MARYSVILLE — The Boys & Girls Club’s Marysville Unit recently held a successful open house to reach out to the community and garner interest in their programs — including a number of youth sports camps.

The free open house, which offered a barbecue, games and other activities, coincided with the Strawberry Festival on Friday, June 15, from 6-8 p.m. and sign-up sheets were available for those who expressed interest. The open house was so successful that the Boys & Girls club is planning to hold one every month.

“It was a lot more about reaching out to our neighbors,” said Evans. “We are going to have an open house once a month.”

A number of Marysville residents signed up for the summer sports camps during the open house, which include a multitude of different options.

“We are really proud of our summer camps this year,” said director Matt Evans. “For our sports camps we are teaming up with the Arlington Boys & Girls Club and we are using some of their facilities there.”

The different sports camps offered through the nonprofit Boys & Girls Club include basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, flag football and more.

“We have something new called lifetime sports, which is to teach kids sports they can use for their lifetime,” said Evans. “This includes things like hiking, biking and fishing.”

Each day of summer camp provides a different schedule for the kids to follow. For all-day camps, conditioning games such as “Great Wall” —  where children run through the gym avoiding being tagged in the middle by a number of other players — provide skills that can be used in a multitude of sports.

“I first learned about it when I was a kid playing soccer,” said Evans. “It builds skill that can be used for every sport.” All-day camps offer more than sports as well, with creative time spent on arts and crafts and team building as well.

“We have an eclectic group of physical activities that helps support the Boys & Girls Club philosophy of helping kids maintain an overall healthy lifestyle,” said Evans.

Upcoming sports summer camps include soccer camp, which begins the week of June 25. One-week camps take place Monday through Thursday for one hour. The prices of the camps range from $75 to $90 per child.

For more information on summer camps contact the Boys & Girls Club Marysville Unit at 360-659-2576.