Magic players promote healthy teen habits through Planet Fitness

ORLANDO, Fla. — When school is on summer break, it can be a challenge for some teens to work out because they typically rely on their schools’ gyms, equipment rooms or team practices to get in shape.

Planet Fitness launched a program for high school students to be able to work out for free at their gyms during the summer, and Magic players Cole Anthony and Franz and Moe Magner recently spoke to some teens about the importance of staying fit during school vacation.

“For me, it was always a huge time to develop my game,” Magic forward/center Moe Wagner said. “I’ll be honest, I make the biggest jumps in the summer just because I have more time and more energy, kind of channel everything toward that.”

Whether a teen’s a future NBA player like Anthony or the Wagner brothers, or they are just getting in their best form for sports before school starts again, fitness is for everyone.

“Creating routines, healthy routines, in life starts at youth, and for that, you need to have the resources. You need to have the access,” Moe Wagner said. “And it’s cool that Planet Fitness provides that.”

Planet Fitness launched its High School Summer Pass, where teens can work out for free at their gyms during their break.

“You know, what they’re doing with the kids in the community, it’s dope,” Anthony said. “You know, they told me a little bit about this, this event that they do for the kids where they let them come in, let all teenagers get these free memberships for the summer. And you know, it’s a great way to keep these kids out of trouble and just, you know, also put them on a good trend.”

Their school gyms and facilities often aren’t open during the summer months.

“I remember as a little kid, always trying to find gyms,” Magic forward Franz Wagner said. “You know, a lot of them were closed during the summer. So, that’s why I think this, this, situation is really unique and really cool.”

“Especially being in New York, I would struggle to find a gym, you know, struggle to kind of have somewhere where I could just go work out. And just, you know, giving a point of access to that should help them a lot,” Anthony said. “Just gives them a place where they, you know, they can obviously stay out of trouble, but at the same time come in and better themselves on a daily basis.”

With Magic players setting examples and talking to the teens about staying active and creating healthy habits, it just goes along with the city buying into the success that the team had this season. And it’s fun for the players, too.

“Part of playing in a cool city like this is engaging with the community,” Moe Wagner said. “Realizing that that comes with winning games as well and kind of taking on that responsibility, enjoying to embrace everything with the fans.”

“People have definitely been hyped about our success, and that’s really awesome to see,” Anthony said. “You know, to just see people getting excited about us, you know, especially when I feel that, you know, we have a lot more we can do as a team.”