FORT CARSON, Colo. — After a year of no youth sports activities on post, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, as the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation youth sports office has scheduled events that could also lead to sports being played as early as June 2021.
According to Otis Forrest, Fort Carson youth sports director, the youth sports program has free events scheduled designed to help youth prepare for a potential baseball season in June 2021, and hopefully other seasons beyond that this year. Forrest said with the news about vaccines mitigating the effects of the coronavirus, there is a chance youth sports can return in earnest by the beginning of summer with baseball season.
“The first thing I need to say is how much we have missed our young athletes and how much we have missed the youth sports program on post the past year,” Forrest said. “Since we have had to shut down the program back in March 2020 of last year, we have been trying to think of ways to make sure we are ready to offer the best sports programs possible when this pandemic was over. My staff and I have been working diligently toward that end, and we’re going to start with programs where we can bring people in on a limited basis and see if we can increase participation over the next few months.”
The first event youth sports will sponsor will be a basketball skills and drills event from Monday to March 31, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m. (from Monday to Wednesday each week). The event is limited to ages 7 to 15 with 20 participants per activity, who will be socially distanced. Registration is currently open for this event through Friday at the post youth center. There will also be a skills and drills event April 19, 2021 through May 5, 2021, (each Monday through Wednesday) at the youth center. Registration for this event will be held from April 5-15, 2021.
The second event will be a fitness boot camp also designed for 20 participants; age 7-15 years old. The boot camp will take place from March 23, 2021 through April 8, 2021, (each Tuesday and Thursday) at the post youth center. Youth sports officials are asking each participant to bring their own water bottle and come dressed for physical fitness activities. The boot camp will last between 45-60 minutes. Officials said the purpose of the boot camp is to increase physical activity and build cardio strength and endurance in a fun activity. All social distancing standards will be strictly enforced. Registration is currently open for this event through March 19, 2021, at the post youth center.
The third event will be a Disc Golf Challenge scheduled to be held at Iron Horse Park April 5-22, 2021, (on Monday and Wednesday each week). The event will be for groups of no more than four people. All participants will be encouraged to arrive no later than 10 minutes prior to their scheduled wave in order to ensure social distancing. Officials said this is designed to be a Family-friendly fun event.
The fourth event will be a yoga class designed to teach young athletes the benefits of yoga and how it can help them become better at their sport. Youth sports officials said Yoga also helps athletes increase mobility and relaxation while maintaining a sense of fun. The program is scheduled to be held May 4-20, 2021, (every Tuesday through Thursday thru October) at the youth center fitness room.
“We are being very aggressive in getting our youth sports program back into gear, and we are crossing our fingers that the vaccines will help us get our program and our athletes active again,” Forrest said. “Nothing will give us more pleasure than seeing our youth getting physical conditioning, learning about the sport they play and having fun.”
People can register online at https://webtrac.mwr.army.mil/webtrac103/wbwsc/Carsoncyms.wsc/wbsplash.html?wbp=1.
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