Recreation is an important component to the lifestyle of most Coronadoans. A quick check of the community’s bike paths on any given weekend and you’ll see that roller bladers, bike riders, and joggers abound.

Making recreation even easier for the local citizenry to participate in are the programs offered by the City of Coronado Recreation Services Department. This summer the city will register 4,500 participants in a wide variety of camps, programs, facilities, and aquatics lessons, according to Recreation Coordinator Felix Hall.

"This summer we have about 300 admissions per week at the skate park," said Hall, who oversees the operation of that facility. While many of the summer camps run by the recreation department are nearly full for the summer, openings remain in the teen-targeted Action Adventure Camp for the weeks of July 31-Aug. 4, Aug. 7-11, and Aug. 14-18. There are also openings available for teen dance-related camps during the first of those two periods. "We find that teens are harder to reach," said Hall.

The scope of the programs offered is broad, including one called ‘Sea Camp,’ which is held at the Crown Cove Aquatics Center and features canoeing, kayaking and small boat sailing. Another popular camp which has openings available in the August sections is Sports Camp 1, which is primarily for younger kids. "It helps them figure out what sports they might like," said Hall.

A journalistic disclaimer is appropriate at this point. Both of the Axelson children have been employed by the Coronado Recreation Department. Our daughter Kristen Axelson was the first employee of the skate park when it opened, and served as a Sports Camp counselor for a couple of summers. Son Michael Axelson has taught the tennis component of Sports Camp through the Coronado Tennis Center for several summers. Your Natterer is a monthly subscriber to the Recreation Center, where I am progressing up the ranks from poor to mediocre recreational swimmer. I am striving to earn my advanced mediocre swim badge later this summer.

The Recreation Department also provides programs for adults. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6-9 pm there are ‘Open Gym’ periods. Tuesday night features basketball; Wednesday evening is adult volleyball night; and Thursday evenings, teens and adults can compete against each other. Open gym costs $2 for Coronado residents and $5 for non-residents.

"The dream is to make a league out of the open gym nights," Hall said. "There might be some sort of informal league where we provide scorekeepers, uniforms and schedules for a nominal fee."

Another success story at the now one-year-old Recreation Center is the Nautilus Room, which holds up to 250 people for banquets. The facility has become popular site for Coronado High School sports team banquets and other events, according to Hall. "We have a lot of facility use. The Nautilus Room is rented every Saturday for weddings through August 2007."

Programs for the first through third grade student demographic will return in a slightly different form this school year. After School Camp will provide transportation for students from Village Elementary School to the Rec Center at 2:20 pm. This offering will run until 6 pm. Kids will receive a snack, a different activity each day, homework time and supervised play time. "The activities will include cooking, crafts and sports fundamentals," said Hall. "And the parents value the homework time we provide for the kids." This camp will cost $80 per week.

A similarly themed camp is planned, where no transportation is provided and the student has the option of attending the one camp day that appeals to them each week, for a period of 7 weeks. This program costs $100.

Another program that is popular among the Village Elementary School students is Youth Basketball, which will start December 9 this year. Basketball is offered to students in grades 3-6 and will cost $100 per player. Hall explained the program details. "They get to play in eight games, practice once a week and they get game jerseys. We provide the referees. We’ll take a 2-week break around Christmas and begin again during the first week of January."

Friday Night Teen Night has become popular according to Hall and usually features 50 kids in the 6-9 pm time block, most of them playing dodge ball. "We’re building to create a teen center, with movies, and a video game room, in addition to the dodge ball. We want to use all of the rooms in the Rec Center Friday night, especially those on the south end of the building. Teen Night is provided for kids aged 13-19. Parent volunteers are welcome."

Hall, 35, and his wife Jaimie Hall have been married for 3 years and next week will celebrate the first birthday of their daughter Kaelyn. Jaimie is a former Division I level high school gymnast, so sports and recreation interests figure to continue to run in the family. Felix, who originally hails from the Santa Rosa area in Northern California, attended Santa Rosa Junior College and San Diego State. He was drawn to San Diego for most of the usual reasons - school, sun and sand.

