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

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 out on the city blacktop of PAL’s park area between Ash Street and Palm Street across from the Youth Safe Haven.

Over 35 girls, ages 5 to 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.

“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 St. and Pennichuck,” said officer Josh Santiago, the PAL officer and program director assigned to the PAL Youth Safe Haven.

Members of the cheerleading squads from Nashua High School North and South volunteered as instructors at the camp, including Hannah Mason, Shoney Evans, Kayla Lopez, Brook Mungovern, Julia Mungoven, Arie Foreman, Carley Bennett, Holly Burns, Alexis Dukette, Brianna Campbell, Brianna Lyons, Sam Bartol, Ashley Enwright, Victoria Sullivan, Grace Countie, Kathryn Murray, Lexi Bergeron, Morganne MacKay and Sara Melanson.

“I think the coaches and volunteer instructors from the high school squads get as much out of it as the kids,” Cheer Camp Coordinator Maureen MacKay said.

PAL Athletic Director Nick Dahl couldn’t agree more.

“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,” Dahl said. “And if they continue into more competitive programs and the structure those programs provide, all the better.”

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 St. community center was designated as a Youth Safe Haven by the Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation.

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

Volleyball

HB Girls-Boys
Clinic scheduled

Hollis Brookline’s Girls and Boys Volleyball clinic for 5-8th graders is scheduled for Aug. 27, 28 and 29 from 3-5 p.m. each day at Hollis Brookline High School. Contact Becky Balfour at becksterbalfour@hotmail.com for further information.

Baseball

Catching Camp set for two weeks of training

The New England Catching Camp still has one week left of summer camp. The four-day, 16-hour camp will be held Aug. 6-9. This camp has drawn hundreds of baseball and fast-pitch softball catchers from across the country over the last 11 years, and is the only camp in New England exclusively for catchers.

NECC will be offering a session for player’s ages 8-12 from 8 a.m.-noon and ages 13-18 will meet from 1-5 p.m. daily. The camp will be held at Lions Field in Hudson, and will focus on all the skills needed to excel at the games most demanding position. The sessions will include training on receiving, blocking, throwing, all fielding skills, as well as proper stretching and conditioning. To register or get more information on Summer Camp visit NECC’s Web site at www.catchingcamp.com and click on the link
for Summer Camp or call coach Jay Weaver at 882-8981.