Got Sports?

Get Physical.

Physicals are required for middle and high school students who plan on participating in intramural sports, band, or cheer. Free sports physicals are available for all Vancouver Public School students. No appointment is necessary (except at the Free Clinic of SW Washington). Students may be accompanied by a parent, or download the parent permission form.

August 10 – Hudson’s Bay
August 12 – Skyview
August 16– Fort Vancouver
August 21 – Free Clinic of SW Washington (call 313-1044 for appt)

Grades 9-12 from 1:30 – 2:30; grades 6-8 from 2:30 to 3:30; all grades from 3:30 to 4:30. These times are applicable for all locations.

Now, go get physical!

Tags: Kids, Physicals, School, Sports, Vancouver Public Schools

Hanging Out in Hazel Dell

The Clinton and Gloria John Clubhouse.

The Clinton & Gloria John Clubhouse (located in the former Hazel Dell School) is one of two Boys and Girls Clubs in Vancouver (the other is the OK Clubhouse, located at the JPC). Their mission is “to inspire and enable young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, caring and responsible citizens.” Their guidelines are simple…Respect Yourself…Respect Others…Respect Property.

Kids get to hang out with their friends (and make new ones) in a safe, fun place. The staff have all been background checked and trained in youth development strategies, and, from what I’ve seen, have a great rapport with the kids.

But more than just “hangin’ out”, the Club also provides structured activities, games and field trips. Kids rotate through a schedule (with some free choices) every day, and can include: computer time, arts and crafts, movies, basketball, outdoor recess, pool, and games. Lunch is also served up daily.

The cost for this program is only $20. That’s $20 Total. Not a day, a week or a month; but for the whole year. The Clinton & Gloria John Clubhouse (Boys and Girls Club) is located at 409 NE Anderson Rd in Hazel Dell (the former Hazel Dell Elementary). You can reach them at (360) 313-5670 or visit them online.

Tags: Activities, BGC, Boys and Girls Club, Kids, Sports, Summer

Kids Soccer Camp

Kickin’ It at Salmon Creek School

Crossway Church in Salmon Creek is offering a Kids Summer Soccer Camp at Salmon Creek School Wednesday, July 21 through Friday, July 23 for boys and girls in grades First through Fifth. Activities will include ball handling, dribbling, shooting, passing and a game; and go home with a commemorative T-shirt.

For more information, including registration, visit Crossway Church or call Brad at 360-828-1663.

Tags: Activities, Camp, Crossway Church, Kids, Salmon Creek, Soccer, Sports

Free Movies All Summer

Free Family Film Festival in Hazel Dell.

That’s right, free movies for the kids on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10 am at the Regal Cinemas on Highway 99. Regal Cinemas has been offering the Free Family Film Festival since 1991; free tickets for kids and parents to select rated G and PG movies beginning Tuesday July 7 through August 26. The Regal Cinemas in Cascade Park is also participating.

So, how does it work? Tickets are available the day of the show only, at the box office, on a first come first served basis. For more information, including updated movie information, check out Regal Cinemas Free Family Fun Festival.

*Post courtesy of Hazel Dell Live!

Tags: Clark County, Film, Free, Hazel Dell, Kids, Movies, Regal Cinemas, Salmon Creek, Summer

Bowling for Free is Right Up My Alley

Kids Bowl for Free at Hazel Dell Lanes.

When it comes to youth sports in Clark County, there are a lot of choices out there: Baseball, Soccer, Football, Swimming, Karate, Basketball, and the list goes on. Have you ever considered signing your kids up for Bowling?

With bowling, you don’t have to worry about the weather (too hot, too cold, rainy, bugs, etc…), there are no up front equipment purchases, and, unlike other sports, physical size, shape, or age doesn’t matter.

This summer, Husted’s Hazel Dell Lanes is participating in the Kids Bowl Free program, and is a great opportunity to let your kids try out the sport of bowling for free! I know, what’s the catch? (That’s what I thought). So I visited Hazel Dell Lanes, and they said, sure enough, it’s a kids bowl free summer!

Here’s how it works: Go to www.KidsBowlFree.com/HazelDellLanes. Register each child that will be bowling, and the passes are emailed to you each week. Up to two games, every day, all summer long! There is also an option to purchase a family pass for $24.95 which allows four adults two free games of bowling every day.

Visit Hazel Dell Lanes on the web for more information about this and other specials they currently offer.

Tags: Activities, Bowling, Entertainment, Free, Fun, Hazel Dell, Kids, Sports, Youth

Felida Parade and Celebration

Felida Parade Expects Over 4,000 Kids.

