GUILDERLAND — Equitable access to fitness was touted by officials Monday at a groundbreaking ceremony in well-off Guilderland’s Tawasentha Park for the first outdoor Fitness Court in the state.

Jacob Crawford, a Guilderland Town Board member who chairs Albany County’s Democratic committee, said of the county executive, Daniel McCoy, “I said I wanted the first one in Guilderland and he delivered.”

In November 2021, when the county awarded naming rights for its arena to MVP Health Care, originally Mohawk Valley Physicians Health Plan, the contract included an annual $1.4 million over five years for the Innovation Fund that is to support community projects like the fitness facility.

“Today is a day to celebrate another significant step to make equitable access to fitness across the Capital Region,” said Ellen Sax, MVP’s vice president of community engagement, at Monday’s ceremony.

The facility is being installed by the National Fitness Campaign, a for-profit wellness consulting firm supported by a consortium of health insurance companies, including MVP, which has a goal of building 5,000 outdoor fitness courts across the nation by 2030.

Mitch Menaged, founder of NFC, said in a statement released by the county that Guilderland’s would be the first Fitness Court Studio in the state.

The fitness court in Guilderland, McCoy said, will be the “catalyst that will launch all of the other ones.”

He said one is being considered for Albany’s South End, near the end of the county’s Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail, which starts in Voorheesville.

He and Sax also mentioned a new farmers’ market at the MVP Arena in Albany.

McCoy said the new center, which is familiar in other parts of the country, should open next month and will “get people off their couch, off the video games and get them actually out there doing stuff.”

He also said that, because of the pandemic, a lot of people don’t want to go back to a gym but now can workout at any time outdoors for free.

“You can do pull-ups, dips, box lunges, and more,” he said, calling the new facility state-of-the-art.

At 38 by 76 feet, McCoy said, the new center will be double the size of a typical Fitness Court.

“We’ll be working with local gyms and local trainers to host classes right here,” he said, adding that a Fitness Court app demonstrating workouts can be downloaded for those who want instruction in using the exercise machines that let adults leverage their own body weight to get a complete workout.

“It’s all free,” said McCoy.

During the groundbreaking ceremony, there were many jocular comments as officials challenged one another to workout competitions and chimed in on who would be winners.

Guilderland Supervisor Peter Barber said of McCoy, “Never doubt this guy’s competitiveness.”

Barber went on to say that the Fitness Court would be a great addition to Tawasentha Park without any cost to the town. He noted its location near the pool where a splash pad will soon be installed and near the performing arts center where work upgrading the center is underway.

“The activities in this park and the opportunities that people have is phenomenal,” said Barber.

He noted there has been a dramatic increase in the use of the park since the start of COVID-19 and said that summer youth program attendance is “through the roof.”

Before the ceremonial shovels were lifted, McCoy, a Democrat, concluded the remarks by thanking the county legislature — two Republican legislators were at the ceremony — for its support.

“The world’s crazy enough,” he said of partisan politics. What Albany County elected representatives are doing, McCoy said, is “really working for people that we represent … changing the quality of life for them.”