Twice a week afterschool you can find students dribbling, passing and shooting hoops at Wea Ridge Elementary School. It’s a pilot intramural program to fill a void of extracurricular activities for younger students.

Kindergarten teacher Michela Rieck says staff members decided to start with basketball for fourth and fifth grade students. About 60 students signed up to play.

“Each week participants focus on a specific skill and review the previous week’s skills,” says Rieck. “To finish the season, students will be able to form teams and play in scrimmages against each other.”

The school hopes to be able to offer basketball to younger students in the future, as well as branch out to other activities. Rieck says later this semester they hope to offer dance and pom to fourth and fifth grade students. They would like to eventually offer volleyball to the lineup.

“Our hope is that the kids have the fundamental skills that they need to better understand basketball and are then able to apply those skills, whether that’s on the playground, at the park or trying out for the basketball team when they get to middle school,” says Rieck.

The intramural staff team:

Director- Michela Rieck

Basketball Liaison- Kristen Burger

Volleyball Liaison- Kristin Chesterman

Dance and Pom Liaison- Kristin Hudson-Henkle

Additional staff support: Kayla Thompson, Brianna Bishop, Destiny Bennett, Amy Russell, Jessica Hiatt, Megan Reynolds, Paige Overstreet