You thought the Hazel Dell Parade of Bands was the only big-time parade in our area… well, the Felida 4th of July Celebration is rapidly becoming a big-time event, especially for the small-folks. This is a non-motorized parade, featuring kids in wagons, strollers and on bikes – all decked out for America. The parade typically draws thousands of entrants. This year the parade’s organizers expect over 4,000 kids to take part. The parade starts and ends at Felida Park, NW 122th St. West of NW 36th Ave. Lineup begins at 10:15.

There are loads of fun activities, games and entertaining times for the entire family. There’s even free food!

The North Salmon Creek Neighborhood Association is helping out and we will be handing out free sno-cones and cotton candy! So stop by our booth and say “Hi”.

The Celebration welcomes back Roger Wendlick and his simply incredible reenactment of George Droulliard from the the Lewis and Clark exposition. Fantastic stuff… if you haven’t seen it before it is truly fascinating. Watch an interview from last year.

Here’s a tentative schedule of events:

10:45am – line up in Felida Park, at the NW 122nd Avenue gate
11:00 am – streets close for parade
11:15am – parade commences
11:45am – parade returns to Felida Park –picnic, lunch, exhibits, games
12:30pm – Lewis & Clark Expedition formal half-hour presentation #1
1:00pm – Fly Casting Demonstration – Ben Dennis/Clark College
1:30pm – Lewis & Clark Expedition formal half-hour presentation #

Good times! Hope to see you out there!

Tags: 4th of July, Felida, Kids, lewis and clark, Parade, sno-cones

TOP Soccer Coming to Salmon Creek

Soccer Program for our Differently-abled Players.

TOP Soccer has come to Salmon Creek! This is an amazing program that allows for mentally or physically challenged kids of all ages to play soccer. Created by US Youth Soccer and administered by Washington State Youth Soccer Association it uses a system of buddies and coaches to allow access to the soccer field for everyone. Players are divided into teams based on ability not age.

I had the pleasure of talking with Beverly Estes, who is the Program Coordinator with Salmon Creek Soccer, and she is just overflowing with enthusiasm for this exciting program. The Parent Meeting will be August 1st (time/place still to be determined).  Here is some insight into TOP Soccer at Salmon Creek, and Beverly says feel free to give her a call for more information (contact information and link at bottom of page).

“By using a combination of special equipment, an assisting buddy on the field, and creative coaching techniques the program can put any player on the field. Let’s use two extremes for examples. Autism for our mental disability and a wheelchair user for the physical challenge.

We’ll start with autism. It can come in a wide range of severities but for our purposes I will focus on two issues, focus on the task at hand and distractions that might cause the player to wander off. During practices and games this player’s buddy will perform a couple roles. By just being glued to one player, our buddy will ensure the safety of the player and ensure that he/she doesn’t wander off, distracted by that golden retriever on the walking trail. Many autistic kids have difficulty staying focused so the buddy will work with parents and the coach to find the best methods of redirecting the players attention to the game and the goal of moving the ball downfield. In this particular example the buddy will probably also have learned from the parents what signals to watch for indicating that he/she has just had enough and it’s time to quit for the day. When it stops being fun it’s time to stop.

For our other example, I am going to make the assumption that the player in the wheelchair has some upper body and hand mobility. We have this totally cool tool that looks like a giant pingpong paddle stuck on the end of a stick. It’s made of lightweight plastic and allows a player in a wheelchair to whack the ball instead of kicking it. In this particular case the buddy’s biggest job is to push the wheelchair in the direction the player wants to go leaving the player’s hands free. Keep in mind that these are generalities and the amount of assistance needed will be tailored to real kids, the ones that are playing in our program.

We have a number of options available to us when games begin. If we have enough kids, they will play each other. We also have access to the rec teams who can play us. We would pick age groups whose ball handling skills match those of the players in our program. There is an established program in Camas-Washougal that has the same season as us. If skill levels match, they have expressed an interest in playing Salmon Creek sometime during the season.

Also exciting is the offer made by Salmon Creek Indoor Soccer Arena. The weather quite often turns nasty and it gets dark earlier during the second half of the rec season. The indoor arena said we can use their facility during that time. This way the players get to enjoy playing outside while it’s nice and when wet dark fields become a safety/comfort issue we get to move inside.

Coaches get special training from the state that will help us ensure that each and every player has a fabulous time. In turn we will then train buddies to help the kids in any way possible. Buddies can come from a number of places. Quite often older soccer player find it fun to share their sport and choose to buddy as their game schedule permits. Community members make great role models for every one involved and I guarantee it will be fun. Sometimes players have friends from school or a family member who wants to be a buddy, that’s awesome, it’s an opportunity to do something cool together.

