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...