Calexico Recreation in full summer swing
CALEXICO – Amid the summer heat city recreation departments are running strong with indoor programs and swimming pool activities to keep locals in Imperial Valley active and busy for the season.
“The importance would be to keep the community at-large busy, to try to offer activities that are relevant for them, that they come and socialize with other peers, to be physical active, healthier and live a healthier lifestyle,” Calexico Recreation Department Manger, Norma Gerardo, told IVP on
Wednesday.
While many of the City of Calexico’s Recreation Department offerings are already happening, there are still some programs available for indoor activities, Gerardo said, but the newest happenings within the department are the launch of their online registration system, as well as some new offerings for the special needs community.
“Now community members can register online from home without having to step a foot out the door,” Gerardo told IVP on Wednesday, June 26, “and just that’s something new that we just incorporated this summer.” The webpage can be viewed at CalexicoCA. myrec.com, she said.
Registration opened for most Calexico Recreation Programs on
May 30 for the general public, yet registration for Swimming Classes for Calexico programs just opened on Tuesday, June 25 for the general public. Gerardo said registration was held in-person for seniors on May 29 and June 24, respectively, but seniors and the general public can still register for offerings which still have spaces available.
IVP will feature a follow up article solely on offerings for at the Margarita de Necochea Aquatic Center, located on E. Belcher Street, later this week.
For Calexico, indoor recreation offerings are available for Youth (6-17 years old), Adults (18 and up), Seniors and Inclusive offerings for those with special needs. Offerings for the
Gym summer offerings for youth include basketball, volleyball, dodge ball, “Fitness for the Fun of It,” “Crazy 4 Fun Games,” Karate Kofuja-Do and more, with artistic drawing, karate, “Learning and Playing Through Art” and most ages’ Basketball Clinics classes being Calexico Recreation’s most popular. Youth offerings at the Carmen Durazo Cultural Arts Center (CDCAC) and the Calexico Community Center include various art, dance and music courses such as painting, Polynesian dance, ballet, jazz dance (at the Senior Hall), cheerleading, digital animation, guitar, bass, ukulele, keyboard and voice (vocalization) lessons, and more.
Gerardo said some offerings still open for the youth are acting, baking, ballet, cheer, guitar, jazz dance, Sketching with (Jaime) Chew, and more. Youth classes vary by age range, but generally, youth offerings are open for ages 5 to 17.
Some summer offerings for Adults are Zumba, Pilates, Tai Chi, yoga and personal motivation.
Gerardo said some Adult Recreation offerings with spots still available are Acting, Cardio Kickboxing (few spaces available), Pilates, and Recycled Arts, which are arts and crafts projects created with recycled materials.
“My Senior programs are the ones that go out like hot tortillas,” Gerardo mused.
Some of the more popular offerings for Seniors in Calexico are Zumba Gold, Tai Chi, and the Senior Arts and Crafts classes, but other offerings for Seniors include acrylic painting, baking, hula dance, arts and
crafts, bingo and senior aerobics.
Gerardo said offerings still available for Seniors are Acting, Crotchet
Club and Personal Motivation.
In addition to offerings for Seniors, Gerardo said the more the Recreation Department offers activities for the special needs community, the more quickly the classes fill up.
“We are only hosting four but slowly but surely we are increasing (the offerings for the special needs population),” Gerardo said.
The Calexico Recreation offerings for the special needs community are Inclusive Arts for youth, Inclusive Arts for adults, “Inclusive Fitness Fusion” created with parent-child (7-14 year olds) participation, and Inclusive Sketching with Chew.
In total, Calexico Recreation Summer Programs run from June 10 to August 8.
Some offerings are currently available for the swimming pool, but the majority of the swimming pool activities in Calexico will begin by July 30, Gerardo said.
Gerardo also said Calexico Recreation summer programs instructors are encouraged to have their classes participate in a three-day end of season “recitals,” where their students display their artwork or hold brief performances with their dance, music or exercise numbers they learned over the summer.
While the Calexico Recreation Recitals will not be open to the public, parents and relatives of those who participated in the Summer Programs are encouraged to
attend.
The three-day end of summer performances will be held sometime during the week of August 5-8, Calexico Recreation Director Debbie Flores, told IVP. Dates and times will be made available by the Recreation Department as those dates approach.
To view the full Summer 2024 offerings from the Calexico Recreation Department and the fees for each offering, visit calexicorecreation.org/ node/2192 and click on the brochures on the right in English or Spanish.
For more information on offerings, availability or help with registration, contact the Calexico Recreation Department at (760) 768-2176 or by email at recreation@ calexico.ca.gov.