Why the Bike?
“The bicycle has always meant freedom, but it can be so much more…”
We believe the bicycle is one of the most under-leveraged tools in today’s educational environment. At Nine13sports we have partnered with educators to create a multi-line programming system centered around the bicycle as a way to ensure the next generation discovers its’ power.
Kids Riding Bikes makes the bicycle the ultimate equalizer by providing a safe environment during gym class for kids of all shapes, sizes, and ability to levels to succeed on a relatively level playing field. The bicycle is introduced and demonstrated as a lifelong fitness tool for better mental and physical health.
Kids Building Bikes utilizes the bicycle as the most effective simple machine to teach mechanical aptitude and an array of other employability skills. The bicycle now becomes the foundation of a workforce development program where youth are given the opportunity to discover a whole new set of industries and career paths they may not have known existed before.
On ExploreIndy Ride rides kids and their families discover the power of rolling around the city on two wheels whether it be for transportation or simply exploration. Traversing the city on a bicycle at a human pace not only creates stronger emotional connections to our community, but also provides the opportunity for our riders to increase their mobility by discovering the bicycle is a legitimate mode of transportation.
When taken into the classroom the bicycle becomes a positive disruptor that affords health, science, and math teachers the opportunity to create unique hands-on experiential learning units centered around the bicycle. By plugging the bicycle and its’ individual parts into STEM-focused curriculum we spark the student’s curiosity and interest in the dynamics and physical properties of simple machines.