Basketball

Soon basketball season will begin. As the days get shorter and colder, we look forward to the indoor activities we can enjoy. We are starting a Kindergarten through 2nd grade basketball league January and February. Check out the brochure on our website for more information on this program.

Fall Recreation and Rain Days

I think that fall is my favorite time of year. Not only is my birthday in the fall, but also it marks the close of a busy summer season and the beginning of the upcoming winter. For this skier, it is always a promising time. It would be hard to beat last winter's snow accumulation, but for me any day out on the skis, on or off piste, is a great day.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. With each day getting cooler also comes the rainy weather. The cool, rainy days that are just right for curling up with a good book, watching a football game or two and not have remorse for not being outside. Rainy days can be hard on after-school programs though and as we all know, in Colorado it is hard to make a call on the cancellation of an afternoon class. I could be getting soaked on one side of town and the other side of town is perfectly dry. What happens most of the time is the rain comes about 5 minutes before class, but usually subsides quickly. Yesterday's archery class we saw a good little soaker 10 minutes before class was over. We scrambled for cover and by the time equipment was put away and the students disbursed the rain was over. We do have a rain out hotline that I try to keep updated, 927-0523 x502. If a class is canceled in adequate time, I call the schools to make an announcement. We do try to make up classes that have been canceled due to weather.

If you have questions about whether a class has a rain out day, the best resource for you would be the rainout hotline number - 927-0523 x502.

Another Fun Baseball Season!

It is aways fun to watch a great game of Coach Pitch. It is sad to see the season come to a close. I spoke with some of the players and they would like to see the season extended. However, I get the impression the parents and coaches are ready for a little down time!

Puppeteers in Basalt!

D.D. Gerdin's puppet making class created their own puppets and then put on a little show for the parents after. Creativity is alive and well in Basalt!

Kinder Kickers

Kinder Kickers soccer was a huge success with 14 players attending. They learned the basic skills of soccer including passing, dribbling, shooting, and of course having fun! The 3 day camp was conducted by Dakota Morrison and Alexa Aitken.

Robot Mania!

During Paula Ponto's Art Adventures class, the mini art prodigies produced state-of-the-art robots made from cardboard, plastic bottles, and other small household items. After a coat of silver spray paint, they looked so good they rivaled Star Wars' R2D2.

To ALL Parents

In children's sports, fun is the most important part of the game. Sometimes coaches and parents seem to forget this and press the importance of winning. This is where the trouble begins. Coaches must learn that their job is to demonstrate character as well as teach skills and that winning is a privilege for those who demonstrate devotion and sportsmanship. Parents must learn that they are the biggest influence in their children's lives so they have to set an example from the sidelines. If all parents on the team can come together and agree on common beliefs for how they should behave on the sidelines, then bad actors will quickly become isolated. Parents together or individually should adopt a "Sport Parent Code of Conduct" to prevent youth sports from being ruined by parents that are overly concerned about the outcome of competitions. Here is one of the best Codes I have seen in awhile.

The essential elements of character-building and ethics in sports are embodied in the concept of sportsmanship and six core principles: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship. The highest potential of sports is achieved when competition reflects these “six pillars of character.”

I therefore agree:

1. I will not force my child to participate in sports.
2. I will remember that children participate to have fun and that the game is for youth, not adults.
3. I will inform the coach of any physical disability or ailment that may affect the safety of my child or the safety of others.
4. I will learn the rules of the game and the policies of the league.
5. I (and my guests) will be a positive role model for my child and encourage sportsmanship by showing respect and courtesy, and by demonstrating positive support for all players, coaches, officials and spectators at every game, practice or other sporting event.
6. I (and my guests) will not engage in any kind of unsportsmanlike conduct with any official, coach, player, or parent such as booing and taunting; refusing to shake hands; or using profane language or gestures.
7. I will not encourage any behaviors or practices that would endanger the health and well-being of the athletes.
8. I will teach my child to play by the rules and to resolve conflicts without resorting to hostility or violence.
9. I will demand that my child treat other players, coaches, officials and spectators with respect regardless of race, creed, color, sex or ability.
10. I will teach my child that doing one’s best is more important than winning, so that my child will never feel defeated by the outcome of a game or his or her performance.
11. I will praise my child for competing fairly and trying hard and make my child feel like a winner every time.
12. I will never ridicule or yell at my child or other participant for making a mistake or losing a competition.
13. I will emphasize skill development and practices and how they benefit my child over winning. I will also de-emphasize games and competition in the lower age groups.
14. I will promote the emotional and physical well-being of the athletes ahead of any personal desire I may have for my child to win.
15. I will respect the officials and their authority during games and will never question, discuss or confront coaches at the game field, and will take time to speak with coaches at an agreed upon time and place.
16. I will demand a sports environment for my child that is free from drugs, tobacco and alcohol, and I will refrain from their use at all sports events.
17. I will refrain from coaching my child or other players during games and practices, unless I am one of the official coaches of the team.

