The gym at Ronald Reagan School 30, was alive and busy for the past six weeks with local kids from the city of Elizabeth at the At Heart's Length Youth Basketball Camp. The camp was a huge success because of the parental involvement.
The 6-week program aimed to enhance and broaden children's basketball skills as well as providing the children with an activity in the afternoons. The camp provided boys and girls ages 7-13 with a structured basketball learning experience that encouraged team participation and personal development.
The camp focused on improving the kids’ skills while emphasizing offense, defense, shooting and game fundamentals. Paul Perreira, Program Coordinator and Head Coach, said “The camp focused on helping young athletes improve their skills and develop their talent by learning basic practice drills and emphasizing the fundamentals. The camp gave children the opportunity to exercise their bodies and their minds.
"It is important to us to share with the youth that they can do both.” Lester Dominguez, President of At Heart’s Length, says "We hope to continue to do more programs like this to keep children involved in sports and keep them off the streets. Participation in sports can help build self-esteem and confidence, can motivate children to excel academically and can help build social skills." The main point of the basketball program was to teach children the benefits of goal setting and practice. Julian Acebo, Vice President says, "We don't only pay attention to kids that are in trouble but we also find different ways to keep good kids away from trouble finding them." For more information about At Heart’s Length and how it is supporting local programs and initiatives, please visit www.AtHeartsLength.org and for our latest community events please follow us on Facebook.