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It was only the second day of the summer season and the squeaking of rubber soles on the basketball courts fired into the air.
A boy ran with the ball across the court, fell, clamored back up and took off again. In another gym at the Harry Nigro Unit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen, a girl served a volley ball over a net, and in the Teen Center kids played pool and air hockey.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen has a big season lined up for kids looking for a place to meet friends, play sports, learn about robotics, enjoy summer meals, learn new dance moves …
Get the picture?
“We are offering kids the ultimate summer experience full of fun, education and recreational activities,” said Alma Dones, director of the Harry Nigro Unit of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Harlingen.
The summer activities will include sports leagues, a basketball camp, a cheer camp, and a fishing camp.
Wednesday afternoon the basketball court at the Harry Nigro Unit at 1209 W. Washington Ave. was alive with the movement and the noise and the spice of anticipation for the new summer.
“Aiden and Ashley report to the front,” said a voice over the intercom while Dones directed some players with sharp eyes and nods and hand signals.
“Boys, where are you going?” she said.
She spoke again of the arts and crafts activities available over the summer months and daily food service from the Harlingen school district’s Child Nutrition Program.
The following morning in the STEM room little girls made beaded necklaces at one group of tables and at the next were small Lego crafts awaiting completion. Kids played Roblox on the computers. In the Teen Center several girls surrounded an air hockey and shot pucks across the table and there was the loud clattering and the popping of billiard balls and shrieking and laughing and excited moving.
Then suddenly there was a changing of that movement and they gathered to move out the door and into the gym to arrive at the concession.
This is the life and the energy of the summer of the Main Unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Harlingen. The Club has four other sites with similar activities and the constant movement and the energy of kids finding a place of purpose and play.
In the brutal heat of summer, it’s also a safe place where temperatures are kept within the more reasonable and healthier range.
Dones said the Main Unit is especially looking forward to its Texas AIM STEM Robotics Camp which will take place June 3-7. There will be two groups of 15 students so anyone wishing to sign up should do so quickly.
A basketball camp will also take place June 3-6 for youngsters from kindergarten through sixth grade. The ever-popular cheer camp will take place July 9-11.
There is a $10 registration fee to participate in summer programs.
The Harry Nigro Unit, also called the Main Unit, will be open Monday through Friday this summer.
It will be open for elementary age children from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Middle school students and high school students can enjoy the facility from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information call 956-428-4183.