By not following The Code you are agreeing to the fact that you are negatively impacting your child's team and their future in sports.

The content of this article can be found on parenthood.com

T-Ball for Great Tots!

We have some pretty good ball players in T-ball. It can be a gas to watch as these up and coming stars begin their baseball obsession. I am so glad to be a part of this.

2008 Basalt Blow Out Contest

What a great Father's Day with the 6th Annual Basalt Blowout contest. The crowd was wowed with some amazing talent. Here are some videos of the event.

In the beginner category Carter Wood took 1st, Joey Rennick was 2nd and Bryne Motley was 3rd The intermediate category got a little more exciting with 1st place goes to Jaarek Morse, 2nd to Tom Bender and 3rd to Jake Jones . The advanced category really did some entertaining with a 10 minute jam session with all skaters. Technical talent and defying gravity was the theme for the event. 1st place went to Eric Allen a.k.a. Mr. Technical, 2nd to Luke Baker, a.k.a. Air Force, and 3rd to Fred Ables, a.k.a. All Day Man.

Many thanks to the guys from Polar Revolution for making this another wonderful event!!
Thanks to Colorado 500 for their financial support of our contest!!

And thank you to our other sponsors Quiksilver, Es, Emorica, Etnies, Volcom, RVCA, Basalt Police Department, The Shirt Stop, and Mountain Madness.

2008 Bike Rodeo

During the 2008 Bike Rodeo, Officers instructed the youngsters on how to safely ride their bikes. We had a great turnout as well as a lot of fun!

I'm Back!

Hi im Alexa Aitken. I will be a junior in high school this fall but until then i am back to work for Dorothy and keep her organized while running the chaotic but fun Rec Dept. I am also playing softball this summer on a traveling U16 team. Besides that i enjoy laying out in the sun listening to music, walking my puppy Roxy, going on long runs followed by a workout, and trying to stretch the summer months as long as they will go. I work here at the Basalt Rec Dept Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday but i am looking for another part time job. Don't hesitate to call! (But remember, Dorothy has first dibs ;) )

970-309-5203

Tiny Tot Tennis

Always fun to watch these little guys on the tennis courts...

Summer Programs

OMG! Classes are filling up FAST. If you go to basaltexpressrec.org and see all these classes that are FULL, don't dispair. We are working hard to add a class here and there or increase the size. Sometimes we can do that, sometimes we can't, but it never hurts to put your name on a waiting list. You never know when someone will drop out and your name may be the very next on the list. Don't be too discouraged, we are here to make sure your child stays active this summer.

Don't forget, deadline to sign up for baseball, softball, or coach pitch is Friday, May 9! Teams are forming now!

K-2 After School Soccer - What A Gas!

Kindergarten Soccer is always fun to watch. This is the beginning of what could be a illustrious career as a successful soccer player.

1st and 2nd Grade Soccer players, these guys already have it all going on!

Earth Day 2008!

Earth Day brings out the children of Basalt urging us to "Save the Earth!"

And Mayor Duroux presenting a proclamation to Suzanne Wheeler for raising awareness of Earth Day to the Basalt Elementary School students.

K-2 Basketball and Recreation Stuff

Spring and summer programs have really taken off. Classes are filling up rapidly. If people want to know how Basalt and the surrounding areas are growing, all they need to do is look at recreation. When I first came to the recreation department in 2002, there were 400 children participating in our programs. I now have 1200 participants, both children and adults. If you wait until the last minute to sign up for classes, you may be turned away. Spring K -2 Basketball was almost full one week after the brochure came out and by the time the class started on Monday, April 14, it was overful. So we are seeing a lot of classes fill rapidly. You wait until the last minute and your child may be losing out so my message to you is register early!

