros do among large Colts tackle dummies and take part in passing and kicking challenges.
• Indy Fuel Hockey Experience provides opportunities to pass, shoot, and score street hockey style. 
• Subway Soccer Experience engage in soccer fundamentals and multiple goal-kicking opportunities.
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pedal Car Racing Experience and Church Brothers Collision Repair Drag Strip Experience encourages families to get their heart pumping and feet moving on the pedal tracks with kid-sized and adult-sized cars.
• Pete and Alice Dye Golf Experience presented by Henry and Christine Camferdam invites legends in the making to play some of the Dye’s most famous course and hole designs in the world on a smaller scale. 
• Wiese Field donated by Elizabeth Bracken Wiese and J. Frederick Wiese Jr. allows baseball fans to pitch, hit, run bases, and catch the ball on a miniature baseball field.
• Seymour and Rheta Holt Tennis Center encourages adults and little tykes to serve and be served on tennis courts in different sizes.
• Dr. Cory SerVaas Fitness Path boasts several fitness pads where families are able to practice healthy habits by doing activities and using exercise equipment that improves muscle strength, balance, coordination, and flexibility.
• Jane and Steve Marmon Run-Walk Experience hosts a track with one lane for jogging and one lane for walking that follows the perimeter of the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience. 
• The Children’s Museum Guild’s Fantasy Tree House of Sports, which stands 60-feet tall is a magical place for little tykes to develop curiosity, confidence, and persistence as they climb inside and explore a tree that is filled with fantasy and sports.
• Old National Bank Avenue of Champions allows visitors to meet a legendary character, hear their story of greatness, and learn the drills and skills that helped them succeed along the Old National Bank Avenue of Champions. Bronze figures will be installed in June. The avenue will feature 12 life-size, bronze sculptures (representing 16 sports legends) with which visitors can pose for photo memories and learn about the athlete’s accomplishments. It will feature some of the greatest athletes sports names of all time while helping visitors discover their own paths to greatness. Legends include: DaMarcus Beasley (soccer), Larry Bird (basketball), Tamika Catchings (basketball), Indianapolis Clowns baseball (Hank Aaron, Mamie “Peanut” Johnson, Marcenia  Lyle “Toni” Stone), Pete & Alice Dye (golf), A.J. Foyt (racing), Wayne Gretzky (hockey), Bobby “Slick” Leonard (basketball), Reggie Miller (basketball), Oscar Robertson (basketball), Wilma Rudolph (track), Reggie Wayne (football), and Barbara Wynne (tennis).

Each miniature sports experience offers age-appropriate equipment and hands-on activities designed to get the whole family working together as a team. “We wanted to take a holistic view of family health and fitness through the lenses of sports and sports legends. The goal was to create an outdoor and indoor experience to promote an active lifestyle in an immersive experience that would bring families together,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen, president and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. “We believe this extraordinary experience will motivate families to work together to create healthier habits that stay with them a lifetime. In the process, we will provide educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through sports.”

Three brand new indoor experiences

The National Art Museum of Sport (NAMOS) captures the eternal spirit, endurance, and resilience of humankind.  It’s amazing to think about how artists capture the spirit of sport and how they portray motion and emotion in their artwork. Visitors will be inspired by the surrounding artwork and then encouraged to create their own at special creation stations.

The World of Sport will introduce children and their families to the key factors that elevated a diverse range of sports figures (both women and men, amateur athletes and professionals, coaches, and other associated careers) to legend status – hard work, training, opportunity, and perseverance. An NCAA Training Facility focuses on the student athlete and the Church Brothers Collision Repair Shop provides an opportunity to challenge each other in a pitstop challenge and learn the history of women and blacks in the sport.

In History of Hoops, visitors learn what it takes to be successful on the court. Children and families learn about athletes’ statistics and percentages; then, they get to try out their own basketball skills to see how they measure up. An area that is sure to be a hit is the interactive in which visitors can practice their footwork with 4x gold medalist and Indiana Fever legend Tamika Catchings. 

Health expertise

A key to the success of these immersive experiences is the ability to draw on the expertise of Riley Children’s at Indiana University Health. 

“Children today face serious lifestyle-related health risks such as obesity, heart disease and type II diabetes, and reversing that trend requires a community-wide effort,” said Matthew Cook, President of Riley Children’s Health. “As Indiana’s only statewide pediatric health system, it is our job to keep kids healthy and out of the hospital. The Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience is designed to get families outside to enjoy the fun that comes with being active together.”

It’s only fitting that visitors to Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience will be greeted by statues of Nike (Greek goddess of speed, strength and victory) and Discobolus of Myron (discus thrower) in the Efroymson Pavilion. Ancient Greeks believed Nike could grant strength and speed to humans to be victorious in any task they undertook. Add the harmony and balance of Discobolus and visitors can walk away with ideas for a well-rounded and healthy lifestyle. 

SLE text courtesy of the Children's Museum. 

Disclaimer: Styles and Smarts is part of a group of bloggers/YouTubers/media peoples that The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis invites to exhibit openings, in exchange for live tweeting and social media coverage. All opinions and comments are 100% mine, and are in no way influenced by the Children’s Museum.