By Alisa Boswell-Gore
The Portales Recreation Center has something to offer every child, according to its director, Jodi Diaz.
“We just have lots of different programs for kids of all backgrounds and ages,” said Diaz. “Personally, my goal is for every kid to feel like this is their place. And I think also that it’s good for kids to interact with other kids in a non-school setting. Whenever they come in here, I want them to always feel like they are part of the rec center – ‘that’s our team, our place.’ With some of them, maybe they didn’t have such a great day at school, then they come here for the afternoon, and it is uplifting and it is positive, and they do fit in and belong.”
For $150 per semester, the after school program runs 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and includes a large variety of activities for children ages 6 to 12, such as sports, dance, theater and arts and crafts. Not to mention, a homework room for children who have to get work done and might need some help in doing so and a tutoring program.
The summer program runs 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday in June and July while children are out of school. Field trips are almost daily during the summer program, according to Diaz.
“Because we are recreation, we try to stay more towards physical activity, but recreation is defined as anything you enjoy doing, so even though the arts and crafts and music and some of those things that may not be strictly physical activity, it’s still included in recreation,” she said. “We partner with a theater group at ENMU. We take the kids over to the theater, and they actually give them acting classes. They’ve come to the rec center to do the same thing.”
Diaz said she and her staff also try to play games with the children in which they are being active but are not aware that they are being active.
The rec center also operates the local children’s sports throughout the year, such as football, basketball, soccer, volleyball and cheerleading. As the city’s only winter sport, basketball will be the next sports season to start.
Diaz said having her master’s degree in health and physical education, HPE is very important to her.
“I basically live my passion every day,” she said. “Some kids don’t like PE and are maybe not as advanced in sports or maybe their coordination hasn’t reached the same level as some other kids, so PE is scary for them. They come in here, and they don’t have to go to a sports team to be physically active. So they’re able to touch on strengths without being on a specified team.”
For more information, call the rec center at 575-356-8598.
