Summer Camp

I guess it?s been a while since I was engaged in sports. My memory was that the season was over when it was over. That you played baseball in the spring, soccer in the summer and maybe went to the batting cages or had soccer practices between the two. I always thought that the seasons were too short and I was never satisfied. Now that I follow high school sports, it seems like the kids are playing a lot more than I did. Even weirder, the same five or six kids keep popping up in different sports.

A handful of 13- and 14-year-olds teased and laughed with one another as they sat under the heavy shade of mature trees Monday at Verdugo Park. They were blowing off steam from their morning Counselor-In-Training session, a 3-year-old city-sponsored program that is teaching them skills they can use the rest of their lives, Program Director Allison Marquis said. "They are learning how to be camp counselors," Marquis said. "We teach them a skill — like arts and crafts — and they have to turn around the next day and teach it to the kids."

From Staff Reports The members of the Glendale Softball All-Star team have been used to success in the Division 3 Tournament during their past two years at the Senior level -- 15- and 16-year-olds -- winning all six of their games en route to a pair of titles. This year, however, Glendale is competing at the Big League level -- 16- to 18-year-olds -- but judging by their performance in Thursday night's opening-round contest, not much has changed for Dave Stauffer's squad.

YMCA kicks off fund campaign YMCA of Glendale officials have kicked off the 2009 Pass It On Campaign, a fundraising effort to increase support for the scholarship fund. The fund covers the cost of programs for children and families who otherwise might not be able to afford YMCA programs such as child care, day camp and programs for at-risk youth. The YMCA?s goal is to raise $100,000, said Chief Executive John Thomas. The YMCA provides an opportunity for youngsters and adults to participate in programs such as day camp, child care, youth sports, water safety, before- and after-school care and summer camp.

New Year's Eve has passed and so has New Year's Day. Probably all your New Year's resolutions have gone the same way. We hope that your community spirit is alive and well, however, as we begin our community support campaign - Mission: Possible 2. Our Crescenta-Canada and Verdugo Hills Family YMCAs kicked off their annual campaigns recently. In the beginning of every year, YMCAs throughout the country participate in an event called the annual current support campaign. Why?

Now that summer activities such as camp, summer school, enrichment classes and swimming lessons are in full swing, I would like to share a plea for help I recently received from a PTA president regarding keeping our children safe. We are all so busy these days trying to get Johnny to summer camp, Susie to swimming lessons and Timmy to Vacation Bible School that we can be guilty of carelessness. Do we really take the time to make sure our children make it safely to their activities or do we just "drop them off" assuming they are OK?

Jenna Bordelon LOS ANGELES -- If your kids want to walk and talk like the animals, let them indulge their wild side at the 14th annual "ZooCamp" to be held at the Los Angeles Zoo this summer. Children 4 through 12 can attend weeklong day camps with themes like Creature Features, Bouncing Back, You N'the Zoo, Animals and Art, Positively Primates and Wild in the City. The weeklong sessions run for 11 weeks starting June 19. The cost is $175 per camper per week and $100 for campers 4 to 5 years old. For more information, call (323)

There's a fiesta going on at Lutheran Church in the Foothills. The church on Foothill Boulevard is holding its annual fiesta-themed "Vacation Bible School" every morning this week through Friday. Each day, about 75 children attend the volunteer-run program to participate in activities like Bible storytelling, games and arts and crafts. "We get new people to connect with our church, it's a high-energy program and the kids just love it," said the church's pastor, Bruce Johnson.

Janine Marnien Pretending to be superheroes out of deodorant, campers at the Child SHARE Summer Theater Camp worked on their acting skills Thursday in a classroom at Flintridge Prep. The activity was a way for the campers -- 16 foster children and the children of the families they live with between 8 and 14 -- to relax and build their self-esteem, said Keagan Buchanan, camp director and Flintridge Prep student. "One thing I've noticed from my participation in theater is the closeness you get with the other people you work with," he said.