Youth on the move at Fort Prov sport camp
Multi-sport camp brings summer fun, physical literacy to hamlet youth
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, August 11, 2016
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
School may still be out, but Deh Gah School in Fort Providence bustled with activity last week as youth turned out for a multi-sport camp, courtesy of the Mackenzie Recreation Association.
Olivia Nadli, left, tries to take the ball from Kolleen Gargan during a fun soccer game at Deh Gah School's gymnasium on Aug. 4. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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The camp ran from Aug. 2 to 4, with attendance varying widely each day.
Games included soccer, tag, swimming, dodgeball, basketball and volleyball.
"We had lots of kids come out," said hamlet recreation co-ordinator Andre Bolduc, whose department helped out with the camp.
Brandon Thom, who works under Bolduc as the department's summer student, said the camp went well and he was surprised to see how many youth came out to some of the events.
"Volleyball was our most popular," he said. On the evening of Aug. 3, the sport camp ran a volleyball game that drew out so many youth they had a hard time playing in the school gymnasium.
"There were too many to comfortably fit," Thom explained.
"We had too many even for two teams. I think we had somewhere around 22 people playing."
The afternoon of Aug. 4 was less packed, with a handful of children coming out to play a game of indoor soccer.
Sheena Labrecque, 8, said the sport camp was a lot of fun.
"My favourite part was playing soccer," she said.
She also tried her hand at basketball during the sport camp, although she admits she had less fun at that than she did with soccer.
Olivia Nadli, 10, agreed with Labrecque on soccer, saying it is her favourite sport as well. Jessica VanOverbeek, executive director of the Mackenzie Recreation Association, stated in an e-mail the camp was the fifth in a list of seven events the association is putting on this summer.
Those events included the Mackenzie Youth Summer Games and Mackenzie Youth Dene Games, as well as four other sport camps in the Deh Cho region.
"All of those camps are a partnership with the communities as well," VanOverbeek stated.
The purpose of the multi-sports camps are to expose youth to activities promoting water safety and physical literacy. To that end, the Mackenzie Recreation Association has been sending its summer student, Alicia Korol, to facilitate each camp.
VanOverbeek called Korol a "talented and dedicated" individual. At the Fort Providence sport camp, Korol helped youth start up their games and oversaw each sport.
"Each community works with (Korol) to develop a camp that draws in youth, encourages them to be active and have fun," VanOverbeek stated.