Kindergarten Basketball, Monday, April 14...

Aspen Elks Lodge Scholarship Program

Never thought I would be so excited to see the snow slowly melting and signs of spring begin popping up everywhere. I think my favorite time of year is when I notice that I am waking to the sounds of the robins outside my window. I do miss my farm where I could listen to the meadowlarks, but the robins are nice too.

Brochures are out! Another sign of spring here in Basalt. I try to be consistant in getting brochures in your mailboxes April 1 and September 1. Programs come and go with Basalt Recreation and we love being able to offer a diverse selection. Feel free to call us if you have questions.

An important note on the brochure is to remember there is no reason that finances should be a burden to you or your family when it comes to recreation. We want everyone to have the opportunity to participate and the Aspen Elks Lodge folks help us make that possible. They do that by providing funds for us to help each and every child the opportunity to participate in healthy activities that will facilitate growth and enrich their lives. Scholarship apps can be found on our website and if you have any questions, please feel free to call the rec department. Feel free to ask, you may be surprised at our answer!

Basketball Tournaments

As the lights go out in the gyms, we wrap up another successful basketball season. Looking back I thought it was a fun season and I would like to hear from you what you would like to see happen for next year.

The 3/4 grade boys tournament was held here in Basalt. We played a quick round robin tournament with teams playing 10 minute games. It seemed the kids had a great time and played their best games that day. The parents also had an opportunity to get a little exercise with the teams having to switch around gyms.

We also had the opportunity to host the 5/6 grade boys tournament. We played a double elimination during last week with the final games being held on Sunday. I thought it was a good tournament with the Aspen boys taking first place. They played four hard games for five hours. They most certainly wanted that title. Congratulations to them.

The hardest part of tournaments is the crowds. Officiating is a tough way to make $20 bucks. Everybody sees it differently. At these ages I don't believe every foul needs to be called. I think it is important to let the game be played. If every foul is called the games would start to get long not only for the fans, but the kids would have a hard time maintaining any tempo.

Thanks to the parents, coaches, players, and my wonderful staff of officials for a great 2008 Instructional League Basketball!

Character and competitive sports

"Winning is important. It is demeaning to dismiss the importance of victory by saying “it’s only a game.” Trying to win is essential. Without the passionate pursuit of victory, much of the enjoyment as well as the educational and spiritual value of sports would be lost."

I found this on the Character Counts newsletter. We are teaching our children fundamentals of the games. We also need to teach them how to win graciously and how to lose with pride. Knowing that they did their best is the best they can do.

"Winning ethically is better. The best strategy to improve sports is not to de-emphasize winning but to more vigorously emphasize the honorable pursuit of victory. It’s one thing to be declared the winner; it’s quite another to truly win. Victories attained dishonorably are hollow and degrade the concept of sport."

"Ethics and sportsmanship are ground rules. Demonstrating and developing good character should never be subordinated to the desire to win. The vital lessons of sports are learned from competition itself rather than the outcome."

It is important to teach sportsmanship in competition. Winning by truly doing your best and following the rules is the best win of all.

Another Great Day on the Sticks

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Here two of our Basalt 5/6 boys teams. Schoon and Alcorta...

Sunday, February 10 Games

3/4 Girls

I love watching the excitement when one of the girls make a basket. This was a pretty exciting game!

5/6 Girls

This video doesn't show what an exciting game this was as well. The girls won both their games and it was a close score.

Snow Days

All this lovely snow makes for a wonderful winter playground, but it also makes playing our weekday games pretty hard. I know the kids want to play, but we have to keep in mind that their safety is our main concern. We did get a game in on 2/5 with the 5th/6th boys team with Coach Krueger. Here is a little bit of the game...

