Rec Department Offers New Fall Activities

OCEAN CITY- With summer winding down and school back in session, the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department this fall is offering a wide variety of clinics, leagues and camps for kids and adults of all ages and all skill levels with a couple of new wrinkles added this year.
The Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department’s fall season includes a wide variety of indoor and outdoor leagues, clinics and other activities for young athletes and those who want to pursue other recreational endeavors. The department is offering its usual basketball, lacrosse, outdoor soccer, swimming, tennis, golf, dodge ball and other fitness programs, most of which are conducted in and around Northside Park.
Other programs being offered this fall include cheerleading, drama classes, babysitting classes, ballet, tap and jazz dance clinics, martial arts, tumbling and other activities. The programs are available for kids as young as four years old, such as swimming, for example and for older kids up to 12 years old.
Because of increased demand, a couple of new programs are being offered this year, including a flag football league for kids ages 6- to 14. For years, the department has conducted an adult flag football league, but is adding a league for young players this fall due to an increased interest in the safer version of the popular sport.
Young players will learn the fundamentals of football while having fun and making new friends in a safe environment. The five-on-five game will be recognizable for most young football enthusiasts and is set up to be easy to learn. The offensive teams will still attempt to move the ball and make first downs and ultimately get into the end zone for scores, while the defensive players will cover receivers, rush the passer and make tackles by grabbing flags.
“Parents will concerns about concussions and other serious injuries may prefer this program as an alternative to regular tackle football,” said Recreation Supervisor Ron Strickler. “The kids get all of the same health benefits and have just as much fun.”
The new youth flag football league will take place on Wednesday at Northside Park from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. beginning September 4 and running through October 30. The young players will be separated by age group with Session A open to kids six to eight, Session B for kids ages nine to 11, and Session C for kids ages 12 to 14. The cost for Ocean City residents is $39 and non-residents will pay $49.
Another relatively new program being offered this fall by the Ocean City Recreation and Parks Department is a youth archery clinic. The department held its first archery clinics last spring and the program was widely attended and largely successful, prompting department officials to expand on it this fall. Sessions will be made available for both intermediate and beginning archers.
Children will learn safety on the range and how to properly hold and shoot a genesis bow while aiming at targets. The program is designed to be both safe and fun. Strickler and Matt Mansfield are both certified archery instructors through the National Archery in the Schools program.
“We had an overwhelming response to the first archery clinic we held this spring, so we knew we needed to expand the program,” said Strickler. “It might have something to do with the popularity of movies like the Hunger Games and Brave that the interest in archery has been reignited. We had a waiting list in the spring and we are hopeful that we will be able to accommodate everyone who is interested this fall.”
The beginner and intermediate archery clinics will be held on Tuesdays at Northside Park beginning September 3 and running through October 8. Boys and girls ages eight to 12 are welcome to participate. Session A will be for beginners and will run from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m. Session B is for intermediate players and will run from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Intermediate participants are those who completed the first beginner archery clinic offered by the department in the spring. Both sessions will take place in the West Gym at Northside Park. The cost for Ocean City residents will be $50, while non-residents will pay $60. For more information on any of the offerings this fall, contact the department at (410) 250-0125.