PEA RIDGE — Coaches of youth sports teams presented their programs to members of the Pea Ridge Optimist Club recently.
Telling about their programs were Chris Mondy for Youth Softball; Dawnitta Henson for Youth Cheerleading; Brian Wright for the Dragons, a travel team; Nadine Telgemeier for youth soccer;
and Barbara Greene for Pea Ridge Youth Sports (former Pea Ridge Little League).
Mondy said the softball league is about 15 years old and plays in the Bentonville league. He said there are nine teams with about 100 girls.
“We teach sportsmanship,” he said, adding thatthere is a $45 fee for members. “We’ve given about $3,000 back to the school with a backstop at the softball field.”
Henson, coordinator for youth cheer, said about 70girls from second to sixth grade participate. The fee is $55 for second- and third-graders and about $200 for fourth- through sixth-graders.
“This is an expensive sport,” Henson said. “My mom started this about 18 years ago,” Henson said, adding that she had been running the program for about four years. She said they have a day camp during the summer.
A special group formed with some of the youth cheerleaders won fourth place overall in a Jam Fest in Tulsa this year and won first in their division.
Wright said he is one of four men who organized a travel baseball team, the Dragons. He said they have a 5013C. “We don’t charge or give money,” he said.
The group relies on fundraising. “It’s not cheap for the parents.”
The Dragons have played 183 games in four years.
“You better learn how to lose,” he said, although the Dragons have won 125games and lost 58. He said over half of the young athletes are from Pea Ridge.
Telgemeier, coordinator for Pea Ridge Soccer, part of Northwest Arkansas Lightning Soccer, said: “There was a need for soccer in Pea Ridge.”
Soccer, in his second year, is for children from 3 to 17 years of age, although Telgemeier said most of the children are 12 and under. The cost is $50 to $60 depending on age.
Calvin Isgrigg told club members Cannonball 4H is a worthwhile program for youth and provides good opportunities for youth.
Barbara Green said Pea Ridge Youth Sports wasformerly Pea Ridge Youth Baseball and has “redone the 5013C.”
“We’re a Cal Ripkin sanctioned league,” Green said. It’s for children ages 4 to 12. “We don’t turn any children away.”
The group sponsors baseball tournaments at the baseball fields on Weston Street bringing many people to town, Green said. They serve from 250 to 300 children.
Chris Mondy spoke about DASH, a 5K run to raise funds for families of children with cancer.
He said there are about 100 runners and it began in honor of his son Ryan Mondy, who died of cancer.
Sports, Pages 11 on 03/28/2012