Character Counts

"If character is what you do when no one is watching, then sportsmanship is that conduct with everybody watching. "
-- Bob Ley, ESPN sportscaster

Watching the Super Bowl on Sunday really put on a show of good character on both team. It seemed the game went so fast and then I realized there were no fouls to speak of. Each team played a good hard game and the team that wanted it the most came out the victor. It was really unfortunate for Belichick that the whole world witnessed the only unsportsmanlike conduct in the game as he walked off the field with a second to play in the game. Winning with pride and losing with graciousness is what the "game" is all about.

5th/6th Grade Boys Basketball

We have a team from Aspen who is playing in our league this winter. I am glad they have the opportunity to play. This is the Aspen team of Coach Crawford's playing Basalt's Coach Alcorta's team. Coach Alcorta has a few new guys on her team and this is the first year with 10' baskets, playing full court, and 20-minute periods for many on her team. It is a tough transition for them. Well, she has some great players and I will enjoy watching as they get better through the year.

Let the Games Begin

It's that time of year when the courts come alive with young people enjoying the game of basketball. Here is a video of our 2nd/3rd/4th grade boys' (blue shirts) first games with Glenwood Springs on Tuesday, January 22. The boys have had only had two practices, so they were a little rusty, but as the season progresses I am sure we will see some significant improvement. It is always good to get that first game behind you so you know what you need to work on. It was a pleasure for me to see my friend, Alexander, make his first basket in a game. He was pretty excited too!

Supporting the Team

Often times we see publications on how to be a good coach, but there are few on the guidelines regarding being a parent of a player on the team. Support and encouragement are key factors to the successful season of your child athlete, but there are a few other guidelines to keep in mind.

• Respect volunteer status of the coach
• Exhibit good sportsmanship
• Have your child at practices and games on time
• Pickup your child from practices and games on time
• Assist with timekeeping, scorekeeping
• Assist with clean up
• Attend practices and games
• Monitor behavior of children on and off the court
• Cheer for all children
• Thank our young officials and treat them with respect
• Respect the school facilities at home and in other towns
• Be courteous when attending away games

Being a positive role model to your children is very important to your child's enjoyment of the game and ensure success for future athletic endeavors.

Do you have a story or suggestion you would like to share about parent responsibilities?

What "Registration Deadline" means to me

Okay, give me a chance to explain how things work here at the recreation department. We really do try to get the word out to each and every parent and child about out programs. Our brochure comes out two times per year. We do send out Public Service Announcements. When there are specific deadlines to certain programs, we send postcards to past participant. We also ask the schools to make announcements. Every year I have the problem of late registrations that can really make a mess of the organizational part of the programs.

Why do we have a deadline anyway. Well, some of the programs we offer, we really don't care if there are last minute registrations. When we have a program that is sufficiently filled we encourage more. The more the merrier! If a program does not fill and is canceled, that cancellation could have been avoided with earlier registrations.

Art classes, well, that's a no brainer. There are a lot of art supplies that need to be on hand and late registrations make it impossible for the art teacher to have the supplies needed for that late registar.

Now let's get into the big stuff. Basketball and baseball registrations. These are a couple of our big programs and they need a lot of organization. Uniforms need to be ordered, equipment needs to be bought, volunteer coaches need to be found, gyms need to be set up through the schools for practices and games need to be scheduled with other towns. By the time practices start, all this work has been done. It is very hard to have over 10 players on a team because each new player cuts down on play time of the other players who have signed up on time.

I guess my question would be what would be a good way for us to get the word to you about activities for your child? We are using email newsletter more and more and I really find them to be an efficient way to traffic information your way. Please, if you would like to receive our email letters, send us your email address and be sure to add our email to your address book so the newsletter won't get bounced.

As a parent, please be aware of activities and the deadline date for registrations. While I do have a hard time saying "no" to anyone, the extra players on a team can put a burden on the volunteer coaches and make it less fun for the other players. If you sign up earlier for these activities, more teams can be formed and more fun can be had for all!

Register early and register often!

Cross Country Day 1-9-08

Every year I worry about how much snow the Rio Grande will have for the after school Cross Country class. Every year we have plenty! I have some regulars signed up for the class with a couple of beginners. Amazingly we made it all the way out to the Roaring Fork Club with the beginners and had some fun on the first hill. Blair wore a skirt that reminded me of the old days when women skied in their long dress. Me, I prefer the warmth of modern technology in clothing. It was great to be back on the skis with the kids!