YOUTH SPORTS

The youth sports staff would like to thank parents, children as well as volunteers who helped make our fall youth leagues successful. Through your efforts we doubled our enrollment from last year in our football and basketball youth leagues.

ADULT HOOPS

January 6, 2013 is the start date for our 13-week men’s basketball league. The cost is $250 a team, and we also welcome individual sign-ups.

All games will be played on Sundays at the Hillcrest Family YMCA. Tournament champs will receive $50 off the next league session.

Please call 216-382-4300 to register.

HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS

 iPad for Beginners Tuesday, January 15, 7-9 p.m. Advanced: Tuesday, January 22, 7-9 p.m.

Learn the iPhone Tuesday, February 12, 7-9 p.m. Advanced: February 19, 7-9 p.m.

Learn how to cook up a storm in Cooking with Grains (1/16), Cooking with Bacon (1/23), Soup's On (1/30), Low-Fat Cooking (2/6), Calzones (3/13), or Vegetarian Cooking (3/6).

For kids who like to perform, we have a variety of dance programs available along with a Magic Workshop and a Youth Theater Workshop. We have Fencing or Karate starting in January and a Science Discovery program starting in March.

For more information regarding fees and registration for any of these classes, please call the Hillcrest Family YMCA at 216-382-4300.

Also, summer camp registration is right around the corner. More information will be coming soon.

Please put on your calendar Sunday, April 7, 1-3 p.m.

The Greater Cleveland Y will be hosting Healthy Kids Day at The Quicken Loans Arena, with sponsors including Radio Disney and Time Warner cable. There will be plenty activities for all. The event is dedicated to improve the health and well-being of kids. 

Please be on the look out for the South Euclid Lyndhurst Recreation (SELREC) book coming out in mid February.  Program sign-up will begin on March 4.  With over 500 options available, including new classes for all ages, there is sure to be something to spark your interest.

A MESSAGE FROM THE BRANCH DIRECTOR

As we get ready for the cold and snowy days of winter, here at the Hillcrest Y we are preparing new and exciting classes and adding more family events for the upcoming New Year. Our continued focus is to engage our members more than ever, and address the epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes prevention head-on in 2013.

We are also looking more into how we can better serve our community in all areas.  From community outreach, staff volunteering in the community, increased fundraising to provide the Y experience for all, and collaborative efforts with other organizations, we strive to become more embedded in the framework of this community. 

We encourage all our members to view this holiday season as the perfect opportunity to renew your connection with your health and your family.  We look forward to seeing you or meeting you at one of the many local community events.  We are committed to strengthening community through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.  We pride ourselves in the diversity and the engaging feeling of family.  

Have a warm and memorable holiday season, and we thank your for allowing our family to be a part of your family.

Christopher Scheuer

ANNUAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE

BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

Breakfast with Santa at Applebee’s this year was a huge success.

Over 80 patrons were treated to French toast, scrambled eggs and bacon, with a visit to the Big Guy in Red as part of the fun. Thank you to the more-than 15 businesses who sponsored prize packages for the raffle. A huge, heartfelt thank you to Applebee’s who donated not only the food and preparation, but also the servers and their wonderful location. All proceeds go directly into our Annual Campaign to help kids, families and adults participate fully in the Hillcrest Family YMCA.

MEMBER PROFILE:  HERB KRAMER

Herb Kramer was born in Brooklyn, NY., quite a few years ago.

He went to college at New York University for physics and math, but due to “the stuff with McCarthy” he and many other students switched their majors to engineering.  He used that engineering degree until very recently, working as a test engineer, a sales engineer, and then as a company representative in his own business.

Those jobs took him to New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and ultimately to Cleveland.

Kramer joined the YMCA three years ago. 

He uses not only the exercise equipment, but also spent several weeks building up to taking full spin classes.  In that time, he’s lost 40-45 pounds, completely cut out a blood pressure medication, and reduced another by half. The doctor told him recently, “Whatever you’re doing, you’re doing right!”

He likes his new-found energy and his new/re-tailored wardrobe. 

AQUATICS NEWS

Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children ages 14 and under in the United States. Children under 5 years of age represent a majority (76 percent) of reported fatalities and almost 80 percent of emergency department-treated submersion injuries.

Don’t wait to put your children in swim lessons. With a great natural resource like Lake Eire in our back yard it’s even more important for our community to be educated in water safety. The Hillcrest Family YMCA offers swim lessons for children as young as six months, and we even do adult lessons, too. We not only teach you how to swim but also how to be safe and enjoy any body of water, whether it be in your back yard pool or Lake Erie. Check out our swim lesson schedule at the branch or online.

Lastly, I want to say congratulation to our Eastside Stingray swim team.

At Hillcrest alone we have 18 swimmers making tremendous improvements in each of their swimming events. We even won out first meet Saturday, December first at the Ridgewood Family YMCA against The Ashtabula County YMCA. Our next meet is December 15 at the Orrville YMCA. Come cheer us on at another exciting swim meet.

90-DAY WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE

Over 90 members and staffers of the Hillcrest Family YMCA signed up to be a part of the Weight Loss Challenge, and we’re eagerly awaiting the results to see how they’ve fared with their efforts.

We’ve all enjoyed the food tastings and recipes from Pat Mugridge to help us make our path to fitness even more tasty.

CHILD CARE FUN DAYS

If you have children aged 5-12, and need a place for your kids to enjoy some time while they have days off school, consider the Hillcrest Family YMCA Fun Days!  Fun Day registrations must be completed seven days prior to the day you wish to attend. All registrations are completed by the Payment Registrars office. They can be reached at 216-263-6860 or childcarereg@clevelandy.org

Upcoming School Age Fun Days for Hillcrest:

December 26, 27, 28, and 31. (The 31st we will be closing at 3 p.m., as it is New Year’s Eve).

January 2, 3, 4, 7, 18 and 21.

February 15 and 18.

March 25, 26, 27, 28 and 31.

Child Watch: Please remember if you are bringing a child younger than 12 months of age to ChildWatch, you will need to call and register them for child watch 24 hours in advance. This is to ensure that we have adequate staffing and supervision for the children.  Call 216-382-4300.