Summer Camp

Zarian to host City Hall activist Regular City Hall activist Herbert Molano is scheduled to appear live Thursday on ?The Larry Zarian Show.? Molano, who has been unrelenting in his calls for greater transparency and performance measures at City Hall, is expected to defend his recent assertions that the city budget is disproportionate to the population. Zarian said he would also press Molano on recent ?personal attacks? on various elected officials heading into the main April 7 election campaign season.

LA CRESCENTA ? As former Crescenta Valley High boys? basketball Coach Jim Smiley and camp assistant Eric Yoo lead a group of 8-9-year-old boys in a spirited game of lightning on Friday morning ? the final day of the weeklong basketball camp that bears Smiley?s namesake ? it?s hard to tell who?s having more fun, the coaches or the campers. ?It?s been a great camp,? Smiley said. ?The [kids?] improvement from the beginning of the week to the end of the week has really been remarkable.

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.

Having a late summer sports craving? Well, look no further. The La Cañada Community Recreational Leagues youth volleyball camp is an instructional program for children ages 7 to 17 interested in having fun while improving their volleyball skills with help from professional counselors. The camp is run by Dana Spautz, director of the program that serves La Cañada, La Crescenta and Montrose, and is located in the Renaissance Academy gym, just a short drive for most La Cañada residents.

Girls' summer basketball camp set Burbank High girls' basketball Coach Bruce Breeden will hold a basketball camp for girls ages 8-13. The camp will run from 8 a.m. to noon July 23-27 at the Burbank High gymnasium, 902 N. Third St., Burbank. The cost is $150 per person. For more information, contact Breeden at (818) 541-9303 or by e-mail at coachbreeden@aol.com. Basketball camp to take place in July Crescenta Valley High boys' basketball Coach Shawn Zargarian will conduct a basketball camp from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. July 23-27 at Crescenta Valley High, 2900 Community Drive, La Crescenta.

Boys' Soccer The summer program tryouts will take place at Clark Magnet High School, and will begin June 25 at 3:30 p.m. for all incoming freshmen. The program will run for five weeks and ends July 27. For more information, e-mail Coach Randy Lilavois at rlilavois@gusd.net. Girls' Softball Tryouts will be held on Monday, June 25 and Tuesday, June 26 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Boys' Volleyball Tryouts for varsity and JV only will be held on June 22 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Crescenta Valley North Gym. For more information visit www.falconvolleyball.

La Cañada Boy Scout Troop 501 sent 19 scouts and eight adults to summer camp at the Orange County BSA Lost Valley camp in early August. All who attended camp had a great time. The weather was nearly ideal, with the days not too hot and the nights not too cold. In fact, everyone in the troop spent at least one night sleeping under the stars rather than in the tents, with almost everyone in the troop participating in the horseback overnight outing and more than half doing the astronomy overnight charting of the stars.

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."

The concrete basins of Verdugo Skate Park held a few dozen gliding men, women and children on Sunday. Seasoned skateboarding veterans rolled side-by-side with children as young as 3 1/2 at the Skate Summer Camp. There's no age requirement, "more of an ability requirement," said Jon Maharg, one of what he calls two "concrete lifeguards" on duty at the park. They sat in the shade and watched out for the knee- and elbow-padded patrons. Although basic, their job is a rare one, said Julie Campos, 37, of Glendale.