With summer finally behind it, Wrangell’s parks and recreation department is starting up its fall and winter youth program.
Team selection for youth basketball was on September 13, with practice to begin this week. Turnout was strong enough to have the program split into two age groups, each with two teams. Coaches have been selected to lead them, with 24 kids in the second- and third-grade group and 29 enrolled in the fourth- through sixth-grade group.
An entirely new program for Wrangell is set to start the first weekend of October. Area resident Tory Houser decided to put the class together, after her own positive experience growing up. Living in New Jersey, she had studied under Gloria York, one of the principal soloists with the National Hungarian Ballet.
“I still remember her my first year, as a six-year-old,” Houser recalled. “I was certainly never a ballerina, but I very much love to dance.”
It’s a passion she would like share with today’s youth, with Saturday-morning classes planned through the middle of December. Having once taught a similar course for Prince of Wales, Houser plans to split the group up by age, allowing four and five year old children some time for themselves in the morning, with older students practicing later.
“Just like youth basketball, or baseball, or swimming, it’s an activity for kids to do, boys and girls,” she added.
To cap off the program, students will then display their skills in a recital around Christmas time.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Houser promised.
Details on participation in the ballet program and scheduling is available at the Parks & Rec office, by the public pool.
Parks director Kate Thomas noted the pool schedule itself may see some modifications this fall. She would like it to allow for more multi-use during the day, such as leaving a lane open during general swim. She is also interested in adding some new programming, such as a week for inner-tube water polo.
Tot gym also got its start last week, which gives preschoolers the opportunity to enjoy some activities and socialize weekday mornings during the school year. The program has acquired some more interactive games and new equipment, such as teeter-totters.
The Borough Assembly approved new policies and procedures for Parks and Rec at its September 12 meeting. Put together by Thomas, the new policies adopt screening processes for programs’ various volunteers and department staff. She explained the intention is to lessen liability risks and improve safety for parks users by reviewing the backgrounds of applicants, a process which until now has not been in place for volunteers.
“We’d like to make sure that happens,” Thomas said.
Under the new guidelines, all individuals aged 16 and over involved in Parks and Recreation programming on a regular basis will be subject to a background screening consisting of a sexual offender registry search and a criminal history search. “One-off” volunteers for different events that are directly supervised by department staff are exempt from the screening requirement. For example, those participating in park cleanup would not need to undergo the screening.
With the summer over, Thomas said her department will use the coming season to prepare for next year’s projects, such as the next Earth Day cleanup. This April some 60 residents helped spruce up the trails and facilities at Volunteer Park, giving it some much-needed maintenance. For 2018, Thomas suggested candidates for similar renewal will be City Park and Shoemaker Bay Park. Staff will be looking at both sites to assess where the greater need will be.
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