By JEFF EPSTEIN
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WINDSOR, Vt. — Recreation Director James Aldrich told the select board last week that the town’s recreation programs had a good summer and the fall program is underway.
“Our summer program went well … the attendance was way up from last year,” Aldrich told the board. “We’ve had some really good kids from the high school come in and help.”
The high school students help the staff supervise young children sometimes, and are very effective, he said. One of the town’s programs is basic soccer for kindergarten and first-grade students, and this year it’s been possible to teach the actual game a little, as opposed to simply playing games with a soccer ball.
The town also offers a basketball program on Saturday mornings, and “We’ve been lucky to retain a lot of good volunteers in the past,” Aldrich said. “Consistency is really a big thing for us and it’s actually been quite good.”
As with soccer, he added, the basketball program will add more skill training, “but play games too.”
Aldrich said he would like to install new rubberized flooring in the recreation center’s weight room, to replace the old and worn carpeting in there now. The town applied for a grant to do that, but did not win that particular grant this year.
Something new on the horizon is a climbing wall, courtesy of a local expert that town manager Tom Marsh knows, said Aldrich. The expert is willing to offer an introductory course in wall climbing if the recreation department supplies the ropes. The program could start in January, he said.
Such a program could be eligible for a grant from a particular health-and-wellness program that offers funds for such activities. The grant would pay for new climbing ropes.
“We would offer the first class for free, basically is what they would want us to do, and then we would have the stuff,” he said.
“It’s a health and wellness program that has money, that we could fold a number of things into,” said Marsh. “One of those things is the ropes for the climbing wall, so we can get some new equipment, do some classes, and also tie in some wellness stuff…diet or smoking cessation.”
This, he added, gives the town the opportunity to be more pro-active in offering connections to wellness programs, as opposed to simply having a flyer on a bulletin board.
Money is looking good, said Aldrich, with program revenue up some $3,500 over last year.
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