The Rec Department folks, under the direction of Linda Raun, aren’t letting grass grow under their collective feet from a facilities perspective. Plans are underway for a Boat House to be constructed at the site of the current boat launch facility in the near future. This would allow teen programming during the school year for kayaking and canoeing and expansion of the camp offerings during the summer months. There are no provisions for motorized boats or boat rentals.

For more information regarding the program offerings from the Coronado Department of Recreation Services, please call 522-7342. Information can also be obtained via the internet at www.coronado.ca.us and then by clicking on the ‘Recreation Services’ tab.

One of the better deals in town is the annual athletic physical fundraiser, which this year has been slated for Monday, August 7 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. To participate in tryouts for a Coronado High School or Coronado Middle School sport, an athlete must have a current physical examination performed by a doctor.

Physicals will be held at the Coronado Specialty Medical Center, located at 1050 B Avenue. The cost is $15 for one student; $25 for two students from the same family; and $10 each for three or more students from the same family.

The money collected is then used to purchase supplies for the training room. Forms should be filled out by parents beforehand and checks should be made payable to CHS ASB Athletics. Forms can be picked up at Coronado Middle School during their Summer School hours or can be downloaded from www.IslanderSportsFoundation.com or via Edline/Athletics.

Here is the contact information and the practice start dates for the CHS fall sports teams:

Cross Country - There is a summer running club for athletes interested in getting in shape. The first day of the CHS Cross Country season is August 28. Students who wish to participate must have their physical exam performed by that date. For information call George Green at 435-3633 or visit: www.islandertrack.com.

Football- Equipment will be issued August 14. Parent meetings are scheduled for that same evening. Freshman parents will meet at 6 pm and JV/Varsity parents will convene at 7 pm. Both meetings will be held in CHS classroom 408. Conditioning practices will begin August 15 and all participants must have a physical by that date. Hell Week is scheduled for August 21 through 25. For more information, call the CHS Football office at 522-8970 ext. 2707.

Girls’ Golf– Parents and/or Athletes should plan on meeting at the Coronado Golf Course at 4pm Wednesday, August 23. The tryout process will be explained and the dates and times of tryouts will be announced. For additional information please call Hannah Cohan at 990-8755.

Girls’ Tennis- Practice (tryouts) will begin Monday, August 21. Interested girls should meet at the CHS Tennis Courts at 4pm on that date. Anyone wishing to try out must have an updated physical by August 21. For more information call Robbin Adair at (858) 880-3688 (home) or (858) 610-3622 (cell) or contact him via E-mail at: radair@san.rr.com.

Girls’ Volleyball- Practice (tryouts) will begin Monday, August 21 at 9am in the CHS gymnasium. All potential players must have a physical in order to tryout and should wear shoes suitable for the gym floor. For information contact Christine Laar at 619-225-0282 (home) or 619-920-6536 (cell).

Boys’ Waterpolo - All interested players should meet at the Coronado Municipal Pool Monday, August 21st. All players wishing to tryout must have a physical by that date. For information call Randy Burgess at 851-9733 or David Throop at 851-9734. Information is also available on the Waterpolo website: www.nadoaquatics.com.

Good guy and friend Kyle Montague, who doubles as the CHS Football program’s statistician, sent Your Natterer a pithy E-mail informing me that a baseball note I ran last week was inaccurate. "Both Johnny McClimon and I played on the 1970 Coronado All-Stars 12 and Under team. We won the area, district, divisional and sectional titles, when it was a single-elimination format. We were one game from Williamsport (the Little League World Series) and we lost on a passed ball in extra innings." The E-mail was signed Kyle ‘Statman’ Montague.

First of all, you have to love a guy who refers to himself as ‘Statman,’ as opposed to say, ‘Your Natterer.’ Secondly, I violated one of the cardinal rules of this column, by using an absolute reference, as in ‘first ever,’ ‘always,’ or ‘never.’ People in Coronado possess very long and accurate memories, and don’t mind sharing them. Congratulations to both the 1970 and the 2006 All-Star teams for their achievements.

Kyle Teachout and his family apparently have a lot of friends in Coronado. In last week’s listing of players on the 12 and Under All-Star Team, I inadvertently began his last name with the letter ‘P’ and I received a flurry of E-mails with the correct spelling. All right there were two notes, but apologies to Kyle for the flub.