Kids Show off Dirt Bike Skills in Brooklyn Park

A YMCA program that uses mini-bikes to teach kids life lessons wrapped up with a rodeo in Brooklyn Park on Thursday. Instructors say students learn self-assurance, self-confidence and self-esteem.

National Youth Project using Mini-Bikes, or NYPUM, engages students with mini-bikes.

“It gets them outside and gets them with other kids. It gets them to be social,” says Lisa Robinson Gustner, an instructor. “It’s very therapeutic.”

Youth over the age of 10 learn to ride mini-bikes. Over the summer, they learn a few life lessons too.

“It really builds relationship building,” says Robinson Gustner. “Everyone here is equal. We are riding the same bikes. We are all doing the same lessons. We are falling in the same dirt.”

And when riders fall, they have to get back up. It’s a lesson in perseverance that is soon overshadowed by the fun of riding a dirt bike.  Riders showed off a few skills on West River Road in Brooklyn Park as a way to cap off the season.

“This is my first summer trying mini-bike lessons,” says Amani Wilson. “It’s exciting. It’s something that’s like, dare-devilish to try.”

To learn more about NYPUM, click here.

Brooklyn Park