Parks and Recreation departments in Camp Verde and Cottonwood have fun ready for boys and girls of all ages this summer.
“We are in the process of hiring a second full-time staff person,” said Michael Marshall, division manager for the Camp Verde Parks and Recreation department, “to expand our programming and planning capabilities.
“We hope, with our expansion, to do some open gym time.”
So many possibilities exist for parents and children to participate in summer activities.
Camp Verde
Open gyms would take place in the Camp Verde Town Gym, at 51 East Hollamon St.
A couple miles up the road, Butler Park is preparing to host another summer season of adult coed softball beginning Monday, June 6.
An equal number or majority of women play on each sponsored team Monday and Wednesday nights. A team will be found for players who do not have one.
Teams will play each game in a minimum 10-game season for seven innings, or for 55 minutes, whichever comes first.
Registration costs are $275 per team and are due before registration closes Friday, June 3.
Cottonwood
Monday through Friday, June 13 through 17, daily basketball camps will allow first- through eighth-graders to hone their skills on the Cottonwood Recreation Center’s courts.
Kids can return to the courts Monday, June 20, through Friday, June 24, for summer volleyball camps. There is a $5 discount for teams.
For $7.50, parents and children aged six months to four years old can get together in the center’s indoor pool for monthly swimming classes beginning Saturday, June 11, at 9:30 a.m.
Swimming lessons for older children, in four levels, are two weeks long and begin Monday, June 6, in the outdoor pool.
While men’s and coed baseball leagues as well as a church softball league wait to begin another summer of competition at Riverfront Park, the 13 teams of the Cottonwood men’s and women’s spring softball leagues are building toward their playoffs.
Their final games will begin Wednesday, May 25, at 7 and 8 p.m. on the park’s softball fields 1 and 2. Men play Mondays and Wednesdays, while women play Tuesdays.
Middle Verde
In the Yavapai-Apache Nation men’s basketball league at the Middle Verde Recreation Center, 12 teams from around the Verde Valley have been playing since March 7.
Nation teams War Party and the Warriors take on Camp Verde’s Eagles and Fighting Amish, along with friends and foes alike from Cottonwood Auto, Dairy Queen, Defenders, Legacy, Monstars, Splash Bros, TCB and the Bulls.
Games are an hour long and are scheduled for 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.
For more information on sports and other summer programs available through local Parks and Recreation departments, visit their websites or contact the departments at the following addresses and phone numbers:
* Camp Verde Parks and Recreation — 395 S. Main Street; 554-0828
* Cottonwood Parks and Recreation — 150 S. Sixth Street; 639-3200
* Yavapai-Apache Nation Parks and Recreation — 2400 W. Datsi Street; 567-1024.
For more photos, please see the Wednesday, May 25, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
