New Basketball Program Launches for Youth at Library

New Basketball Program Launches for Youth at Library

Rosanne Fortier News Correspondent

The Vegreville Centennial Library now has a new after school drop-in basketball program on Wednesday afternoons for students from Grade 6-12.

The Vegreville Centennial Library is hosting this program in partnership with the Town of Vegreville.

Anya Langkow, Co-ordinator for Tourism, Recreation, and Culture said Michael van der Torre, Manager for Parks, Recreation and Facilities and Donna Williams, Manager of the Vegreville Centennial Library collaborated to bring this basketball program to life.

Langkow said this basketball program gives children and youth the opportunity to come and engage in a free drop-in basketball, register for an indoor sport, stay active when the weather isn’t cooperating or when there isn’t another option for them. “We are beginning with this basketball program. We just opened the doors and we had three kids who were ready to come in and several were picking up one time waivers to take home for their parents or guardians to sign which is required before they can participant. In the future, we hope to expand to other sports on other days and perhaps even in the evening we will offer drop-in activities for adults.

“I feel there are a lot of skills participants will gain from this basketball program; they get the opportunity to get active and be fit, work on basketball skills in a casual and non pressured setting, and the opportunity to be around friends and be social in a positive active way,” stated Langkow.

Kids practice their skills at basketball.

(Rosanne Fortier/photo)

Library Manager Donna Williams said this program is something that came out in the town’s recreation and culture master plan and their strategic plan, and the library’s needs assessment and inclusive study last year which indicated the town needs to have recreational opportunities that are affordable for youth in the community.

“For these reasons, this is something we are trying to develop and basketball is where we are starting with and then we will look at other potential sports that we could offer youth as a drop-in intramural type of thing. We will start with youth and we already have the equipment here so there is no reason why we can’t have adult drop-in similar to what we do with pickle ball or the walking group,” explained Williams.