The nitty gritty starts here. All buddies must have a Risk Management (RMA) number. You get that by registering on the website, which will be listed below. After you create a new member account, log in, pick register as a coach or buddy link. There is a pick a program page so scroll all the way down to the S’s and find Salmon Creek. You will also have to fill in the online form where they ask for your life story. OK, I’m exagerating it’s not that bad.

Parents, you will go to the same link, same new account creation, log in, then pick player not coach, find our program and sign up. I haven’t seen how long your page is but I think you get a bunch of boxes to fill in too. Now, when you register you will not be charged for player fees or insurance. Those are provided free of charge by WSYSA. We are asking parent’s to pay $30 at the parent meeting. We will be using it to buy shirts and awards. If you have financial need that would make paying the fee a serius hardship, please contact me for a scholarship application. Scholarships require volunteer time working with the program.

August 1st is the big day. Parents, coaches, buddies will get together, assign practice/game days and what field. The time and place will be determined by how many people are expected so watch your email the week before for notification. Sept. 11th, is the kickoff week. We will play 8 regular season games, depending on program numbers I may figure out some way to finish with a bang…mini tourny maybe. Don’t know, I’ll think on it.”

Contact Information: Beverly Estes, Program Coordinator – (360) 270-7122. To register, click to visit Salmon Creek Soccer website.

Tags: Disability, Kids, Salmon Creek, SCSC, Soccer, Sports, TOP Soccer

Annual Healthy Kids Fair

Free Family Fun at Legacy Salmon Creek.

“We’re going to the hospital” is not a phrase that makes me think, “Fun!”.  Well, Legacy Salmon Creek is changing that with their 5th Annual Healthy Kids Fair set for June 12, 2010 from 10 am to 2 pm at (you guessed it) Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center.

Keep the whole family safe while riding bikes this summer with $5 bike helmets available, or $20 for snowboarding helmets, toddler to adult sizes available. They will even help make sure everyone gets the right size and fit!

EDITH, the Clark County Fire District 6 Safety House, will be there. Kids can climb through the two-story house while firefighters provide safety information to help your family plan a safe exit strategy for your home.

Perform surgery on a stuffed duck using high tech monitors, get a thumb cast, get a close look at a police car (without being in trouble!) and ambulance, recycle your used/damaged car seats, and more!

For more information, call Legacy Salmon Creek (2211 NE 139th St) at 360-487-1000. Click to view a Healthy Kids Fair flyer with a coloring contest picture for the kids to complete and bring in.

Tags: Events, Fair, Health, Hospital, Kids, Legacy Salmon Creek

Salmon Creek Elementary Buy One Get One Book Fair

Because FREE is a Very Good Price.

The Salmon Creek Community Elementary School Scholastic Book Fair will be Tuesday, June 1st through Friday, June 4th, 2010 during school hours; with a special family event on Tuesday, June 1st from 6-7:30 pm. This year, it’s  Buy One, Get One Free!

It’s simple, for every item you buy, you get another item for free! There are books (of course), posters, pencils, activities, and crafts; everything you need to keep your child (or yourself) entertained this summer.

There is also an opportunity to share the gift of books with more students and classrooms, it’s called “One for Books”. Here’s how it works. Donate just $1 and sign a Book Slip with your name or your child’s name on it (this will be displayed at the Book Fair). All of the money raised goes directly to purchasing books for our school. Then, Scholastic Book Fairs will match the “One for Books” dollars raised with a donation of up to one million books to three non-profit organizations devoted to helping families in need: Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc., National Center for Family Literacy, and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

Tags: Bookmark, Events, Family Night, Kids, Reading, Salmon Creek, Students

Klineline Kids Fish-In Event

Annual Event is Reel Fun.

The 11th Annual Klineline Pond Kids’ Fish-In Event is Saturday April 10, 2010.

Klineline Pond is stocked with thousands of trout to give kids the best chance possible of experiencing the “thrill of the catch”.  All fishing gear and bait will be provided, and each child will have the chance to catch, clean and keep up to two fish. While there is no guarantee of a catch, all kids will get a Fishing Kids T-Shirt, and get to keep the rod and reel they fished with!

The Salmon Creek Lions will be there giving out prizes for the best fish caught throughout the day and running the lunch counter. Registration deadline is April 2, 2010 and is by mail only.  Click for the 2010 Klineline Pond Kids’ Fish-In Event Registration, or call Dan Bodell (909-5256) if you are interested in volunteering at this event.

Are you hooked on fishing and wishing your kids were, too? Check out the advice from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to make your first fishing trips a success.

Tags: Fishing, Kids, Klineline, Salmon Creek

Next Page »