Nashua PAL holds Youth Cheer Camp

The sights and sounds of cheerleaders were in the air in the Tree Streets neighborhood recently the Nashua Police Athletic League recently held its first annual “Downtown Cheer Camp” at the PAL Youth Safe Haven on Ash St.

Offered only to members of three organizations – the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua, the PAL Youth Safe Haven, and Girls, Inc. – the cheer camp was held right on out on the city blacktop of PAL’s park area between Ash Street and Palm Street across from the Youth Safe Haven. More than 40 girls, ages 5-15, participated in the free, three day camp in order to learn the basics of competitive cheerleading. The instructors were coaches and the older, more experienced cheerleaders from the national champion PAL Force youth spirit team.

Officer Josh Santiago, the “PAL Officer” and program director assigned to the PAL Youth Safe Haven, said, “In addition to providing a fun camp to the girls, we’re hoping some of them take an interest in organized cheer and participate on spirit teams like the PAL Force, the Elks Crusaders, or the middle school cheer teams at Fairgrounds, Elm Street and Pennichuck.”

South High School junior Angelica Levesque, an instructor and counselor at the camp, said, “Its just so much fun because the girls are new to cheer and excited to learn.” According to Cheer Camp Coordinator Maureen MacKay, “It’s as much fun for the coaches as it is for the girls.”

Nashua PAL, a not-for-profit organization, offers daily homework help, a computer lab, library, academic and social enrichment programming, recreation room, and a fenced-off playground in the inner city. After initially conducting special community events in Nashua’s “Tree Streets” neighborhood, PAL established the Nashua PAL Boxing Club, which now includes over 80 athletes training and competing at various levels. Its nationally recognized PAL “Cruisers” Cross Country running program (which recently merged with the Gate City Striders youth program) was also launched in 1994.

In 2005, the Ash Street community center was designated as a “Youth Safe Haven” by the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation. According to PAL athletic director Joe Laplante, “We see the cheer camp as right in line with PAL’s mission of reaching out and providing services to kids in all of Nashua’s neighborhoods, including downtown. And if they continue into more competitive programs and the structure those programs provide, all the better.”

Anyone interested in volunteering for Nashua PAL can call the PAL Youth Safe Haven at 594-3733 or e-mail nashuapalvolunteers@gmail.com.

Elks Soccer Shoot

Winners of the Aug. 20 Nashua Elks Soccer Shoot were:

U8 – Alexandria Kapopoulos and Keshav Rangan.

U10 – Kendra Santoro and Morin Rangan.

U12 – Shardeia Spearman and Jacob Pike.

U14 – Abigail Pike and Jack Barbour.

Tryouts

Tryouts for the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua Swim Team will be held Sept. 8-9 from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua, 47 Grand Ave. The club phone number is 883-0523.

All swimmers ages 6-19 are invited to attend. Swimmers must be able to swim freestyle and backstroke in the following distances in order to participate: ages 6-8,; ages 9-12, 50 yards; 13 and older, 100 yards.

For more information e-mail antrose99@comcast.net.

FINS swim team

Six swimmers from the Southern New Hampshire FINS swim team competed against top swimmers from across New England at the Open and 14-and-under age group long course championship swim meets held at Harvard University during consecutive weekends in July.

Jenny French (16), Grace Gosselin (15), Oliver French (14), Brett Seely-Hacker (14), Emma Gosselin (13), and Katie Mahoney (12) qualified to compete in multiple events based on times achieved during the 2011 New England swimming long course season.

At the championship meet, all four of the FINS swimmers qualified to compete in the final and/or consolation heats of their respective events based on their performances in their preliminary heats. Among their successes, Emma Gosselin, French, and Mahoney posted top-10 finishes, with Gosselin finised sixth overall in New England in the 100-meter breaststroke and seventh overall in the 200-meter butterfly.

Mahoney finished 10th in the 100-meter backstroke.

Additionally, all four swimmers each achieved qualifying times in one or more events for the USA Swimming Eastern Zone Long Course Championship meet held at Penn State University.

Emma Gosselin qualified in the 100-meter breaststroke;r French qualified in the 200-meter butterfly; Brett Seely-Hacker qualified in the 50-meter freestyle; and Mahoney qualified in the 50-meter backstroke and the 100-meter backstroke.

The Southern New Hampshire FINS swim team is a member of the New Hampshire Swim Association, sanctioned under both USA Swimming and New England Swimming.

For details see the team’s website at www.snhfins.org.